ATELIER OSMUNDSEN BRONZES FROM THE SEA

      On Virginia Beach
     Limited Edition Giclee Prints

"Surf-fisherman"

"Swan"

"Reflections"

"Reflections Too"

"On Virginia 

Virginia Beach and the Hampton Roads Area has long been a draw for me.  My first experience with the Virginia seacoast goes back to my Navy enlistment;- I was stationed at the ‘Little Creek’, Amphibious Base which lies on the Chesapeake Bay between Norfolk (which it is part of) and Virginia Beach.  While in the Navy I often visited ‘the Beach’ for recreation, where I was represented by a fine Gallery, owned by George and Ruth Laakso, who were well know artists’ in the area.  That was from 1969 til 1972.  When my enlistment was over,  I returned home, to the New York area, to pursue my art full time. 

Always fond of Virginia Beach I relocated there in 2005 where I was just a short walk from the Boardwalk.  I looked for subjects which would be the essence of my immediate surroundings. 

In the Fall, Winter and Spring the beach is quite disserted.  You always find locals walking their dogs on the Boardwalk; cyclists peddle by and people walk the sandy broad beach as the seasons change. 

 

Beach"

On these walks I found a wonderful continuum of nature.  A cycle of migratory birds and weather that repeats and continues with the rhythm of the ocean waves.  Looking minutely at some of the smallest of the residents that lingered into the Winter I found the Gulls.  In the bright sun they cast dark shadows and on the beach, fresh from the last wave, where they cast their own reflection.  This only lasts for a moment, as the water dries the reflection fades and then a new wave comes in, the gulls scurry up beach and back as the wave reseeds.

On one of these walks I met a surf fisherman.  I always wonder if they catch anything  and he had.  I don’t remember what kind of fish though, maybe a bass or a blue.  It was kind of a stormy day and the surf was really churning up. A chill in the air and gray in the sky  reminds me that the ocean can change abruptly in a short amount of time.

This was the same emotion I wanted to capture in “Swan’ a wonderful old wooden Sloop with a traditional rig, out on a blustery day.