Boardwalk Mini Golf

I have a number of possible projects to work on right now, but the one that's going to start first is the next print in my Floating World series. The topic will be miniature golf. It's a game that can be found anywhere in the country, but I'll always associate it with boardwalks. (I had a summer job at a course once where the closest body of water was the Passaic River) This wasn't on my original list of subjects for prints in this series, thinking maybe it might be referenced in one one of the wide view scenes. But then several months ago I brought the arcade print to the Belmar Arts Council's critique group, where one of our members was reminded that she had recently run across an old family photo set at one of the two courses that once existed in Belmar. She scanned the early 70's photo and sent it to me. That photo is shown below.

This was a miniature golf course on a portion of Belmar's boardwalk. It was not a particularly elaborate course by modern standards, but my brother and I knew it best for the giant bluefish in the middle of it. (we used to call it a whale, because of its size) From the photo above, it looks like players climbed a few steps to a platform, putted the ball into the fish mouth, which came out through one of the side fins toward the green below. The course was destroyed 25 or 30 years ago in a big storm and never rebuilt. Belmar's other course was on the roof of Belmar Playland, and that one disappeared when the building was demolished a decade ago to make way for yet more expensive beachfront houses. Anyway, when a photo of the famous long lost bluefish fell into my hands, I knew a golf print would eventually follow.

I have been thinking about what I would do with it for quite a while. A lot of the structure will be used directly- the fish, the overhead lights, and a variation on the fence in the front. The other holes in my version will be more detailed and complex than anything in the photo, and I'll have people on the course rather than just posing in front of it. Above is my rough preliminary composition sketch, while below is the rough version of the image I drew on the block this afternoon.