Neal Hughes

Painting has been a part of Neal Hughes’ life since he took art lessons in grade school. He went on to graduate from the Philadelphia College of Art (University of the Arts) and mastered the skills necessary to do book and magazine covers, advertising, and other types of illustration. He has completed major commissions for the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team and The National Civil War Museum and has won numerous awards, including the Maritime Gallery Yachting Award at the prestigious International Marine Art Exhibition at the Gallery at Mystic Seaport. In recent years he has made the transition from illustration to fine art and is now dedicated exclusively to painting.

Neal’s inspiration comes mostly from coastal subjects from the Chesapeake to Maine. He started sailing as a young boy and many of his compositions involve both historic and contemporary sailing craft. Working in oils, his paintings are a continuation of the American realist tradition.

Recent and upcoming exhibits include:
-The International Marine Art Exhibition at the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT
-Two man show at Art of the Sea Gallery in South Thomaston, ME
-Great Lakes Regional Maritime show of the American Society of Marine Artists at the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, MI
-Modern Marine Masters show at The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT
-Sea Fever -An Exhibit of the American Society of Marine Artists at the Cold Spring Whaling Museum of Long Island, NY
-Artists in Winter show at The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT
-A Gathering of Marine Masters show at the Art of the Sea Gallery in South Thomaston, ME
-Save the Bay Foundation Show at the Gallery on Merchants Square in Williamsburg, VA
-The Art of Lobstering show at the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, ME
-The American Society of Marine Artists National Exhibition at the Vero Beach Museum of Art in Vero Beach, FL
-Visions of Maine - one man show at the Art of the Sea Gallery in Rockland, ME