"Shoreline Treasures"     Oil     16 x 20

Sound memories

of treasures sought along the waters edge

wishing stones and shells

whatever catches eyes a prize

here on a record day

with hand in mine I’ve walked this way

up the beach and back to see a change each day

shoreline treasures fill the moment

but those hands are best in memory


Stephen Stavast

From the collection
of:
Carol and Tim Lloyd
  "Blue Water Dance "    Oil    18 x 24   

The time is right for
pulsing light to take a partnered step
with moving waves
hand and arm they glide return repeat

blue water dance

right in time

for partners chance

to show their thoughtful rhythm

for soon the lighted noon

will prove its moves and light another stage

and leave a partner wanting

Stephen Stavast

From the collection
of:
Dr. Peter and Theresa Truong

  "Tranquil Harbor"                                    Oil   18 x 36    

Proud and arrogant
a self centered waif
has found a home
amongst a stoic crowd

for here this stranger
stands alone unlike the others

suspended
floating above the world below
it rules the day
a magic act it seems has come
to captivate this tranquil harbor
but this will pass just like the others

who come along

in seasons fall

and disappear without applause

 
Stephen Stavast

From the collection
of:
Denna and Charles
Millhollin

Spring Lights  
"Peripheral Currents"                Oil     24x 30

Playful animation

lighted proof

as clear as crystal surface moves
attenuate to quiet corners

peripheral current has no surface seen

yet through its stronger moves
we see its truth

we hear its quiet story
told from meaningful distortions

a memory brought to eyes

embellished further
each time it told this storytellers prize


Stephen Stavast

From the collection
of:
David & Barbara Snodgrass
"Reflections on a Gray Day"   Oil   16 x 20

Rocks with sky
gray day without a drop of sun

yet here within the rocks themselves
are scenes of cloudy skies

slight imagination and back again
to the real world depiction

sky as seen lighting the waters surface

transparency reveals the shallow bottom

a leaf in its brilliance brings the eyes
to a starting place
from which the journey has most likely now begun


Stephen Stavast

From the collection
of:
Karin Landgrabe

"A Stavast Trout"     Oil  20  x 16

Pictured here
a fish I caught
in my imagination

just before it darts off

in the words of many fishermen’s
pedantic fish school teachings

for it’s not for reel
I angle for
but the allure of wanted prize

A Stavast Trout before the lurch
                                  before it disappears
                                                       before your eyes

Stephen Stavast

From the collection
of:
Karin Landgrabe

                                                                                            "On Stable Ground"     Oil   54 x 72

Black stone and granite intersect
on stable ground

grays and muted hues dot this spotted menagerie
here transient pieces come and go

deposits from on high
carried by the wind or merely fall
from branches neigh

rest with others brought and tumbled
in high-water season

none will leave their mark on this
black and white foundation

but balance now
a scene as seen
of fleeting memory

Stephen Stavast

 On Stable Ground
   "Fall Leaves"              Oil           36 x 48
Fall Leaves

Fall leaves bask in the autumn sun

shadows cast the story

a memoir to a glance

a studied chance

along the path that few have taken

a thousand words explain this simple scene

with feeling not forsaken

yet readers have a picture each their own

so I write in paint a memory honed

from slow and careful study

Stephen Stavast
"Petoskey Find"   Oil   24 x 18 

A quiet shore
a peaceful search hands on knees
bent with joyous lurch
here’s one
another and another

what a find
and back again

to scour gleaned and cleaned reaches
others missed

Stephen Stavast

 Petoskey Find
Petoskey Find
"Rivers Edge"                                          Oil  36 x 72            
River's Edge

Rivers bend and here a quiet harbor
motion stills at rivers edge

where forest hints its presence
on surface wet and dry

this year sand has come to stay

but last was swept away
in spring's torrential torment

seasoned this bed
a difference every year

where waters find their way

from clouds that burst and snows that melt
from a confluence of a thousand rills

that spill and fill this rivers name

Stephen Stavast
  "Spring Lights"                                   Oil       36 x 48
 

Falll Leaves Purple Reign Sticks and Stones Rivers Edge Reign Dance Shadows Play II Stony Brook Untitled Wild Sage On Stable Ground Skippers and Shooters Reflections On A Gray Day Trout Peripheral Currents Shoreline Treasures