The studio aboard my liftboat Legs III, near Hastings-on-Hudson NY, September 2022
We departed New Iberia, Louisiana in late July and motored between the oil and gas platforms along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, around Key West and then all the way up the Atlantic seaboard to New York harbor, a 2,600 mile offshore journey. We lucked out weather-wise, making our 40 day trip in between hurricanes and storms, jacking the rig up very close to the beaches almost every night, providing incidental entertainment for the astounded shore dwellers and tourists who wondered what on earth had just floated in. After arriving in the city, the scarcity of affordable and secure places to park the rig led me to consider some alternatives pending further research and some prospects still in the works. I had fond memories of the Hudson river north of the city from a few years we spent there aboard my first studio-aboard-ship back in the '80s. There's a spectacular view of the Palisades to the west, the sparkling city skyline to the south and the frequent passing trains and river traffic all around. So I chose to elevate the rig adjacent to the Metro North Hudson Line tracks, with a remote controlled gangway to shore for easy access to a nearby century old boat club as a land base, and the Greystone station is less than half a mile away to enable frequent trips to the city.
I've converted one of the cabins on Legs III into a studio and finally gotten back to painting after a long year and a half of work readying the rig for the voyage. I'm easing into my practice by creating a few more small works before returning to larger paintings. I'm also thinking hard about how to make art about my new location, where more than 170 passenger trains pass by the rig every day, along with an occasional freight. I'm fascinated by my view of the passengers in their through-the-window vignettes as they flash by, especially in the twilight of early mornings and at dusk. I ride these same trains to & from the city by walking along the tracks to the station before climbing a ladder to the platform and then boarding the train. Once I claim a seat I've switched points of view, but unlike the other passengers, I'm still mindful of being a watcher from the river just a few minutes ago...my favorite "being in two places at once" mode.
I have paintings hanging in small exhibits in the West Village and in Hastings-on-Hudson for the next few months, please contact me for viewing info.
My wonderful gallery representation: LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
And as always, you can also contact me directly by email: info@sethtane.com and follow my occasional photo posts on: Instagram