Beach Art

Though this artwork is often mistaken for oil painting, it is actually hand-sculpted soft emulsion photography. No computer-enhancement techniques were used to create these images.

In the mid 1970's, Polaroid manufactured an incredible piece of photographic equipment, the foldable SX-70 camera. The film used in this camera, unlike any other Polaroid product, possessed a unique quality… the emulsion inside each print remained soft for approximately twenty-four hours, allowing it to be manipulated. For more than 30 years, artists experimented with this medium—rubbing, burnishing and tinting their photos with various tools—to achieve a wide range of visual styles.

For this special collection, my goal was to achieve the most impressionistic effect possible, and although the work was tedious, it has been greatly rewarding—I have won numerous first place honors in the highly competitive field of professional special-effect photography. Sadly, the unique film required to create these images is no longer available, so this hand-sculpted process has truly become a lost art. To say the least, I feel very lucky to have ridden the last wave of non-digital photography!

Having lived most of my life in Orange County, I treasure the coastal icons of Southern California: lifeguard towers, famous hotels and eateries, historic landmarks and, of course, classic cars and surfboards. These are the inspiration for this series of limited-edition reproductions, each one printed with the finest quality, 70-year archival papers and inks available.

This artwork has been featured at fine art galleries in Newport Beach and Catalina, California. Please click on the thumbnails below, in each of the four categories, to see a larger image. Remember, each is an unframed 24” x 24” art print – ready to add to your collection! Simply contact me for more information and pricing!