30 Something
Oil on conservation linen and Baltic birch panel
14 x 18 in.
$1900
Available from the artist

The painting 30 Something depicts a boat from the 1930s being refurbished by a passionate boat aficionado while docked at Hartge Yacht Marina. The work was painted en plein air and recently received an honorable mention during the popular annual event, Paint It Annapolis! presented by the Maryland Federation of Art.

“One hot and sunny day during the event, I sought refuge under a canopy. From the shady spot, I spied—nestled among the “big boy” boats—a seemingly miniature chock full of artifacts on deck. The bright sun created a silhouette shape begging to be painted.  While first drawing the composition, I saw a gentleman enter the boat. As he sat reading a book and sporadically cut and positioned strips of wood on the backend of the boat, I added him to my painting.”

The boat in 30 Something is a 1930’s Rhodes custom wood boat docked in the Hartge Yacht Harbor, a family-owned company in business for over 150 years. The company’s founder Henry Hartge, a native of Germany, came to Baltimore in 1832. His trade had been building pianos. After buying 400 acres outside Annapolis, he changed his occupation from cutting wood for pianos to using it to build boats. Now only about five percent of the boats at Yacht Harbor are wood.

“I felt particularly lucky that day to find an interesting story to capture on canvas,” says Jacalyn, “never dreaming it would win an award.”

Paint It Annapolis! judge and artist Larry Moore says of the painting, “I saw a very strong light/dark design because each shape, both positive and negative, was unique and carried its own visual weight. The analogy is if you filled each shape with water or sand, they would each contain a different amount. Just like a good Franz Kline painting. This simple premise facilitates eye flow, how the eye receives the information, in any form of visual communication.”

“In addition, she modulated or vibrated color within each shape so that there was a second level of visual energy to added counter weight, lost edge and kept the viewer in the painting. A method used by a lot of the landscape greats like Edgar Payne, Maynard Dixon and Ray Roberts,” continues Larry.

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