When the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Monmouth County Parks System unveiled the outdoor sign highlighting the capture of a British ship during the Revolution, their ceremony at the Wilson House in Port Monmouth was filled with interest, talent, broad knowledge of shipbuilding and the importance of Monmouth County in the Revolution. There was also on display an outstanding oil portrait of the ship, HMS Britannia, created by artist Steve Schreiber, a Monmouth County born artist who does more than paint his pictures.
Steve pours life, being, personality and substance in the faces of each of the people he creates in oil, pastel, or other media. In his painting of the Britannia, he also makes it clear the capture was taken under icy conditions by brave patriots.
Raised in Farmingdale, Steve attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh when he was in his 20s, graduating with a focus on illustration and design. Work, family and a wandering spirit brought him to Northeast Ohio, but never losing his love for the history of his home state.
His interests led him to follow a variety of career paths including Children’s Educational Publishing, arborist, tree climber, and manager of a zip line canopy tour, all taking away from his natural talent in creating art.
But five years ago, Steve returned to his passion for painting, saying “I am excited to pursue a future in fine art. It feels like the right time. If I can express myself creatively and have a positive influence on the people around me and the world, I will be very satisfied.”
He has already accomplished that and much more. Since returning to art, Steve’s work has been included in “New Western Talent”, a juried show hosted by Western Gallery four years ago. His piece, The Hard Road From Plato’s Cave, was selected for “Eventually Together”, juried and awarded first place by Ron White through Freefall Studios in 2021.
After living in Parma Heights, Ohio, Steve is now back in the Garden state, living in Toms River, some of his works easily available for anyone who enjoys fine art. He was at the festive and well attended DAR event in Port Monmouth, where he calmly but enthusiastically answered reams of questions about how he designed the painting of the Britannia.
Steve’s painting of the brigantine, which had broken loose from its moorings, under capture and being towed by the Patriots was commissioned by John Barrows of Monmouth Timeline to illustrate a story that members of Middletown DAR were researching and writing to be published on John’s website.
With a heavy concentration of his work on Native Americans, their clothing and their faces, Steve makes it clear his emphasis in his work is on perfection. In the Shoal Harbor painting, he captures personality and accuracy while at the same time leaving enough artistic space for the viewer to create his own story about the Patriots rowing the small boats lugging the brigantine, the ice on the tips of the waves in Shoal Harbor during the same storm Washington faced crossing the Delaware that wintry week in 1777.
It took Steve about four months to plan, create and paint the Britannia, the first three months doing all the preliminary work of educating himself to paint the first ship he had ever painted. During that time he also had to research not only a brigantine and how that type of ship is rigged, but also even the structures of the rowboats towing the ship. He wanted to be sure he was recreating the exact same boats the Middletown Militia used for their capture. Because of prior work and research, he had a good idea of the clothes the militia would be wearing, since he had seen plenty of re-enactors and spoken with several historians of today to take advantage of their research into that aspect of the painting.
The next step towards perfection was Steve drawing his idea for the finished painting, getting the composition figured out, and creating the focal points, the ship, the rowboats and the militia men This is a slow but necessary process so “the finished piece could tell a story,” the artist explained. He also wanted to paint the picture on a surface that would withstand the test of time and recalled an artist friend who has had work damaged. So he switched from stretched canvas to wood or hardboard cradled in a back frame and decided to go that route. “So I constructed the painting surface, hardboard backed with a 1×2 oak frame,” he explains .
Only then, Steve continued, “I could transfer the drawing to the surface and begin to paint in oils.” That is the part that took one month.
Everyone is drawn to a work of art for varied reasons. When I noticed the piercing eyes of one oarsman that appeared to be looking into the face of another in the opposite boat, Steve smiled and explained he had felt a kinship between the two soldiers, possibly brothers, or close friends, who had worked together, knew what each was going through, and was each sharing with the other that frigid night’s activity . The oars are laden with the almost icy froth of the water, Col. Asher Holmes, the military man who led the capture, is standing at the bow of the boat, looking homeward and a secure place to take the captured ship. The officer at the stern of the boat, armed, is looking backward, ready to stop any British who might have gathered to engage the enemy. The painting, though depicting the dark night it was, is light enough for the viewer to see the fine work on the rigging, the storm-blown sails on the bridge.
The painting is on display at the Wilson House where the DAR placed their outdoor sign explaining the story of Britannia.
Anyone interested in purchasing a copy, a print can be ordered directly from the artist’s my website, steveschreiberfineart
