I took this shot of sunset by Route 1 in New Brunswick, New Jersey almost one month ago, and today I am finally putting it up on my blog. This scene is right next to the Route 1 bridge that I painted in a watercolor last week.
By the time my daughter and I got to Boyd Park in New Brunswick, which is right next to the Raritan River, sunset was almost all gone. Only a bit of light was left in the sky. In the distance you can see the bridge (see those little lights?) that connects New Brunswick and Highland Park. I would love to return to Boyd Park at some point with my camera and my daughter, especially to see more sunset in New Brunswick NJ. There is a little stage and modern amphitheater there that does not look like it gets a lot of use. It would be fun to have my daughter act or dance on the stage at some point when there is a bit more light (and a lot less heat and humidity).
Sky Watch Friday is a photo meme with photos of sunrises, sunsets, blue skies, gray skies, pink skies, dark skies, bird-filled skies and any other kind of sky posted by bloggers all over the planet.
Relaxing by Raritan River, watercolor on paper, July 2012
This Raritan River watercolor was painted last week; the original photograph was taken in the winter, thus the bare trees. I suggest the end result is a bit sketchy, but I liked it enough to show the watercolor to you, my blogging public. I am considering painting an up-close of the two men sitting on chairs (I am guessing they were fishing before relaxing). For ideas for watercolor inspiration of painted figures, I looked at paintings of Edward Hopper and John Singer Sargent. Edward Hopper’s figures were stiff and not depicted as small as the ones I was working on for this painting. John Singer Sargent, on the other hand, is a master of both figure and of watercolor. I can only hope that by more hard work and practice in watercolor I can come close to achieving some of his great skill in depicting landscape, figures and water scenes.
When the heat strikes, it’s fun to spend time in the pool with family, playing pool basketball, swimming mini laps, or just idling on a floating mattress. What do you like to do to cool off in the summer?
The 1920’s saw a lot of development in Asbury Park, including this casino. Unfortunately, unlike other buildings that were redeveloped in the past decade, the casino still seems to be just a frame of a building now.
The decline of the prominence of Asbury Park began in the Depression, and competition from shopping and amusements in other parts of New Jersey continued its decline. When my husband first took me on a tour of Asbury Park in the early 1990’s, it looked quite decrepit. In the past decade, however, buildings such as the Paramount Theater below were redeveloped. I posted another shot of the Asbury Park theatre in 2010, with a bit of its history. You can visit some cool shops like this one inside the convention hall and beside the boardwalk.
Pictured above is the Berkeley Carteret hotel, with the famous Tillie face in the foreground on the Wonder Bar. The hotel has a bit of personal history for me: when I was pregnant with my first child in the 1990’s, my brother-in-law knew the caterer who was working at the hotel during Passover. So he invited us to come and enjoy the bountiful buffet at the hotel. Unfortunately, I had morning sickness and could only eat the cucumber salad.
One of the amusements near the Asbury Park beach is this gigantic chess set.
Asbury Park Jewish history is one of the synagogue Sons of Israel: in 1904 the Orthodox Jewish community in Asbury Park incorporated as the Sons of Israel. My husband’s family belonged to this synagogue; sadly, it needed to sell the synagogue building and move out of Asbury Park in the 1980’s.
Interview with Iola Caplan: Iola Caplan is a friend of mine who now lives in Highland Park, New Jersey. In this interview, she talks about living in Asbury Park in the 1950’s and 60’s, including living through riots in 1967. She relates that the Hillel School also got its start in Asbury Park.
This red beach chair photo may make it appear that there is hardly anyone at the Asbury Park Beach on July 4th, but in truth it was quite crowded on the beach. I hope to write a pictorial, historical post on Asbury Park in an upcoming post.
Sky Watch Friday is a photo meme with photos of sunrises, sunsets, blue skies, gray skies, pink skies, dark skies, bird-filled skies and any other kind of sky posted by bloggers all over the planet.
