goodbye 2016

So, it is the end of a productive year and the eve of a new and creative time. I reached some unexpected goals this past year - showing my work in the 3 best art galleries in town (Easton Gallery, Sullivan-Goss and Marcia Burtt Gallery), as well as other local venues (Faulkner Gallery, Gallery 113, Palm Loft Gallery, the Bacara) and nearby Museum exhibits (Wildling Museum, Santa Paula Art Museum). Also started working toward some new and future projects: the Rose Compass group (A River's Journey) for 2017, a final group show at Easton Gallery, and a 2 person exhibition with my pal Libby Smith in 2018. Who knows what else may come along? It's just important to keep working, regardless. 

The last few weeks, being hectic with holiday events, still provided some time to paint and have some great adventures. The Rose Compass group spent a day touring Jameson Lake/Juncal Dam with our guides Chad and Louis from the Montecito Water District. The Lake is at about 6% capacity, creeks dried up and watershed sadly barren. It was amazing to see this up close and personal, driving and walking the back-country roads. Thankfully we have had a little rain - enough to pull us out of our year-round fire season - but not enough to offset the drought conditions. Check our web-site, rose-compass.com for updates on that project.

Lib and I got out to paint at Tucker's Grove several times - looking at the same oak tree. 

old oak I, oil on panel, 8"x10"

old oak II, oil on panel, 8"x10"

So here's to a New Year of more painting, more shared adventures and trying to make the best of everything.

mid-december

cold weather snap and even a small bit of rain - enough to green things up, but also to fool you into thinking we might be out of the drought. No such luck.

A break from painting with the Rose Compass group and back to some Monday painting as well as catch up in the studio. Hard to get time during the holidays, but we will get a special treat to visit Jameson Lake/Juncal Dam next Tuesday. This is the first stop in the Santa Ynez river watershed and the reservoir feeds Montecito.
Should be pretty striking to see and great to have time to paint there.

Came back from the Ranch retreat with a fascination for sycamore trees. We found some beauties at Tucker's Grove.

sycamore clump, oil on panel, 9"x12"

this was a gray, low cloud day at tucker's grove, a good 20 minute walk up the trail. we went back 2 days later to keep working on it. the light of course was different, but it was good to have another look.

I've worked in the studio on some of the paintings started at Marcia's ranch:

sycamore at the ranch, oil on panel, 30"x30"

beautiful tree near the road, my pal, Libby is painting in the distance.

early morning shadow, oil on panel, 8"x10"

a quick study, standing in the cold shadow watching the sun light up the distant hills as it rose over the mountain ridge behind us.

late sunset hills, oil on panel, 8"x20"

Marcia would say, "believe the color you see"

post-thanksgiving post

hmmm... interesting meanings for the word "post": as a preposition it means subsequent to or after something; as a noun it is a vertical upright support for something or as a means of sending something (think postal service or by post) and as a verb to announce, display or publish something.

November brought some fun times: painting and exploring the Santa Ynez river, 
a photo-shoot with the 'roses', spending 4 days at a painting retreat with close to a dozen other artists at Marcia Burtt's ranch near Santa Maria (added bonus of the 'super moon'), celebrating a 100 year old birthday with a dear friend from the sierra's and the holiday that involves all day cooking and a large fowl.

some gouaches from the ranch:

early morning fog, 3"x4"

'super' moonset 6:30am 3"x4"

sunlit hollyhock, 3"x3"


still finishing up some of the oils - it was wonderful to have whole days to paint in a beautiful setting. 

early morning light, oil on panel, 5 1/2"x 14"

I am posting images on the new 'rose compass' website - work from the watershed project. 
All six of us are posting images and thoughts about our experience out painting along the Santa Ynez river:
www.rose-compass.com

still green , 3"x4"

umbilicus flumine, 3"x4"

this last one was done from a view of Bradbury Dam on what used to be Cachuma "Lake". The water is so low that there is a flexible pipeline that moves water from the lake to the river below, through the dam. I was struck by the slice of landscape that I saw through the dam opening - something one would never normally see from the lake-side of the dam. It reminded me of an umbilical cord feeding the river - or maybe an IV tube. very sad.

On an upbeat note - I will have 2 paintings in the annual Sullivan-Goss Gallery "100 Grand" show and continue to show small gouaches at the Easton Gallery.

change of season, change of time

short, but intense and steady rainfall washed all the lingering dust and ash off the landscape. monday painting at the santa ynez river has been fruitful and so lovely to be outside seeing the 'fall colors' such as they are in our southern california world. getting up in the dark with the shorter days is rewarded by stunning morning light and color.

the "rose compass" group has been working along the watershed in preparation for a 2017 show at the Wildling museum. we are developing a separate website for that project, which should be up and running soon.

these are some of the small gouaches from the last couple of weeks:

dry creek with waterline, 3"x5"

riverbank, 3"x3"

sycamore by pool, 3"x3"

white rock, rey fire burn, 3"x6"

matchsticks, white rock, 3"x6"


and as a total change of pace, I did a wonderful 3 hour still-life workshop with Meredith Brooks Abbott.  it was great fun and a good group of people. she is a treasure and it was wonderful to watch her work. this was my effort:

parsley, turnips and lemons, oil on panel, 9"x12"


another work finished from the trip to humboldt county in september:

rusty barn, oil on panel, 10"x20"

october sierras

spent a week at the cabin in the central sierras - closing up for winter and enjoying the peace and quiet. weather is still warm and mild, though there was a hopeful bit of rain.
went out to catch some of the local fall color - brush, willow and aspen, ferns and sedges - hiking about with a small, portable kit.

lower line creek, 3"x3" gouache on paper 

attic window view, 3"x3" gouache on paper

bracken fern, 3"x3" gouache on paper

aspen patch, 3"x3" gouache on paper


Also started on new work from a day trip to the santa ynez river with the 'rose compass' group. we will be posting our work on a new website soon. there are 6 of us working toward a show at the Wildling Museum next year about the Santa Ynez river watershed.

Currently at the Wildling is a beautiful exhibit from the SCAPE group, "Places of the Heart" which will be up until the 23rd of October. Juror Eric Merrill chose a very strong show. 

I have a small painting from Figueroa mountain included:

spring ridge view, 8"x8" oil on panel  sold


And, two paintings, an oil and a gouache at Gallery 113 for the "Los Padres Forest Watch" show, done earlier this spring:

figueroa spring, oil on panel 6"x12"

view from figueroa, 3"x4" gouache on paper

september heat wave

we have gone beyond 'indian summer' at this point. 95 degree weather, ferocious sun-downer winds and an odd tropical front that blew us off the beach last monday. goleta slough normally has a decent flow of water moving in and out, but now is quite depleted, even when the tide is up.

low water, goleta slough, 9"x12" oil on panel

east beach wetlands, 3"x 4 1/2" gouache on paper 
from earlier in the month, watching all the water birds including an osprey, enjoy the beach.

lake and clouds II, 3"x 4 1/2" gouache on paper
finished up from last trip to the cabin


This weekend (september 24-25) I have a oil painting in the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum's annual 'Art Walk' - Artists of Distinction'  indoor show. Also 7 new gouaches on the wall at Easton Gallery.

end of summer

Here it is - the end of summer in the air, shorter day length, time change just around the corner.
Spent a week at the cabin and 5 days in Loleta. The stars really aligned for this and we had a great trip from the Sierras to Humboldt County, visits with family that live nearby and a wonderful birthday celebration.
I was fortunate enough to attend a 3-day painting retreat with Jim McVicker in Loleta, CA. The workshop was held at the Morris Graves Foundation - a true jewel and magical place in the foothills above Loleta - a beautiful lake surrounded by 150 private acres with old growth forest.
A lovely small group of people and time to paint all day. Jim is an amazing painter and a kind, easy-going teacher.  Watching him paint was a real lesson.

It's daunting to be in a new environment and paint on the spot. The darkness of the trees, the incredible reflections and changing surface of the lake, the foggy-change-to-blue sky, the variety of greens - I could have used a week in such a beautiful place. But I am grateful to have had the experience and the time I did.

so here are some of my efforts:

dark water, 9"x12" oil on panel

I made a big mess of this, starting just before lunch, and coming back to changed light. Tried to rescue it and even though it's dark it seems to work now.

duck weed, 9"x12" oil on panel

bright contrast of yellow-green duck weed floating/moving on dark reflective water

morris graves house, 9"x12" oil on panel

view from across the lake, still needs work - good comments in our critique about this painting from Jim, so I know where to go with it.

the lake 9"x12" oil on panel

taking advice from Jim about stronger color and bolder strokes, watching as he pushed the blue reflections on the water really helped.

There is one more I just barely started - of Morris's small house that he lived in while the bigger residence and studio were being built. I'll get to finishing it (from memory) soon.

closing august

The end of summer is in the air - along with smoke and haze from several big local wildfires. I have some new and familiar work up at Marcia Burtt Gallery in the 'On Paper' show. Great reception last friday for the varied and interesting exhibition.
Work will be coming down soon from the Easton Gallery, though a few pieces will remain on view.

I am part of an exciting new project with 5 other local women artists - Connie Connally, Holli Harmon, Libby Smith, Nicole Strasburg and Pamela Zwehl-Burke. The working title is "a river's journey". We are scheduled for an exhibition at the Wildling Museum in October 2017. We all work in gouache and have chosen this as a medium that links our work. We are looking at the Santa Ynez River watershed - from Jameson Lake to the ocean at Surf Beach. There is much to observe in between - the wilderness, Cachuma Lake, the farmland and vineyards, towns, ranches, recreational and agricultural use of the river as it makes its way through the Santa Ynez Valley - particularly in this time of extreme drought. We plan to work on site in as many places as we can, bring images into our studios and create our own interpretation of this incredible landscape. Stay tuned.

We started at Lake Cachuma, which was very depressing yet still beautiful. Just a channel of water that runs through layers of vegetative strata.

cachuma receding, 4"x3" gouache on paper

behind the dam, 3"x4" gouache on paper


after a week of burning along the river, the Rey fire moved into the back country. Libby and I went to East Camino Cielo to see what it looked like - a lot of low drifting smoke and amazing lines of red fire-retardent along the ridge lines.

drift smoke, rey fire, 4"x4" gouache on paper

august summer

squeezed in a few monday paint sessions with my pal Libby between her travels and mine, then off for some time in the sierras.

bird refuge, oil on panel 8"x8"
a morning study. overcast and chilly when we started, then the sun and wind came up. 

lake los carneros, oil on panel, 8"x8"
another view from the same spot - simplifying the composition and colors.

not as much time to paint at the cabin this time - a couple of un-resolved oils and these two gouaches as well as a couple starts I'm still working out.

sunlit small fir, gouache on paper, 3 1/2"x 4"

clouds and lake, gouache on paper, 4"x6"