Light, Captured

by Jon Westman

Light, Captured

Claire Howard’s new Bethany Beach gallery brings her vivid, palette-knife paintings into full view

Written by Kristen Hampshire

Sourcing inspiration from her surroundings, Claire Howard walks through life with an open mind, a colorful palette of oil paints and a sense of wonder. This way of being is exactly how she landed on opening her new gallery in Bethany Beach—where she has spent more than five decades of summers with four generations of her family.

“I was taking a walk one day and thought I’d stop into this beautiful jewelry store,” Claire relates. “When I turned the knob, there was a ‘for rent’ sign. A little bell went off in my head.”

She didn’t necessarily set out to open a gallery. She stumbled into it—quite literally—and knew in an instant it was meant to be.

The space checked every box: large windows, an airy and inviting environment, walkable from home and right in the center of Bethany Beach. Claire signed a lease on New Year’s Eve and picked up the keys the next day.

Her gallery’s opening was a natural next chapter for an artist whose work has long been shaped by place, light and a deeply personal response to both. It brings everything together: her coastal landscapes, pastoral scenes and whimsical animal studies, including lighthearted interpretations of the sheep and other animals from her farm life.

More than a studio, it’s designed as an experience.

“In my mind and in my heart, I wanted to create a really happy, cheerful, friendly place,” Claire says. “I wanted my work to reflect wonderful Bethany Beach—all of its warmth and, most of all, its beauty—and collect that in one light-filled space.”

IN THE MOMENT

Claire’s scenic paintings are composed of richly textured oils built entirely with a palette knife, a technique she has mastered over decades. But beyond capturing a landscape, she translates fleeting moments into something lasting.

“What inspires me is the beauty that all of us see,” Claire says. “Something just sings in my heart, and I have to capture it on canvas; not just what I see, but what I feel in that moment.”

That instinct often strikes without warning. She’s known for pulling her truck to the side of the road or stopping mid-bike ride when the light shifts just right, chasing a moment she knows won’t come again.

In Bethany Beach, those moments arrive daily.

A painting titled Friday Night Lights captures a late-day glow unique to the off-season, when winter skies wash pink across the horizon and reflect softly onto the sand. Another, Night Lights, was inspired by a quiet walk with her dog, when moonlight illuminated clouds and dunes in a way that felt almost otherworldly. “I had to hold onto that, paint it and share it,” she says.

FROM FARM TO COAST

Though her work is now closely tied to the Delaware coast, Claire’s artistic roots stretch across Maryland’s countryside, where she lived for years in a restored 1850s Victorian farmhouse in Poolesville. There, her studio—a converted chicken coop—overlooked open land and expansive skies.

“That part of Maryland is so breathtaking. I had to paint everything,” she says.

But Claire’s path to painting full-time was anything but linear—more “a wiggly road,” as she describes it.

“I started sketching and painting with my grandma when I was a little girl,” she relates. “We would take fashion magazines, sketch the models and figures and spend hours comparing our sketches. Then she began asking me to paint pictures for her, and that is sort of how I fell into painting. It became what I did in between everything else.”

Claire went on to study nursing at Villanova University, later pursued studies in art, architecture and design, and built a career in interior design. She painted murals, furniture and anything else that would hold a brushstroke.

“A dear friend once said at a cocktail party, ‘You’d better move along quickly; she’ll paint your pants,’” Claire laughs.

Training in drafting and design gave her a strong foundation in composition, scale and perspective. These elements now anchor even her most expressive works.

Today, Claire works across scales, though she gravitates toward larger canvases that allow her to fully explore light and movement. “The new gallery gives the pieces room to breathe,” she says.

While the move to Bethany was, in some ways, a step toward slowing down, the landscape and the new gallery have had the opposite effect. “Every changing sky is always different,” she explains.

Claire doesn’t take one bit of it for granted.

“I am so grateful to all my family and friends who have supported me in this dream.” CS