The Ash Breeze - Cover Art
My husband Steven gets the publication The Ash Breeze in the mail. It is a journal of the Traditional Small Craft Association. My dad used to get this publication when he was alive and I believe that's how Steven first found out about this boating publication. Imagine Steven's surprise when he picked up the latest issue and saw a few familiar boats on the cover . . . .
Huh? The cover painting looked like a scene from the Traditional Small Craft Association (TSCA) Festival races, held locally in Cortez, FL! And guess who is sailing that boat? At first Steven did not focus on that, because he recognized the boat on the right with the black sails. The boat in the foreground did not register with him immediately. He did notice a familiar Cortez melonseed behind it to the left. It was only after recognizing these other boats and confirming that the cover art was a painting done from a photograph taken during one of the Cortez races, did Steven go back and study the boat in the foreground. He certainly was surprised to realize the cover featured a gorgeous sailboat my father built, and to top it off, it was Steven himself sailing my dad's melonseed - Wind Dancer!
Steven called me and told me to go out to the mailbox and look for our copy of the Ash Breeze, then call him back after I had seen the cover. Steven and my dad refinished this boat in March 2010. Steven entered it in the 2010 Traditional Small Craft Association race in Cortez, FL on April 17, 2010 where the photo for the cover art was taken unknowingly.
Above, Steven with my dad's beautiful hand built boat at the end of the TSCA Festival race around the islands.
The water here is obviously very shallow at lower tides!
Steven, me and my dad, the builder of the beautiful sailboat wind dancer, at the TSCA Festival on April 17, 2010.
We were there to watch Steven race!
Refinishing "Wind dancer" in march 2010. Little Asia in the foreground.
There was an article about the cover art, inside the Ash Breeze called: Art and the Sea with Bob Semler. A website was listed for the artist - he was the one who painted the cover. Steven and I both visited the site. Then Steven wrote an email to Bob, shown below. Bob replied to Steven's email and said he thought some prints were being made - "Perhaps you can stop by and see the original when I get home" (he was traveling).
Hi, My name is Steve Deming and I’m interested in a print or two of your recent cover painting that appeared on the cover of The Ash Breeze magazine. I’m the sailor of the main subject melonseed in the foreground. Rather a pleasant surprise when I got my copy of Ash Breeze today! The boat was built by my late father-in-law Dale Andrews of Bradenton (and Connecticut). He died last October of liver cancer and my wife (his daughter) and I moved down here permanently to Bradenton in 2009 to be near by and help out wherever possible. Dale and I set up a small boat shop in Bradenton and he was able to work with me building and rebuilding small boats right up until he died. The 2010 Cortez Small Boat Festival (subject of your painting) was the last time he saw his melonseed being sailed. Thanks in advance, Steve Deming Bradenton, FL
2010, Steve and my dad after refinishing Windancer
"Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections.
~ St. Francis de Sales