Front Royal Journalist Shows Off What His Mother Taught Him

Former Warren Sentinel editor Kevin Seabrooke came out from behind his byline over the weekend, turning instead to a late-life – he just turned 60 – display of his new talent, that of an artist portraying mostly scenes from around his Browntown home in southern Warren County.

Seabrooke, who carries a camera around with him wherever he goes, captures, then copies in oils, scenes from in and around Browntown, now on display at the Blue Ridge Arts Council (BRAC) showroom at 305 East Main Street in Historic Downtown Front Royal.

Welcome to the official Blue Ridge Art Council reception for Kevin Seabrooke’s ‘Browntown and Beyond: Discovering Virginia’ art show, running through Jan. 12 at the 305 E. Main St., Front Royal BRAC location. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

Kevin allows that he continues as a writer, producing “historic stuff” mostly featuring World War II moments for an out-of-town company, but turned two years ago to painting in oils the impressive scenes around him, some 50 of which are displayed and another 40 to 50 of which he has sold in 2022 and 2023. He quickly pointed out that in addition to painting the scenes, he also frames all of his paintings.

The formal opening of “Browntown and Beyond: Discovering Virginia” served as a reunion of sorts between Seabrooke and fellow journalists Roger Bianchini (Royal Examiner) and Malcolm Barr (me!), who’d all served time, so to speak, at the Sentinel in the early 2000s.

The artist meets and greets guests between his journalistic reunion with fellow Sentinel-era co-workers.

We – Roger and me – wanted to see what Kevin had been up to in the hiatus between the old days at the Sentinel and now. We hadn’t seen each other for the past several years, and it was good to take a look at the many paintings on display at the Arts Council and ultimately to find out where this late-life burst of artistic enthusiasm came from!

A graduate in English from the University of Georgia, Seabrooke admitted to “stumbling” into journalism following graduation and spent five years as a senior editor at the “World Almanac,” later becoming a “sports stringer” for the Northern Virginia Daily before moving to the Sentinel in 2004.

Art, old friends, and snacks – Looks like fun; I hope you didn’t miss it. If you did, there are more photos of the art, reception, and reunion interview at the end of the story.

It wasn’t until about an hour into the opening of his exhibit that Brenda Seabrooke, his mother, arrived. Turned out that this former school teacher and graduate of Valvosta College, Georgia, helped explain Kevin’s sudden turn to painting. Brenda Seabrooke, now in her 80s, has dabbled in artistry throughout her life. She admitted her experience “must have rubbed off” on her son, albeit fairly late in his own life.

Seabrooke’s oil paintings will be on display at the BRAC showroom until Jan. 12, 2024. Go see!

(Malcolm Barr Sr., 90, a former Associated Press newsman, has been a contributing writer for the Warren Sentinel, Warren Report, and the Royal Examiner, since his retirement to Front Royal in 2002).

Five Browntown-inspired works followed by a beyond Browntown commuter shot titled ‘Tyson morning.’

The writer interviews fellow journalist and artist Kevin Seabrooke, center, with a little assistance from the artist’s partner, Sheri MacDonald. Hmm, maybe that downtown Front Royal fall interview backdrop could be material for the artist’s next beyond Browntown work.

Yeah, there can be people involved, as the work ‘Shade Sailing’ illustrates, so maybe this one …