Ocean-based portrait artist Suzanne Osterweil Weber has combined her gift of painting with her adoration of children and has become a sought-after society painter in the process.

Sometimes, when you don't plan it, you take a diversion for either a favor or for the fun of it, and you wind up regenerating your career in a new way. Suzanne Osterweil Weber, who has achieved outstanding acclaim in the art world for her work, and who had retired as a career teacher and principal, has a new calling that fortuitously combines her talent and her love. She has quickly arisen to become the portrait artist for young families in Monmouth County.

Osterweil Weber's muse entered her life at the dewy age of four, when she created a pastel piece for her uncle. The native New Yorker, who was also a force in the SoHo art resergence in the 1960s, obtained a B.S. degree in Art Education in 1961 from Pratt Institute followed by an M.F.A. degree in Painting and Graphics in 1964 plus an M.S. in Educational Supervision from Pace University — all the while producing paintings. Through the decades, she has had 15 solo exhibitions and has had her work featured in hundreds of group shows. Her paintings hang in the National Art Mueseum of Sport, the U.S. Information Agency, and the Monmouth Medical Center.

Writing in Artspeak, September 16, 1988, Ed McCormack describes the artist as "an astonishingly accomplished and productive painter whose work had evovled from early experiments with abstract and figurative expressionism, through various Pop and geometric phases, to the meticulous photorealist style for which she is known."

What is astonishing is that Osterweil Weber was carrying another professional career, that of educator, first as a teacher and then as a high school principal. Like mixing hues in her palette, Osterweil Weber has blended art and her love of children since the early 1960s. That initial blend has deepend its chroma, through seredipity and time.

Osterweil Weber calls her signature style photorealism, capturing spontaneous moments of human emotion and motion. A pivotal example was a black-and-white photograph in Life magazine in 1976. While idly flipping through it, she was captivated by a family snapshot of four children and their parents relaxing on a balustrade overlooking the Aegean Sea. The stunning 46" by 50" Life Magazine Family painting of that photo showcased is in saturated colors the Greek shipping family of Stavros Niarchos. In an extensive interview in the April 1979 journal Bennington Review, Weber explained how she chooses a photo to paint. "It is not like an intellectual process. My initial response is a visceral response to a photograph. I find I like the complexity of the human relationships in a photograph."

She has described the original Niarchos photo as a perfect frozen moment; the way many people just remember their childhoods. One of the children in the painting, Spyros Niarchos, is now a grown man with his own family. In September 2005, Osterweil Weber personally showed him the painting of his boyhood. He was so taken, he purchased the portrait and immediately commisioned the artist to capture his own children, which she completed earlier last year.

Life Magazine Family was also instrumental in paving the way for Osterweil Weber's new career path. After about a year's worth of friendly commiseration during exercise class with Rumson philanthropist Leah Soltas, whose professional background is in public relations, the artist mentioned to her gym partner the work hung in Cooper Rehab, Middletown. "I always thought those paintings were fabulous, just arresting," Soltas recalls.

Soltas visited Osterweil Weber at the artist's home, where she was shown the original Niarchos painting. "When I saw that, bells went off in my head," Soltas says. "It immediately occurred to me that Suzanne could, be donating portraits for charity, make a successful impact not only in her career but in the lives of many families."

Soltas began to introduce the legacy painter to several chairity committee women. "Leah really had become not only my mentor, but a great friend," Osterweil Weber smiles. The two decided on auctioning off a modest sized portrait (18" x 24" single figure), using the Niarchos painting as the attention grabber in the silent auction of the 2005 American Cancer Society Annual Cancer Ball. The bid winners at this event were James and Janine Hallisey of Rumson. Janine Hallisey recalls, "What attracted us was the way it was painted. Her style is less traditional than most portraits, the colors were bright and the surfaces were simplified to a degree. The lighting she captured was amazing."

The Halliseys wanted to upgrade to a larger size and had their two sons, James, 9 and Gavin, 7, painted during the summer. Suzanne took the boys outside by herself and tok quite a lot of pictures. They had a great time, and she captured them perfectly, barefoot with tousled hair, sitting in the backyard.

Recalling that first charity event, Osterweil Weber says, "I was very excited that I would be contributing in some way and had no expectations. One cannot always contribute financially, but to give something special of yourself that brings others happiness and that contributes to a wider cause, in this case, finding a cure for cancer, is very fufilling."

Soltas continued to mentor the artist by helping her choose the most suitable charities. "I thought it was best to start out being more selective about the charities to donate to. I helped her narrow that lised based on what she likes, where she wants to give most. And, each portrait takes her a lot of time and effor, we didn't want her to be rushed or backlogged."

Unlike most portrait artists, Osterweil Weber takes her time slowly engendering the trust of the child, so that the little ones can be confident in expressing their true natures. She'll engage them in conversation and, most notably, in play, all the while unobtrusively taking numerous digital photos. This is the first step in the reality of the ultimate photorealistic portrait; a certain glint in the eye, a tilt of the head, a pensive brow furrow, all mannerisms of the child's authentic character.

Osterweil Weber encourages the children to choose their own clothing and their favorite environments so that they are more comfortable truly expressing themselves. At home, with her compilation of phtos, her notes and her vivid insight, she will begin her composition. She chooses "the best of each child at each moment, then frame and compose the blend, which will lead to the ultimate finished portrait," she says. "I use all the photos when working, and surround myself with the persona of the particular subject. They kind of take over my life," she laughs.

Soltas remarks, "The closeness she achieves with her subjects is unusual, and the result is a modern, fresh and different portrait. Most portraits are classic, very formal."

When visitors see the Hallisey boys, says their mother, they are surprised at the non-traditional liveliness, how different it is from a formal traditional painting. They are also struck immediately how she captured our boys' individual likenesses; they look more like children really do look rather than in a formal painting.

Soltas' indroductions and strong recommendations were the initial impetus for the flow of work and the donations by the legacy painter, and her reputation grew abundantly. Distincitive work has a way of selling itself, inciting curiosity and conversation. For example, Janine Hallisey was involved in the Monmouth County's Clean Ocean Action golf outing, held last September, and she had invited Osterweil Weber to donate a painting for bidding. Meanwhile, Soltas had also introduced the painter to the women's council of the annual Power of Pink luncheon, hosted by The Women's Council for the Leon Hess Cancer Center at Monmouth Medical Center, where her work has been the door prize in 2006.

Soltas also orchestrated the painter's work for bidding at the Monmouth Conservation Foundation in 2005. It was won by Carolynn Daikon, owner of Resources Real Estate, of Rumson. Osterweil Weber painted her and her 10-year-old daughter Gabrielle.

Another satisfied bidder is Maggie Riker, the auction chair of the Rumson Country Day School, who through Soltas, contacted Weber to donate a portrait for the school's annual fundraiser in February 2006. Eyeing the vivid painting, Riker was inspired to win it. "Her style is so distinctive, it's almost as if she can see into the soul of her subject," Riker describes. Osterweil Weber composed "Teddy and Maisey," capturing the warm bond betweeen her son Teddy, 10, and his Jack Russell terrier Maisey, 9. Riker is so entranced with Osterweil Weber's work, she commissioned the artist to painter her daughter Katie for her 18th birthday, and her other son Jack, 16.

Osterweil Weber has also contributed her portraits for bidding to the Jewish Family and Children's Services of Greater Monmouth County, Pacific Encores Opera Company and Rumson Education Foundation.

On her newfound journey, Osterweil Weber describes, "It's like casting one little pebble in the water, the rings and ripples continue to spread."