They were painting outdoors on a gorgeous Jersey Shore day, right on Ocean Pathway by Rev. Stokes statue. Stokes probably would have liked this painting class in the Ocean Grove of 1870. After all, the camp meeting idea included a variety of leisure activities. In fact, Troy Messenger’s fascinating book is called “Holy Leisure: Recreation and Religion in God’s Square Mile.”
Norma Tolliver, of the Main Avenue Galleria, was conducting the class in the spirit of the French who invented “en plain air” painting—which means painting outdoors.
Janet, Bev and Diane were having a happy time being creative with their canvasses. They could kibbitz with me while making their masterpieces. It actually looked like fun.
BF article Main Ave. Galleria 2012 Click here to see a nice photo of Norma Tolliver, owner and artist-in-chief at the Main Avenue Galleria School of Art (732 988 1002) where you can take lessons, paint outdoors and even have wine and cheese during a painting event, in the spirit of Picasso who liked to drink when he met his artist friends, perhaps explaining his two headed, one eyed women subjects. (You must see Midnight in Paris by Woody–you will meet Salvatore Dali and Hemingway in a left bank bar—not exactly en plain air; more like en stale air.)
“A Cottage By the Sea” by Jack Bredin. This is an Ocean Grove scene, and Jack continues his series of paintings of our town. Photo by Rob Bredin. July, 2017.
Jack Bredin continues his series of Ocean Grove scenes. His paintings of our town are famous, and lucky is the art lover who has one hanging in his home.
Editor’s note: You can feel the life of the seashore in this painting by Jack. The breezes are blowing the flag and the trees, and you can smell the ocean. The young couple are perhaps planning their evening. Maybe they will go to a dance. Do they still have dances? Well, let’s assume that they do, and he may approach others, but he wants to have the last dance with her; and then he’ll take her to Days for an ice cream soda.
And that’s where the cottage by the sea comes in, because he hopes to take her there, under the watchful eye of her parents, of course, and they’ll sit on the porch and maybe there will be some music in the air. Which brings us to our song below:
PATRICK RIGUELLE AND JOHN TERRA with a song made famous by the Drifters in 1960.
Major paint manufacturers offer color charts that are called “historic Victorian.” The HPC in Ocean Grove seems to pay heed mostly to the Benjamin Moore company. Choices from the historic charts of other companies might get rejected at the HPC. Perhaps you have wondered about the purple house as you enter the Grove. That was an approved color, but evidently the HPC later said that it was a mistake.
Those of you who have wrestled with color decisions for your OG home know that there are a wide array of choices, but perhaps you don’t know that the paint companies are always adding new colors.
A lot of the paint company decisions are based on archeological information. The chemical makeup of historic home colors used in the 19th century resulted in a limited choice, but now you can get many approved colors available in latex paints.
Some homeowners use 14 or more different colors. Of course that sort of paint job can be expensive.
Delicate painting of decorative trim requires a steady hand and a bucket loader. 113 Mt. Hermon Way. Blogfinger photo . Joan Corbo painter. Click to enlarge.
Some people think of the San Francisco “painted ladies” when they think of Victorian colors, but, as Ocean Grove designer J. Cortese has said, the “new look” are darker hues. And we have learned that the “painted ladies” pastels would not be approved in the Grove.
“This purple house (above) is at 33 Main Avenue. Some people love the colors while others hate them. We spoke to J. Cortese about this restoration project which he designed, color consulted and construction managed. J. uses historic colors, but he also enjoys the unexpected, changing over recently to darker “rich” colors in the Grove. He says that all his colors are approved and chosen from historic color charts. He thinks that darker colors are “more historic.”
Yellow seems to be more popular recently. Some of you are familial with the spectacular restoration at the Founders Park end of Seaview Avenue (26 Lake Avenue, a yellow Bersheeba Award winner). Link below:
And then there are colors which most people in town don’t like, but either they were done that way without permission, or the HPC made a mistake. Do you think that the Mary’s’ Place blue color (see below) ought to be considered historic? Is a blue roof historic? Does the HPC practice favoritism?
And do you recall the orange house on Mt. Hermon Way? That owner went ahead with it even though that orange is not historic. The owner argued that 19th century homeowners were allowed to pick any colors they wanted —–the palette was very limited;—-all the colors then were dreary. So the orange house owner said that our modern choices should also be whatever we want. And, she argued, that the orange house would make her happy, so how about the “pursuit of happiness” promised in our Declaration of Independence–definitely some colorful patriotic reasoning.
Happy Spring! It’s that time of year when I’m starting to see more of our feline friends hanging around outside and happy dogs walking with their people along the boardwalk. I thought I would send you my latest painting, Ocean Grove dog “Romeo”. Actually, I heard that Romeo has since moved to Asbury Park, however when I met him, he was an O.G. dog. I first saw him one day while I was walking past the Tumblety Gallery and saw his adorable face peeking out at me from inside.
He is a Brussels Griffon, one of my favorite dog breeds. I could not pass up the photo op even if it meant tempting a barking episode…which it did! Romeo’s owner, who was at the Gallery doing some renovation work, saw the commotion and asked if I would like to meet this funny fellow. You can imagine my joy when he opened the door and out came this happy, tail wagging little guy in a blue sweater. What a thrill!
Water color of Ocean Grove coffee shop on Main Avenue (destroyed in 2015 fire). From a series OG picture card scenes by Grover artist Sue Anderson Gioulis.
JULIE ANDREWS: From Camelot: Are we feeling lusty yet?
“Hello Paul…Back in November I was taking my daily walk for coffee when I spotted the purr-fect photo-op right outside of Blogfinger headquarters. There, perched atop your beautiful porch railing, was Jack the cat from Mt. Tabor Way. He made my job easy…more than willing to sit while I snapped several shots, trying to get the composition just right for my watercolor painting. This is a rare event, as you can imagine because the typical cat will not hold a pose if he does not want to. Perhaps Jack was waiting patiently for that next big OG news story to come in.”
Editor’s note: (Paul @Blogfinger) We are privileged at Blogfinger to be able to exhibit Marylou Shipman’s series of cat paintings. Aside from her great technical skill, Marylou has created a rogues gallery of actual cats who are also Grovers. She observes their personalities and captures their individualities.
As for Jack Sprat, “The Jack Sprat alluded to in this English poem is reputed to be King Charles I (1625-1649) and Henrietta Maria, his Queen (1609-1669).” (From the history book of nursery rhymes.)
Marylou’s cats remind me of the Broadway show “Cats” where each cast member is unique.
Here is the most famous song from the show Cats: “Memory” (not memories). This version is from the original Broadway cast album.
