"A Tree Grows On Long Island" by John S LES

Painting by Long Island Artist Liv Larocca

*The artist Liv Larocca is just one of many very gifted artists here on Long Island.  Click her link below her work and enjoy her Facebook page.



"A Tree Grows On Long Island" Part 1 of 3 parts

by John S LES

It's time to celebrate - and loudly so - the artistic talents on Long Island!

Five years ago this month, I wrote my first blog post here.  Eventually I ballooned to creating and writing 10 different blogs altogether.  I took a hiatus from this blog to write for my WhereDidOurLoveGo.blogspot.comand post photos for my Instagram and my Twitter accounts.

Just last May of 2016, I wrote that New Yorkers (specifically Long Islanders) should invest in taking more time support and celebrate Long Island's performing arts.  Since then, I have visited, participated and observed a plethora of incredibly talented people here on Long Island.  I am a born and raised New York City native.  However, I am now a transplanted resident here on Long Island.  My childhood views as a city boy was that Long Island was slow, boring and bland.  I may have been correct about it being slower on Long Island, but I was wrong about it being boring and bland.  There are many, many craftsmen, tradesmen and ethnicities of all types emerging on Long Island.  And with these new, emerging cultural turnovers and trends, things are far from boring and bland.  There are wonderful artists and opportunities to grow here on Long Island.

From dancers, to painters, singers, writers, and several cinema organizations here on Long Island, the fertile soil here is vast.  Of the handful of cinema organizations here on Long Island, I have become the closet friends with the staff at the Port Jefferson Documentary Series.  My experience with them these past seven months is that they have an outstanding warm and friendly staff, and showcase top notch documentaries just about every few weeks, which has ended this week.  They restart in September.  I have driven almost a full hour out to view Port Jefferson's exquisitely selected, and critically acclaimed documentary showings.

I am challenging all who read these words to join me here on my blog, my Facebook page, and my Instagram page as I introduce some of these gifted artists, cinephiles, filmmakers, actors and even some local fashion designers and models that work here on Long Island.  There is a tree of talent and gifted people here on Long Island.  Come get to know them.  And while you do, you can watch as I transition from blogger, to free lance photographer and soon movie maker.  Come back for parts 2 and 3!