Was recently in New York City with some friends. Had some time to kill and stumbled upon a parade – decided to hang out and watch it. Have always been an incessant people watcher – decided to take a bunch of shots of various characters in the parade that caught my eye. Since the NYC trip, have happened upon a few other parades at the Jersey Shore – have taken shots of characters at these parades as well. Look for additions to this “Parade” series over the next few months.

Was recently in New York City with some friends. Had some time to kill and stumbled upon a parade – decided to hang out and watch it. Have always been an incessant people watcher – decided to take a bunch of shots of various characters in the parade that caught my eye. Since the NYC trip, have happened upon a few other parades at the Jersey Shore – have taken shots of characters at these parades as well. Look for additions to this “Parade” series over the next few months.

Was recently in New York City with some friends. Had some time to kill and stumbled upon a parade – decided to hang out and watch it. Have always been an incessant people watcher – decided to take a bunch of shots of various characters in the parade that caught my eye. Since the NYC trip, have happened upon a few other parades at the Jersey Shore – have taken shots of characters at these parades as well. Look for additions to this “Parade” series over the next few months.

Was recently in New York City with some friends. Had some time to kill and stumbled upon a parade – decided to hang out and watch it. Have always been an incessant people watcher – decided to take a bunch of shots of various characters in the parade that caught my eye. Since the NYC trip, have happened upon a few other parades at the Jersey Shore – have taken shots of characters at these parades as well. Look for additions to this “Parade” series over the next few months.

Was down at the Jersey Shore. Arrived later in the day – the kids wanted to walk around the beach. Had the beach to ourselves. Kids had a blast just walking through the surf and scouting for shells. After the sun went down, everything was bathed in these lovely shades of blue. Tried to capture those colors and the dreaminess of the scene in this painting.

Love going to Sea Isle, New Jersey with the family. Took a reference shot for this painting just as the sun was setting. Created these nice, deep indigos and pinks. The promenade lights just came on when I snapped this shot.

One of the best parts of getting a Philly cheese steak at one of the famous stands is the wait. Can meet some real interesting people while waiting in line. Geno’s is one of my favorites. Liked that the skyline of Phili is in the background of this painting.

Was walking back to the hotel from a night on the town in Manhattan. Have always been fascinated by the markets that seem to be on every street corner in New York. The produce quality and variety are unmatched. Loved the contrast of the bright fruit and market’s inner glow against the dark street, awning, and figures in the street. Originally planned this painting as a “quickie” – loose brushwork and light on detail. But, was having too much fun and got caught up creating the detail in this work.

Love amusement park rides, especially carousels and giant swings. Think I’m drawn to the artwork on these rides. Love to paint them – like the idea of paintings within a painting. This swing is at a boardwalk pier in Ocean City, New Jersey. Particularly like this swing because it rises and tilts on an angle. Ride has a human quality – can almost imagine the body of the swing as arms reaching down holding onto the riders’ chains. Some of the models in this painting appear multiple times – see if you can spot the duplicates.

This painting was named a finalist in The Artist’s Magazine’s prestigious 24th Annual Art Competition.  “Jam” was one of a number of finalists in the Still Life category from thousands of entries.  This painting got Steve recognition in the December 2007 issue of the magazine.

Consider this painting to be a portrait of my son – painted this for him.  One of our favorite games when he was young was playing with his Hot Wheel cars.  We set up the cars’ tracks across the length of our basement and took turns shooting cars back and forth to each other.  I noticed that when I shot the cars to him, he collected them in a neat, orderly pile, just like cars stuck on the highway caught in traffic.  Was captivated by the design – reminded me of some of the grids-of-color paintings I had seen at MoMA on a trip around that same time – neat and orderly, yet there’s a lot of movement (much like my son).  Thought I could compose his cars in similar pattern, using contrasting (red/green, purple/yellow, blue/orange) and complimentary colors (colors side by side on the color wheel) and high contrast of light and dark next to each other to move the viewers eye throughout the work.  Contrasting colors would stand out.  Complimentary colors would recede.  Mixed in a few of the cars that I had from when I was a kid into this composition.  Many of my buddies who’ve viewed this piece recognize a car or two that they’ve either purchased for their kids or had when they were a kid.  See if you recognize any of them.