See Salem County - Art Reception

"Grant's Field"
graphite sketch in Moleskine

"Old New Castle After the Wake"
graphite sketch in Moleskine

One of my favorite things to do is to sketch images in my Moleskine book that are uniquely Salem County. What this area lacks in night life it makes up for in views that touch my soul. Whether you like farms, rivers and ships or misty marshes, it is all here. When I take the time to draw these things I feel like I am recording something that someday could be gone. Develpments creep in and things change. There is a quiet solitude here that settles and centers me. It is easy sometimes to forget that when I get busy.

So if you would like to see images of Salem County through the eyes of local artists, come to First Impressions Art Gallery this Friday, February 8th, located at 157 W. Broadway, Salem, NJ. Call 856-935-7070 for more information. The reception is from 6-9 and there will be live music and plenty of food and wine. How can you pass that up? I will be there as well as many of the other artists. My marsh paintings and the last bovine piece will be on display. The new work is up on the walls now and already one of my marsh pieces has been sold. So please come out and say hello. Get your marsh paintings now, get them while they are hot, get them while they are marshy! (Pardon me, I sort of lost it there.)

Anyway, the top image was drawn during a cold weekend morning while watching a hawk watch me. Grant Harris, of Cowtown Rodeo fame, has quite a few fields of rough stock that also have interesting and moody looking landscapes. They are always good inspiration for my sketches.

The second image was created yesterday while looking out across the Delaware River at Old New Castle. At least I think that's the town I'm looking at. A rather large cargo ship went by and I sketched and watched the water and reflections change as the wake swelled and passed. Water makes me think of my own life how it never looks the same. You can watch the river all day and minute by minute it is different. I rather enjoyed watching the water become still again and appear to be as blue as the sky. I am greatly appreciating stillness everywhere.