72 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {home & design} ART IST seaside scenes words by SHERYL NONNENBERG • images by LAURA HUGHES Summer at the beach—it’s a subject that has attracted artists throughout history. From Picasso to Diebenkorn, capturing the joie de vivre of frolicking in azure waves or lying in repose on sun-warmed sand is an irresistible urge. For Laura Hughes, it is a way of connecting with her own precious childhood memories and capturing playful moments experienced by her four children at the seashore. The figures in Laura’s oil paintings swim, boogie board, sunbathe and read books in brightly colored beach chairs. A scene from Santa Cruz or Carmel, perhaps? Actually, Laura finds her inspiration in the small beach towns along the shores of New Jersey, where she was raised. “Spring Lake is a small shore town, just 3,000 residents, but it’s beautiful and we love it,” she explains, adding that her home is just “steps from the beach.” Faced with a move across the country to Palo Alto, Laura and her husband sought a way to enjoy both locations. The answer was a bicoastal lifestyle in which the family spends nine months in the Bay Area and the summers back on the Jersey Shore. It might sound frenetic, but it becomes clear how Laura, with her calm and positive demeanor, makes it work. “My husband and I really wanted our children to have the chance to spend summers at the beach and take seasonal jobs, just as we did growing up,” she says. Plus, both of their extended families are there. The peripatetic lifestyle has also suited her ambitions as an artist, opening new doors and opportunities. Laura’s own childhood was filled with creativity. “There were always art supplies around and my mother was artistic her whole life,” she says. Always drawn to art classes in school, Laura decided to major in English and minor in art at Georgetown University. She was able to spend a semester abroad in Italy for her major—a real priority for her—but ABOVE: Amity by Palo Alto artist Laura Hughes. PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: LAURA HUGHES
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