Pocono-native Mike Clee, 24, came down to Rehoboth Beach on friends’ advice that he could succeed here as an artist. He first arrived two summers ago, the week leading up to July 4th weekend.

“I stayed down for four days,” Clee said. “I walked around town and looked at the shops on Rehoboth Avenue and realized this is a place where I could make a living. And it’s such a nice beach town.”

Clee said although Rehoboth and the Poconos share some similarities as resort towns, Rehoboth is a larger, more diverse community.

“Rehoboth today is what the Poconos will be like in four or five years,” he said. “Although East Stroudsburg University was up there, so it had different bookstores and coffee shops, places like that.”

Shortly after his first trip, Clee moved in permanently. After adjusting to his new home on Lincoln Street in Rehoboth, he got to work on his pieces.

“All last winter, I just holed up here working on my style and tried to get the best work I could,” Clee said.

“Last spring I settled on my design and the colors I want to use. Now the creative process is over. I just have to finish it. I will have my first series done by spring. This is the first year where I finally finished the whole process.”

Clee, self-taught, only received instruction in high school.

“I was kind of defensive about liking art,” Clee said. “I was a punk kid. My art teacher wouldn’t let me do some of the assignments I suggested.”

Despite inauspicious beginnings, Clee said his favorite artist, Piet Mondrian, inspired him to believe a career as an artist was possible.

“He’s kind of the reason why I thought I could do something like paint,” he said. “I was really into abstract art.”

Mondrian pioneered a style he dubbed neoplasticism, a form of abstract art. Recognized as one of the foremost flower and landscape artists of his generation, Mondrian moved towards art defined only by horizontal and vertical black lines and primary colors.

Neoplasticism tried to depict the absolutes of life, and to Mondrian, the only artistic absolutes were black geometric lines and primary colors.
Clee said nature and churches influenced his current series of painting.

“They all start out as flowers,” Clee said. “It’s such a nice design. I’m really pleased with the results of these paintings. Also, I have a sketchbook filled with stained-glass windows. They really appeal to me. I like the division of color with the black iron. I like how light comes through them. So they have an influence too.”

The paintings show a floral-influenced design separated by strong black lines.

Clee did not allow any of his colors to mix. Black lines, like in Mondrian’s work, separate them all.

Clee, who works as a bartender during the summer season, will spend the rest of winter finishing his paintings.

“I never feel like I’ve wasted a day by painting for 10 hours,” Clee said.

“I want this to be the only thing I have to do. I don’t want to do anything but paint.

“These paintings will be done shortly and hopefully I will have a show before spring,” he added assuredly.