Cecelia Lyden

 A resident of a small town in central Pennsylvania for thirty-eight years, I am a retired art instructor from a large school district, where I also held the title of Art Department Head for the last five years of my tenure.

Although I have been painting for decades, retirement affords me the time and energy to pursue a painting career in earnest. I have received recognition for my work with acceptances in juried art shows, including Pennsylvania's annual Art of the State Art Exhibit, first and second place honors and merit awards in local art association shows. I have recently been accepted into the juried Landscape Artists International.

Born and raised in Tarrytown, New York, a village situated on the Hudson River, forty minutes from New York City, I lived in a house my grandfather built. This humble house overlooked the River, facing west. A millionaire could have had no better experiences observing nature at its dramatic best. Almost every dusk I witnessed the glorious colors of magnificant sunsets.

My home on Cottage Place also overlooked the street below, Orchard Street. Orchards had given way to stores, a bank and bars. I would look out of my bedroom window and sketch rows of buildings and rooftops, the rairoad and the River. 

All these scenes sparked a lifelong desire to capture and hold life around me as well as nature's beauty forever. Painting was and still is my way of doing this.

Across the Hudson from Tarrytown is the village of Nyack, where the noted artist, Edward Hopper was born. I became familiar with and loved his paintings of local, New York City and New England scenes. Trips to the Metropolitan Museum further acquainted me with the genre subject matter of Jan Vermeer, Andrew Wyeth, the Ashcan artists, Sloan, Henri, Shinn and Bellows. Their recognition of the beauty in the familiar, their elevation of ordinary surroundings to an art form, their emphasis on simple shapes and light, and their realistic renderings of this subject matter are the inspiration for much of my art work.

The American scene, its landscapes, its buildings, and its people are my passion. I see their beauty and take comfort in these familiar things. In painting these scenes, I hope to share my feelings with others.

The picture above is of my home studio. It has lots of good light and I am surrounded by my modest collection of folk/outsider art and examples of my students' and grandchildren's artwork. In addition to my easel and paint supplies, the room holds my computer, scanner, printer, CD player, TV, a sink and a large extra table with my mat cutter; in short, everything to make me a contented artist.