Second Shore is a coastal-inspired art brand based in Buffalo, NY, created for those who love lake days, ocean air, and art that brings both to life. Founded by artist and lifelong creator Justine Palkowski, Second Shore blends the colors, textures, and stillness of the water into beach-themed paintings, ornaments, and gifts that feel like home.
Whether you’re decorating your coastal getaway, gifting something special, or simply craving that calm shoreline feeling, Second Shore was made for you.
Justine Palkowski is a coastal-inspired painter based in East Aurora, New York. Working primarily in acrylic and watercolor, her paintings explore the quiet rhythms of water and light through calm compositions, simplified forms, and subtle transitions in tone. Her work blends the peaceful energy of lake life with the tones and textures of the shoreline, reflecting the stillness and emotional connection of time spent near the water.
She studied studio art, English, and marketing in college and now balances a part-time painting practice with a full-time career in marketing at a tech company. Her work is informed by years living near the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, drawing especially from summers at her family’s lake cottage and years living in Charleston, South Carolina.
Her work has been exhibited at Off Main Gallery (East Aurora, NY), The Green Room at 831 (Lakeland, FL), and the Junior League of Buffalo’s Decorators’ Show House (Buffalo, NY). She has also collaborated with several local boutiques and creative studios across Western New York and Charleston. In 2025, she received the People’s Choice Award from The Green Room at 831. Justine sells her work under her own name through her studio, Second Shore.
STEERING THE SHIP
CHARTING THE COURSE
It started with a little heartache on the Fourth of July.
While Justine was living by the ocean in Charleston, SC, her family was spending the holiday at their lake house in Central New York. She felt a deep ache to be there—to hear the waves lap against the dock, to watch the sunset over the trees, to feel the wind roll off the water.
That moment sparked a realization: She wasn’t torn between coasts. She was lucky to love both.
Second Shore was born out of that love. A love for the Great Lakes and the Atlantic. For driftwood and seashells. For Oneida Lake and the Lowcountry marshes. For the places that inspire my art and the people who bring it home.