Remembering 9-11 September 11, 2011

Six Months after 9/11 I visited New York to meet the owners of the Eleanor Ettinger Gallery. I had come to see the space where I would have my first solo art exhibition in downtown Soho.


I visited Ground Zero, and painted a nocturne of the melancholy scene. The air still smelled of death. Windows still shattered, and papers strewn up in the neighboring trees.


I hired a taxi cab to take me through the Lincoln Tunnel over to Hoboken, where I set up my easel and sketched the luminous bluish white lights rising up deep into the night sky.


It was an ominous sight to behold. My painting doesn't even scratch the surface of the depth of significance these search lights represented. 


All I know, is it was a pivotal moment for me and my philosophy on life.




Blue Lights, Ground Zero
36"x12" oil/canvas 2002
www.thomasvanstein.net

Santa Barbara Mission Sept. 9, 2011

One never knows when a painting will sell, and when it does, where it goes.

I painted this painting of the Breezeway at the Santa Barbara Mission, about two years ago, as a demonstration for my plein-air painting class.

It remained in the inventory at the Bottoms Art Gallery since that time and only came close to selling it couple of times.

This last weekend I participated in a benefit art show to raise money for a matching grant to help restoration work continue at the Mission. This was in celebration of the 225th anniversary of the Mission's founding.

I got the painting out of the Gallery and placed it for sale at the event. On that day, I am happy to say this painting finally found a home; It was purchased by a previous collector of mine.

In today's economy, selling art seems to be a rare occurrence; and when it happens I feel an immense gratitude that the art market is still alive and kicking.


Mission Breezeway
18x14 oil/canvas 2009
Private collection

www.thomasvanstein.net