The Bard Painter of Tarrytown – A Visit with Painter Ronnie Levine

On a pleasant afternoon I go to meet painter Ronnie Levine. She has set up her painting station just outside the doors of The Cherry Door, a thrift store, on Main Street in Tarrytown.

Ronnie's set up doesn't take up much space, but she is fully equipped and prepared to capture her surrounding with a cinematic, even panoramic, eye.

"I like to paint outdoors—real life. I sometimes use photos, but they are 2D. If I'm here in person I get to view it in 3D. And look how big it all is," she said.

I now notice the boldly colored window shutters and architectural motifs of the building that house Main Street Sweets, an ice cream and candy store the sits across the from where Ronnie is set up. This building is the focus of the painting Ronnie is presently working on.

Ronnie paintings have a realistic tenor to them with an overlaid sheer of the imagined. There is a lively, vivid freshness to them.  

Ronnie has been the unofficial Artist-in-Residence in Tarrytown for many years and has chronicled the comings, goings and renovations of buildings, homes and scenic views of the area even as it continues to change. 

A visual historian of sort, she recalls painting  the Tarrytown Music Hall after it was saved from becoming a parking garage.

Yet, in this financial climate, Ronnie, like many local artists, is struggling to keep up her artistic pursuits especially with grant money for the arts being almost non-existent.

"I'm hoping to do some fundraising so I can keep going," she said. "I joined an artist web group called Fractured Atlas. They set up the site for artist to legally collect donations."

Despite the hardships of many local artists, Ronnie is a proud of her craft and goes about it with a well-defined perspective of art's universal importance.

"Art touches people, it matters to people from different back grounds," she said. "Some I meet, out here painting, come from other countries. They may not speak English but they see Tarrytown being made into art and it matters to them."

While she works, it becomes apparent that she is an artist that likes people, and loves having them around. They not only make her time on the street pleasant, but they also fill in the colorful details of her paintings.

"I love Tarrytown, its just so visual, the antique stores are a visual focus, and of course the galleries," she said. "I just want to be here all the time."

And the chorus said, "Here, here."

Ronnie Levine maintains a studio in Tarrytown, you can contact Ronnie at www.rivertownpainter.com. And you can check out Fractured Atlas for donations at www.fracturedatlas.org.