ON THE WATER -- Finding the art on Balboa

June Casagrande

One look at Balboa Island changed everything for Steve Simon. It

changed his address, it helped change his career -- it even changed his

image of Santa Claus. Now when Simon thinks about Kris Kringle, images

like the Balboa ferry come more quickly to mind than those of sooty

chimneys or even snow.

Simon, a 36-year-old artist, has created a nautical St. Nick for his

annual Christmas card.

“The ferry is such a central icon to Newport Beach, I thought I should

really do something with Santa on the ferry,” Simon said.

Such water themes have inspired many works in his Simon Fine Art

Gallery & Studio on Balboa Island. A specialist in local art, he has come

to capture Newport Beach in a way that made the city’s Arts Commission

stand up and take notice. Commissioners asked Simon to represent the city

in a county fair competition in July.

In a five-hour paint off against other Orange County artists, Simon

created “Beachcombers.” The painting, done from a photograph Simon took,

shows two girls on the beach with the Balboa Pavilion and a winter sunset

in the background.

“I wanted to capture the real mood of the spirit of Newport Beach,” he

said.

The judges endorsed his approach by bestowing two awards: Best City

Reflection and Best in Show. The city bought the painting for $800 as

part of its permanent collection. Officials have yet to decide where it

will be exhibited.

Simon wasn’t always the seaside type. A Chicago native, he got his

first glimpse of Balboa Island 10 years ago when he came to visit a

friend. A management consultant at the time, he remembers driving over

the bridge and wondering why anyone would choose to live anywhere but

here -- especially having lived in a place like Chicago.

“I thought: What’s everyone else thinking? I want to live here.”

Working on a master’s of business administration in Paris, he

developed new feelings about the art world and his career.

“I’d thought I’d rather be doing art than just working around it,” he

said. “But the Parisian art world was intimidating. Newport Beach seemed

like a place I could really take a chance in the art world.”

He opened his gallery three and a half years ago and has been painting

ever since -- a change of lifestyle he attributes in part to the elusive

lure of the ocean.

“I was inspired by the coast and the beach life,” said Simon, who in

December will publish a book of 35 of his paintings. “I moved 2,000 miles

from the middle of the country because I felt the tug of the tide. I’m

still trying to figure out what’s so captivating about the water -- it’s

something serene that just makes me want to be around it.”