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Painting offers window into Kindle

Art in Bloom commissions first of several in series
December 21, 2021

In the coming weeks, Kindle patrons and passersby will have a new window into the popular Lewes restaurant, except this window won’t be real.

Lewes artist Jean Doran recently completed a trompe l’oeil painting commissioned by Art in Bloom. Trompe l'oeil is an art technique that aims to fool the viewer by using realistic imagery.

Doran’s piece shows the interior of Kindle as if the viewer were looking into the restaurant from outside, showing booths, tables and chairs, and the bar with a patron reading a book.

Ed Zygmonski, Art in Bloom co-chair, said the idea to introduce trompe l’oeil to Lewes came from Frederick, Md.

“They have a number of trompe l’oeil in their town,” Zygmonski said. “This is our first. A small start. It’d be nice to have three, four, five. We’ll see where it goes.”

Doran said she started on the project in the middle of November and worked steadily until it was completed in early December. While most trompe l'oeil pieces are created directly on the surface of a building or structure, Doran was uncomfortable painting on Kindle’s clapboard siding. So instead, she painted the scene on a panel that can be framed and affixed to the building to look like a window.

To get an idea of what to paint, Doran stood against the wall inside the restaurant.

“All I saw was a table and chairs and a blank wall, and I thought, that’s not going to work,” she said. “I took a little artistic license.”

Doran moved to Lewes in 1998. After working in commercial interior design for many years, she started painting full time once her children grew up. She’s been painting full time since moving to Lewes, and does a lot of commissions of pet portraits and other subject matter.

Her work can be found on Facebook by searching for Art of Jean Doran.

Art in Bloom is working to identify the next site for a trompe l’oeil piece. Any business or resident who is interested in having trompe l’oeil on their building or residence may contact Zygmonski at edzlewes@comcast.net. Artists interested in participating are also asked to reach out.

Art in Bloom was created in 2016 as a committee of Lewes in Bloom. The group has brought several public art pieces to Lewes, including the menhaden mural on the side of the Beacon Motel, the mosaic mural on the Savannah Road drawbridge and the whirligigs near the Lewes Public Library.

Art in Bloom is currently working with Schell Brothers to create a faux train station next to the Lewes library to honor the city’s longtime history with the railroad. The project is working in tandem with efforts by the Lewes Junction Railroad and Bridge Association to place train cars on a 210-foot section of railroad that was left behind when the tracks were removed in 2018.

To learn more about Art in Bloom, go to lewesinbloom.org.

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