At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, I happened to stand behind a man who was photographing his wife next to the famous self-portrait of Vincent van Gogh. Since my camera was handy, I took a shot of the scene which I transcribed into an oil painting at a later date. This painting was accepted in the juried art show at the Woodstock Museum of Art this summer. For years, I have been painting the beautiful landscapes of the Hudson Valley in New York State where I live. Recently, I have the desire to work on portraits again after a hiatus of many, many years. Strange how desires lie dormant until just the right impetus moves our imagination to work on new themes.

My love of flying brought me in contact with Art Cramer, pilot for American Airlines. I met him at the Kingston-Ulster Airport on October 5, 2014. On that day, I was facilitating an art show of airplane paintings and drawings by my students in the lounge of the airport. Also, the Young Eagles program was providing free airplane rides for kids at the same time. One of my students, Autumn Stever, 14, and her mother went for a ride and so did I. On that afternoon, we were scheduled for another art show at the Mum Festival Art Show, Seamon Park, Saugerties with drawings of animals by my students of all ages. Fortunately, Art Cramer had made plans to visit the park to see his son Marc and his family and it there that I got to know my new friend through conversation. The painting, pictured above, is of the airplane in which he gave his first flying lessons to clients in 1974 when his dad, Hank Cramer owned the Kingston Airport.

Art Cramer took a photo of me on his boat, “My Tweety” which contained a photo of the Saugerties Lighthouse in one lens and a self-portrait of him in the other lens of my mirror- lens sunglasses. I transcribed this photo (with his permission) into this oil painting where I have painted seagulls on the frame as well. All summer, I have enjoyed the boat trips up and down the Hudson River with Art (pun intended.)

This portrait is owned by Pat Feola, mother of my former student Gabby. I received permission from Gabby to use her selfie on Facebook as reference to render this oil painting which was accepted in a juried show at WAAM this past spring 2015. It was also featured in the window of W Couture Dress Shop in Saugerties, NY to advertise the Saugerties Artists Tour 2015.

I have several new works in progress and I will feature them as they are finished…please stay tuned.