Welcome to Sandy Shore Studios!

Hi, my name is Maureen Kroeger and I am the artist behind Sandy Shore Studios. I am a retired educator who now lives on the Jersey Shore in a town called Manasquan. My artistic endeavors began when I was young. I loved to draw, paint, build, design, and make crafts. In high school, I would paint murals on local business windows and the walls of my school. My dream at the time was to be a cartoonist and work for Disney. I ended up minoring in art in college. Although I did not seek an art profession, I have found many outlets for my talents and creativity through the course of my life including cake decorating for my kids' birthdays, helping with school projects, and incorporating art into my main teaching topic, math. These were all incidental opportunities to be creative.

Now that I'm at the Jersey Shore I take daily walks down to the beach and can't help but be inspired by the uniqueness and beauty of each day. The blue sky, cloud formations, sun, sand, and colors are not to be believed! On these walks, I have been intrigued by the periodic abundance of shells, mainly clam shells. I thought it would be fun to collect some and do some painting on them. I supplied myself with paints, brushes, pencils, etc. Initially, I painted beachy pictures in a very illustrative style. I found myself spending hours in my craft space without realizing the day had passed. I guess you would call it being "in the flow". I had forgotten what a passion I had for creating, not incidentally but intentionally.

So, now I am back to my roots and my passion for art. I'm a bit obsessed with hand-painting custom designs on shells as well as decoupaging shells to be used as trinket dishes. I am experimenting with different display options for the shells whether it be in shadow boxes, or on easels.

Retirement can often be a daunting stage in one's life. One definition I saw on retirement was, " to leave our job or stop working because you have reached a particular age or because of ill health, or to cause someone or something to stop being employed or used." Sounds pretty dismal, like you are done having a purpose and it is time to be put out to pasture. As she retired from tennis, Serena Williams said, "I have never liked the word retirement. Maybe the best word to describe what I'm up to is evolution". I believe this is so true. For me, I'm not ready to stop having a personal purpose. I can still "work", but perhaps I have the freedom and time now to pursue interests other than what was my chosen profession. I am evolving and exploring what brings me joy. Right now it is being with my family, walking the beach, collecting my shells, and deciding what to create today.

Thanks for visiting!