Longboat couple prove to be each other's best critics

Like a lot of couples, Sandy and Patrick Bogert don’t shy away from sharing honest opinions.

Their opinions, however, go beyond what a couple might typically share.

Sandy, a painter, and Patrick, a photographer, are each other’s best critics.

“Sandy will say, ‘What do you think of that?’ and I’ll say, ‘Well, I think maybe the apple should be a bit more shiny,’ just something from my eye,” Patrick Bogert said. “And then I’m tinkering with a photo and say, ‘What do you think of that?’ and she’ll just say, ‘Well, I don’t like that.’”

Despite the criticism, sharing their opinions is fun for them. So is creating their work.

Patrick Bogert has been interested in photography since he was 21. He started working in a dark room and the more he learned, the more interested he became. While working in real estate, he did all the photography for his business, but once he retired at the end of 2017, he was able to more fully concentrate on his photos.

Sandy Bogert grew up around painting. Her mother was a painter and Bogert took art classes in school. As she got older, she grew more curious about it.

She opened the first photographic art gallery in Toronto, called Deja Vu Gallery of Photographic Art and began organizing a biannual art workshop in their home in Canada with a friend of theirs, artist Brian Care. When it was open, she took classes and workshops at the Longboat Key Arts Center.

That’s as formal as her instruction got; the rest she learns as she goes. Similarly, Patrick didn’t take formal classes or instruction, either. Since retiring, he has become more interested in the post-production aspect, including printing, matting and formatting.

He said he’ll take pictures of mostly anything and likes combining pictures with each other to make a completely new photograph. One of his favorite pieces is a photo of a brick wall and a street light that he combined with a photo of a blood moon.

Sandy Bogert paints a lot of still life, but said the environment on Longboat Key helps her creativity because of the peaceful atmosphere. She usually paints in a studio Patrick and a friend built outside their home.

Her paintings range from still-life pieces of fruit to a fluffy

bunny she recently made for a pool maintenance employee’s new baby. Sandy Bogert said that when she sits down in front of a blank canvas, she usually knows what she’s going to paint.

“I wish it wasn’t like that,” she said. “I wish I could just go, but no, I have a mindset before I begin what it is I want it to look like.”

She estimates that it takes her a week on larger paintings if she worked on it every day from, say, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“It just depends really, and then I may start something and then decided that that’s not quite what I wanted, and I’ll change it,” she said.

Together, the Bogerts have showcased their work in the Longboat Key Town Hall Art Exhibit for the past three years. They also have work displayed at a cafe in Quebec. Sandy Bogert won awards through shows at the Longboat Key Arts Center, including an honorable mention and second-place ribbon.

Patrick Bogert finds photography more relaxing than Sandy finds painting, but for both, painting and photography are more fun when they are both a part of it – even with the criticism.

“It’s just a different set of eyes,” Patrick Bogert said.