This pastel painting is a still life of licorice candies. It was painted during my Thursday evening pastel studio class at Wallkill River School in Montgomery. I set up several still lifes for participants to choose from, then demonstrate a specific technique. This demo was about using complementary colors to create color harmony.

By Rich Gigli
SEEING THE LIGHT – The towering lighthouse sends out it’s beam of light, like the many stars in the heaven, keeping watch in the darkness for the mariner in his small boat. Bass Harbor Head Light is a lighthouse started in 1855 and located within Acadia National Park on the southeast corner of Mount Desert Island, Maine, marking the entrance to Bass Harbor and Blue Hill Bay.

By Jeffrey Page
If you want to help the Haitian people, leave your plastic in your wallet.

By Bob Gaydos
Religion scares a lot of journalists, who don’t bother to differentiate between those who exploit religion for their own purposes — and the airwaves are full of that type — and simple articles of faith that ordinary people use to get through life. The Palin “God” flap is an example of the latter.

By Shawn Dell Joyce
Some state roads may get up to 300 tons of road salt per lane-mile each year. Scientists have begun to study the effects of so much road salt on ecosystems, water quality, public health and road quality. Here are a few things you should know before your break out that sodium chloride.

By Carrie Jacobson
Niobe was a good cat.
No, she was a great cat.
A memory and a painting.

By Shawn Dell Joyce
Pastel painting of Crabtree’s Mill in Montgomery. This painting is part of a series of paintings of Montgomery celebrating its bicentennial. See more from this series along with new oil paintings by fellow Zester Carrie Jacobson at the Wallkill River School on March 13 from 5-7pm.

By Rich Gigli
The Red Mill: The ca. 1810 Red Mill, Clinton N.J. was originally built as a woolen mill. Over the next 100 years, the Mill was used at different times to process grains, plaster, talc, graphite, and pump water for the town.
The historic Red Mill is known across the country as a photogenic symbol of early America’s rural industry. It is the most photographed spot in New Jersey and one of the top ten most photographed buildings in the U.S.

By Michael Kaufman
Is AARP paying attention to the wrong Pepper?

By Jeffrey Page
You don’t have to be President Obama to be mortified by Senator Reid’s observations about skin color and speech patterns.