Noted Westport photographer Michael Chait joins our online gallery this week.
We welcome him — and all other artists.
Professional and amateur; no matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we want your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.
Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in.
“NYC Newsstand Circa 1977 — Lexington Avenue & 53rd Street” (Michael Chait — Available for purchase; click here)
“It Dawned on Me” (Michael Tomashefsky — Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (Duane Cohen — Available for purchase; click here)
“Really Big Rudbeckia” — watercolor on Arches paper, 16.5 x 11.5 (Kathleen Burke — Available for purchase; click here)
“My Little Pony” — acrylic and resin, 24 x 36 (Patricia McMahon — Available for purchase; click here)
“Butterflies Are Free” — doodling of color with 3D butterflies (Dorothy Robertshaw — Available for purchase; click here)
“Night Guard” — abstract (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)
“PSOS” (Mark Yurkiw — Available for purchase; click here)
“Lucky Me! 46 Years Ago She Said ‘Yes!'” — watercolor black paint on paper (Eric Bosch)
“Strong, Handsome, and Friendly with Great Vibrations – His Entourage Also Enjoys the Music and More!” (Mike Hibbard)
Untitled (Martin Ripchick — Available for purchase; click here)
“And We Were Told Everything is Under Control!” — watercolor and graphite (Steve Stein)
“Conversation” (Lawrence Weisman)
“Sissy” — pencil on paper (Bill Fellah)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery –as it has been for 6 years. But please consider an anniversary donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
We’ve got a record 19 pieces in this week’s online art gallery.
Many are for sale. Browse — enjoy — and buy!
And next week, you too can be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.
Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in.
“Imagine” (Patricia McMahon — Available for purchase; click here)
“Pussy Willows” (Bonnie Connolly)
“In Bloom” (John Maloney)
“Lexi” — pencil on paper (Bill Fellah)
“We the People” — collage acrylic pouring (Dorothy Robertshaw; Available for purchase — click here)
“Dots” — pastels/gouache (Toby Michaels — Available for purchase; click here)
“Juicy Fruit” — watercolor (Lucy Johnson)
“Floating Serenade” — original signed mixed media on paper, 14 x 11 (J. Haffey Jr.; Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (Duane Cohen — Available for purchase; click here)
“Saugatuck Riverline” (Nancy Breakstone — Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled — watercolor on paper, 9 x 11 (Kathleen Burke — Available for purchase; click here)
“Rustic Cottage for Sale or Rent. Convenient Transportation to and from the City” (Mike Hibbard)
“Harvey” (Mark Yurkiw — Available for purchase; click here)
“Kemosabe” (Martin Ripchick — Available for purchase; click here)
“Rick” — graphite ink on tinted paper (Werner Liepolt)
“Have We Seen the Last Snowstorm of 2026?” — graphite pencil on blue paper (Steve Stein)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery –as it has been for 6 years. But please consider an anniversary donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
But this one — by longtime Westporter and internationally known artist Larry Silver — showing yesterday’s rainbow over kids playing at the Compo Beach playground is too good to pass up.
(Photo/Larry Silver)
Today may not be great beach weather: partly cloudy.
But the temperature will be in the mid-80s.
We’ll take it.
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The town of Westport website is very functional. There’s tons of information on departments, commissions, permits, beaches, affordable housing, etc., etc., etc.
It’s where you go to access livestreams of meetings, get voter information, find emails and phone numbers of town officials, etc., etc., etc.
The website has been tweaked over the years. There have been incremental improvements.
But things are not always where you’d think they’d be. There are inconsistencies. It can be clunky. And no one has ever called it “pretty.”
That may change.
Officials are seeking “proposals for Municipal Website Redesign.”
Bids are open through 11 a.m. April 2026, in the Finance Office at Town Hall.
Speaking of government: Congressman Jim Himes will speak — and take questions — this Saturday (April 18, 8:30 a.m.), at Weston’s Norfield Congregational Church.
The event is sponsored by the Weston Kiwanis Club.
Congressman Jim Himes
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On Saturday, “06880” announced the 7th edition of Soles4Souls.
The project — organized by Ken Bernhard, Ted Freedman and Rick Jaffe — encourages Westporters to check their closets, and donate new or slightly worn shoes. The non-profit keeps shoes out of landfills, provides footwear for people in need, and creates micro-business opportunities in places of poverty.
Collection boxes are in place at Town Hall and the Senior Center.
Westport definitely has a soul.
In just 3 days beginning Monday, over 150 pairs have been collected.
That’s outstanding generosity.
And it’s just the start.
The collection boxes will be at Town Hall and the Senior Center through the first week in May.
That’s plenty of time for many more residents to help many more souls, with soles.
Donations at the Senior Center. From left: director Wendy Petty, Meghan Tapley, Nicole Rolnick ,,,
The Westport Country Playhouse has announced 2 new shows for kids, and the May Script in Hand play reading.
“Pinkalicious” (June 7, 1 and 4 p.m.) is perfect for kindergartners through 2nd graders.
“Mutts Gone Nuts” (June 21, 4 p.m.) features 6 amazingly talented canines. The cast includes a Guinness World Record holder, an “America’s Got Talent” favorite, and other dogs that dance, prance, flip, and skip.
The Script in Hand reading (May 4, 7 p.m.) is “One Slight Hitch” by Lewis Black — yes, that Lewis Black.
He’s written “a farce that feels both wildly entertaining and all too familiar to anyone who’s ever navigated family, love, or the chaos of a wedding day.”
Click here for details, tickets, and more information on other Westport Country Playhouse offerings.
Pinkalicious
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The Revolutionary War returns!
On May 16 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), the 5th Connecticut Regiment will stage an encampment, at the Weston History & Culture Center.
The day — part of Weston’s America 250 celebration — includes soldier drills, a kids’ musket march, blacksmithing, weaving, wool spinning, woodworking, cooking demonstrations and fashions.
As fighting in Ukraine rages, 2 events will focus on that long-running war. Donations for relief efforts through Ridgefield Responds will be gladly accepted.
“Words From the Front” (Sunday, April 19, 2:30 p.m., Easton Library) is a staged reading of a play by Nancy Herman an Lynda Sorensen. It uses the actual voices of Americans, Ukrainians and Russians, in correspondence.
The following Sunday, also in Easton (April 26, 4 to 6 p.m., Masonic Lodge, 200 Center Street), “A Taste of Ukraine” — organized by Westport artist Mark Yurkiw — includes pierogi, desserts, and an art sale.
Yurkiw — who has collected medical supplies for Ukraine — will give an overview of the crisis, and discuss his own and other aid efforts. There is a suggested donation of $30, with seating limited to 50 people.
Cybersecurity fraud was the talk of the Westport Rotary Club on Tuesday.
Fortunately, it hadn’t happened — at least, not to the club itself.
But a pair of financial crimes specialists — Westport Police Department Sergeant James Baker and Detective 1st Class Marc Heinmiller — shared their expertise.
Baker said the most common types of crypto-crimes include financial account takeovers), investment scams, ransomware, dark markets (human and narcotics trafficking), and money laundering.
Heinmiller cited “bad actors,” including Russian ransomware groups, North Korean hackers, drug cartels and global scam organizations.
Detective Marc Heinmiller. (Hat tip and photo/Dave Matlow)
Westport Police made 2 custodial arrests between April 8 and 14.
A 55-year-old Westport man was charged with electronic stalking of a domestic partner. In September a victim found an electronic tracking device in the trunk of their car. An investigation identified the suspect, who denied intentionally placing it there. He was released on a $50,000 bond.
A 38-year-old Waterbury woman was charged with assault, following an investigation into a 2023 incident at St. Vincent’s Behavioral Health Services. The victim said there was no provocation, but the assault included repeated strikes to the head using both fists and knees, and continued after the victim became unconscious. She was unable to post a $75,000 bond.
As the monthlong state crackdown on texting while driving continued, Westport Police issued these citations:
Texting while driving: 47 citations
Distracted driving: 11
Traveling unreasonably fast: 10
Failure to comply with state traffic commission regulations: 6
This week’s very warm and wonderful weather has brought great crowds to Compo. (They’d be greater still if most of the town was not far away, for the schools’ spring break.)
But, as this gull proves in today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature, the beach still belongs to him and his fine feathered friends.
They can fly all over the place. They can swoop down and take your food.
And they can sit and hang out wherever they please.
(Photo/Lauri Weiser)
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And finally … in honor of the Westport Country Playhouse’s upcoming production of “Pinkalicious”:
(“06880” relies on reader support. Please click here to make a tax-deductible contribution. We’ll be in the pink!)
Happy Easter! Welcome to the start of the baseball season! It’s spring!
Those are some of the themes in today’s online art gallery.
Along with, as always, other works that are harder to categorize, but sure to delight, provoke and inspire all who wander through.
As always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.
Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in.
“Longshore Marina” (Patricia McMahon; Available for purchase; click here)
“Old Mill Plein Air” (Werner Liepolt)
“Stacked for the Season” (Nancy Breakstone; Available for purchase; click here)
“Sea Shell From Compo” (John Maloney)
“Auntie’s Patch of Heaven” — acrylic on canvas, 20 x 24 (Gert; Available for purchase; click here)
“Watercolor is a Swim in the Unknown: Jean Burman” (Duane Cohen; Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)
“A Hot Wheels Pizza” — wall art (Eric Bosch)
“The Kindness Project” (Owen Wang, age 13 — One River Art student)
In Your Easter bonnet – Gown, and Sparkling Necklace – You’ll Be the Grandest Lady in the Easter Parade! (Mike Hibbard)
“The Saddest Day in Baseball History — Remembering Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse” — watercolor (Steve Stein)
“My Friend Kelso” (Lawrence Weisman)
“Presidential Portrait” (Mark Yurkiw; Available for purchase; click here)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery –as it has been for 6 years. But please consider an anniversary donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
Our online gallery artists often roam the world for inspiration.
Today, several of them look only as far as their home town.
Compo Beach, Longshore, the Levitt Pavilion, Staples High School — and a unique lending library — are all featured this week.
You never know what you’ll find, wandering our e-walls. That’s part of the appeal of this weekly feature.
As always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.
Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in. As they have for 6 years, lovers want to know.
“We Read Books” — copper, AZEK and glass. Eric Bosch built and painted this “Free Little Library” for his grandchildren’s neighborhood with the help of his son Greg, along with Amelia and Theo.
“Paper Bird” (Amy Schneider)
“A Fish Tale” — collage 3-D impasto acrylic on a 36 x 36 canvas (Dorothy Robertshaw — Available for purchase; click here)
“The Levitt” (Rowene Weems — Available for purchase; click here)
“Vanishing into Light” (Nancy Breakstone — Available for purchase; click here)
“Reflecting at Longshore” (Patricia McMahon — Available for purchase; click here)
“Morning Magic, Compo Beach” (Tom Kretsch — Available for purchase; click here)
“Folds” — compound photo (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled — 5″ x 7″ mixed media note cards (June Rose Whittaker — Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (Duane Cohen — Available for purchase; click here)
“Pop Art Portrait” (Ella Barborak, age 15 — One River Art student)
“Who Needs a Beautician When My Friends Powder Me Every Day?” (Mike Hibbard)
“After Market” (Lawrence Weisman)
“Brass Passover Seder Plate on Matzah Background” (Steve Stein)
“Presidential Library” (Mark Yurkiw)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery –as it has been for 6 years. But please consider an anniversary donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
This week in 2020 — a few days into the realization that the COVID-19 pandemic was real — I put out a call for artwork. The idea was that “in these perilous times,” “06880” readers could create — and share — artwork.
“Westport really is an arts community,” I wrote.
It doesn’t matter how old (or young) you are. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never picked up a brush, crayon or camera in your life. You don’t have to be an experienced painter, sketcher or collagist. You can work together, or with your family or anyone else you’re self-isolating with
All you need is an idea and a way to express it. Serenity, love, calm, separation, friends, solitude, fear, hope — whatever you’re thinking or feeling, get to work!
Artwork flooded in. It was broad, beautiful and imaginative. The very next day, I posted our very first online gallery. (It was first called “0*6*Art*Art*0.” at Stacie Curran’s suggestion. Click here to see that inaugural post.)
In the early days, I tried to limit the Saturday feature to work specifically created during the crisis, or that showed powerfully some of the effects those days had on everyone.
Soon, I broadened it to art with any theme (or none).
We’ve been going strong ever since. Today, we kick off the 7th year of our online art gallery.
As always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.
Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in. As they have for 6 years, lovers want to know.
“Open Your Eyes” (Elise Mergenthaler — age 16, One River Art student)
“Mr. Silhouette Snowflake” — mixed media, pastels on paper (Patricia McMahon — Available for purchase; click here)
Photographer Mike Hbbard says: “Beings, far beyond our galaxy, visit Earth regularly to study its life forms. They speculate that the creatures there, calling themselves humans, may go extinct through their own doing — unless they learn that kindness for each other is their only path to survival as a species.”
“Diane Heading Off to Work” — watercolor (Eric Bosch)
“STOP” — acrylic on original metal sign (Jerry Kuyper)
“Congress” (Mark Yurkiw — Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)
“Orange Art” — a clementine and watercolor (Steve Stein)
“Child Support” (Lawrence Weisman)
“June and Friend” (Martin Ripchick — Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (John Maloney)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery –as it has been for 6 years. But please consider an anniversary donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
As usual, our online art gallery features a wide mix of mediums, styles and themes.
And as always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.
Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.
“Hattie” — pencil on paper (Bill Fellah)
“Frozen River” (Rowene Weems — Available for purchase. click here)
Untitled (Duane Cohen — Available for purchase; click here)
“Forgotten” (Nancy Breakstone — Available for purchase; click here)
“Globalization” (Mark Yurkiw — Available for purchase — click here)
“Bren Playing, Sunshine of Your Love” — watercolor (Eric Bosch)
“Don’t Complain and Don’t Explain” — photo with computer enhancements (Evan Stein)
“Ponytail” (Cohl Katz — Available for purchase; click here)
“Arctic Breath” — acrylic resin on canvas (Patricia McMahon — Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (June Rose Whittaker — Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (John Maloney)
“Still Life Blueberries” (Miranda Cameron — Grade 8, One River Art student)
Untitled (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)
“Flipping Out About the Snake in His Clothes!” (Mike Hibbard)
“Dream the Impossible Dream” — pencil and crayon (Steve Stein)
Untitled (Martin Ripchick — Available for purchase; click here)
“At Ease” (Lawrence Weisman)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
Tired of snow? Tired of shoveling? Tired of winter, generally?
We don’t when spring will arrive. But until it does: Sit down. Brew (another) cup of coffee. And enjoy (another) online art gallery.
But you don’t have to just admire our readers’ work. As always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.
Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.
“Micha” (Patricia McMahon; Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (Duane Cohen; Available for purchase; click here)
“Bromance” (Mark Yurkiw; Available for purchase; click here)
“Simple and Elegant” —Chapel Altar at First Parish Church UCC, Brunswick, Maine (Bonnie Scott Connolly)
“The Root of the Story” (Conor Culbertson — Grade 8, One River Art student)
Untitled — mixed media collage (June Rose Whittaker — Available for purchase; Click here)
“Color Splash of Water Lilies” (Eric Bosch)
Untitled (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)
“Lots of Snow” (Karen Weingarten)
Photographer Mike Hibbard says, “This 600-pound snow tiger watches and waits! Deer, scrounging fallen bird feeder seeds, are moving closer and closer …”
“Hello Dali” (Martin Ripchick — Available for purchase; click here)
“Seamstress” (Lawrence Weisman)
“Studying” — pencil and watercolor (Steve Stein)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
We always showcase a variety of artists in our Saturday online art gallery.
They always span an impressive spread of mediums, styles and subjects.
But this week’s offers the widest range of ages. We’ve got a first-time submission from a 4th grader — and another first-time offering from a 97-year-old.
Can we ever beat that?
Hey: We can try! As always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.
Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.
“Mill Pond Foggy Foggy Night” (Michael Chait — Available for purchase; click here)
“Hey There From Emilia-Romagna, Italy” — digitally painted original photograph (Michael Tomashefsky — Available for purchase; click here)
“Running in the Rain” (Salit Kulla)
“Charleston, SC” (Tom Doran — Available for purchase; click here)
“Bitter End Knots” — Bitter End Yacht Club, Virgin Gorda (Nancy Breakstone — Available for purchase; click here)
“Flowers Peeking Through the Ice” — 21 x 21 oil and acrylic on aluminum (Dorothy Robertshaw — Available for purchase; click here)
“Spring Forward” — acrylic and resin (Patricia McMahon — Available for purchase; click here)
“Gold Wave, $5 an Ounce” — Dutch-pour technique on canvas (Eric Bosch)
“Seeing Spots” (Allison Arth, grade 4, One River Art student)
“Shadows of my Former Self (Officer, Golfer, Pickleballer” — triptych photo (Tom Lowrie, age 97)
Photographer Mike Hibbard says, Earthquake hits Kathmandu City. Millions of pieces in this puzzle. AI can help rebuild the temple.”
“A Type Setter’s Nightmare” — watercolor and pencil (Steve Stein)
“Lion Around” (Martin Ripchick — Available for purchase; click here)
“What’s it All About?” (Lawrence Weisman)
“Allison” — pencil on paper (Bill Fellah)
“Jan. 6th” (Mark Yurkiw — Available for purchase; click here)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
Nineteen artists are featured in today’s online art gallery.
As always, their works span mediums and themes. And their ages, backgrounds and geographic locations are all over the map too. Most artists live in Westport — but some grew up here, and now live and work around the world.
As always, we invite you to be part of next week’s exhibition. No matter your age; the style or subject you choose — and whether you’re a first-timer or old-timer — we welcome your submissions. Watercolors, oils, charcoal, pen-and-ink, acrylics, mixed media, digital, lithographs, collages, macramé, jewelry, sculpture, decoupage, needlepoint — we want whatever you’ve got.
Just email a JPG to 06880blog@gmail.com. And please include the medium you’re working in — art lovers want to know.
“Echoes of Passion” — digital oil painting (Ken Runkel)
“As We Sometimes See Ourselves” — oil on canvas (Mary Madelyn Attanasio)
“Mia” — 10 x 10 acrylic on canvas (Missy Greenberg)
“Cooper” — pencil on paper (Bill Fellah — Available for sale; click here)
“Swimming Upstream” — acrylic and resin (Patricia McMahon — Available for purchase; click here)
“Art Buds” — 30 x 30 acrylic impasto (Dorothy Robertshaw — Available for purchase — click here)
“Off the Wall” (Nancy Breakstone — Available for purchase; click here)
Untitled (June Rose Whittaker — Available for purchase; click here)
“SnowFrame” (Jerry Kuyper)
Untitled (Marina Drasnin)
“Ice Image” (Cohl Katz)
“What Path Will You Take in 2026? All A-BOARD! Go For It!” (Mike Hibbard)
“Cuban Tree Frog” (Werner Liepolt — Available for purchase; click here)
“World’s First Immigrant Alien” (Mark Yurkiw — Available for purchase; click here)
“Me on the Saxophone” — watercolor (Eric Bosch)
“Hail to the Chief” (Martin Ripchick — Available for purchase; click here)
“Every Dancer Has an Aura!” (Steve Stein)
” Cage Free Soul Intention Seeking Peeps” — Hand-drawn clothing culture construction design art processes (Megan Grace Greenlee)
“Lost in Thought” (Lawrence Weisman)
(Entrance is free to our online art gallery. But please consider a donation! Just click here — and thank you!)
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