Local Artist Crystal Collins Showcases Work at Delmarva Restaurants

Sitting at a local restaurant in one of Delmarva’s beach towns, you take a sip of your ice cold orange crush and admire the art that lays on the surrounding restaurant walls.

We sat down with one of our own, WBOC sales executive Crystal Collins, who hangs her art on these very walls, much like other Delmarva artists.

Crystal Collins paints Eastern Shore landscapes with colors that aren’t typical. She says her style of painting is more suggestive and implied, simple and relaxing through the use of her expressive brush strokes.

As an Eastern Shore native, during her adolescent years, Crystal saw Ocean City as a fun summer place but when she came back as an adult, an artist and a mother, she realized the true beauty that surrounded her.

She started painting with her grandmother every Saturday through a breast cancer support group. Crystal went on to take art classes in college and is now a proud member of the Art League of Ocean City.

Like many other local artists, Crystal partners with small local businesses on Delmarva to showcase her work. If you spend any time in Ocean City or Berlin, you may recognize her work.

Crystal’s paintings are hung at Marina Deck Restaurant, M.R. Ducks Restaurant and Bar, Satellite Cafe, Culture Authentic Eatery and the Ocean City Center for the Arts and most of her work is for sale.

Crystal says she has sold more paintings from having her art at Culture Authentic Eatery and The Shark on the Harbor than at any other local venue.

Not only does she hang her work in local restaurants, she participates in local art strolls and various paint nites.

Crystal first showed her art at Berlin’s 2nd Friday Art Stroll and immediately caught the fever. Within her first year, she showed her art at 12 different events.

“Friends and other artists would let me know where I could put my work,” Crystal said. “I rarely have to pay for a vendor booth, the community is very supportive.”

She says the recent paint nite trend has really picked up and the relationships she forms during paint nites have made people more interested in art and more apt to want to paint with her one on one.

Crystal admits life can get hectic with a full time job and two children but to her, painting is a reward. After doing her daily chores such as cleaning the house and doing the dishes,  she paints.

One of the most rewarding parts for Crystal is getting recognized as an artist.

“I was at the supermarket and someone goes ‘hey, you’re that artist chick!” Crystal said. “It’s pretty cool.”

If you would like to meet Crystal in person, check her out at Leakey Pete’s Oyster and Wine Bar for the Coastal Kiss Art Show on Thursday, Feb. 11 from 4-7 p.m. or look for her work at a local restaurant by you!

You can email Crystal via CrystalCollins@live.com.