Work vs. Art
Hello to the few and the brave who actually visit this site. As is probably true for most people, working to make money is a necessity. And within the working world it’s a rare artist who enjoys making a living by making art. I’m in that boat.
Thankfully, I’ve had a great 6 or 8 months of work designing sets for a TV show and creating 3D models and an animated fly-through of a school in Japan which my brother the architect is designing. This work, as well as new projects looming will keep me busy for the foreseeable future, so painting is way on the back burner. The good thing is that when I have real world work to do, it’s creative and pays pretty well, which is better than what most people could say about their jobs.
Swans in London | Stephen Springer Davis | 2010
It may be a while before I have a chance to do any artwork, but when I do, I’ll post examples here. Meanwhile, the painting above was done from sketches and photos I took last summer when we were in London. The lake is downtown, not far from the the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was near the end of the day, with low light over my shoulder and black clouds ahead, setting off these three swans glowing in the waning sun.
Cheers for now.
To the Beach
In July we went to the beach in Seaside Park, New Jersey. This town, which is ironically a dry town, is right next door to Seaside Heights, which is the home to the notorious TV show Jersey Shore. We have liked Seaside Park for years, because although it’s pretty and quiet, the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, with its frozen custard, cheese fries and deep-fried Oreos, is only a five minute walk.
This boardwalk is quite the scene. Teenagers proudly wear “I’m a Guido. Love me.” and “I’m a Guidette” t-shirts. There’s an arcade game where you can shoot paint balls at a heavily padded guy wearing an over-sized so-called Guido head while he wiggles from side to side. But the weirdest was a “game” where you could shoot BB’s at life-sized manikins, about 8 of them rotating on lazy susans, holding plates. If you break a plate you win a prize. But what was truly scary were who the manikins were: Saddam Hussein, Michael Jackson, Louis Armstrong, and, wait for it…President Obama. Is this legal? Did I mention that Seaside Heights, at least on the boardwalk, is a terrifying place?
To the Beach Stephen Springer Davis 2010
But I digress. Not far south of Seaside Park is Island Beach State Park, which is a whole other world. This park is serenity. Seldom do you see people, because no one owns land in this section of the island. You park, pay a fee and head to a pristine duney beach. It’s lovely. This is a painting of an entrance to the beach through the dunes. It’s the Jersey shore, but not Jersey Shore, for sure.
