Wednesday, December 12, 2018

December Already

This has been a heck of a year - we just had the anniversary of the Thomas Fire, and California has suffered through way too many destructive fire's since then.
I've had a full year of exhibitions with the Rose Compass and "The River's Journey", SCAPE as well as the two-person show of plein-air paintings that Libby and I had at the Architectural Foundation.
The River's "Wider View" just closed at Sullivan Goss and we will be opening the last venue for the Rose Compass at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art on January 10, 2019. I'll post the images that are in that show when we finish the installation. That exhibit will run until June 22, 2019.
The installation at the Santa Barbara City Hall will continue to be on view until March 30, 2019.
The energetic and always fun "100 Grand" show opened at Sullivan Goss on December's First Thursday. This is the painting I'm showing there:


green pool, gouache, 3"x3"


I'm also showing a painting at the Santa Paula Art Museum's 11th annual "Art about Ag" show. The exhibition runs from November 10 until February 24, 2019. There will be an artist's talk with many of the participating artists on the 15th of this month.


flooded field, santa rosa road, oil on canvas 18"x36"


Then there is another exhibit coming up that should be a great representation of images of our State: a California Art Club exhibition at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History "Magnificent Migrations: A Journey Through Central California"
I'll be showing a painting I did of Pinnacles National Park:


pinnacles path, oil on panel 16"x20"


This exhibit will open on January 18, 2019 and run through April 14, 2019. 
It's an exciting start to the new year.








Wednesday, November 14, 2018

A Wider View

The Rose Compass group has work currently on view at Sullivan-Goss Gallery. This work is part of "The River's Journey" exhibition, but has larger oil paintings on display. It's a strong show and we were honored to put together - it helps us reach a wider audience with our message about our local Santa Ynez River watershed. These are my paintings in the exhibition:



Canyon below Gibraltar, 12"x12" oil on panel

Shallows - Cachuma Lake 12"x12" oil on panel

Tamarisk, Live Oak Camp, 24"x30" oil on panel


We also have groups of our small gouaches included in the exhibition:


salsipuedes creek, 3"x6"


quonset, Gibraltar Dam 4"x4"


'women', 4"x6"


dry riverbed, alisal road 3"x11"



river park, Lompoc, 3"x6"


november changes

November has been nothing if not hectic. The biggest event is my moving out of my small, funky, gardener's shed studio and into a bigger space closer to home (my backyard, to be exact). I've worked in my little space for nearly 10 years and the accumulation of 'stuff' has been stupefying. How did I cram so much into so small a space? Art materials, artwork, tools, materials, 3 flat files full of paper, artwork and projects, frames, framing supplies, printing press, lights, easels, etc. etc. etc. and yes, gardening tools.




studio 6"x8" oil on panel

I managed to make a lot of work in this space and loved being in it. But as we all know, things change and having a somewhat larger space will be great.

Even within the midst of moving and reorganizing the studio we have continued our Monday painting schedule. We have been working our way up Old San Marcos Pass road, stopping at turnouts and painting the view - a few hours in the morning until the light changes.
These are small 6"x8" oil on panel paintings.



view from the road



first stop



second stop



third stop



fourth stop




Saturday, October 6, 2018

AFSB Double Vision

The exhibition Double Vision will be at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara until November 15.
The Gallery is located at 229 East Victoria Street. Hours are Saturdays, 1-4 pm
and weekdays by appointment. 
There will be a 1st Thursday event at the Gallery on November 1, from 5-8 pm.
All but one of the paintings are oil on panel. All the paintings were done en plein air,
working in the field, completing or very nearly completing the painting on site. A bit of adjusting in the studio was sometimes needed, but the freshness and immediacy of the painting comes from the experience of being in the field.


Arroyo Burro Preserve, 8"x10"


Alan Road, foggy day 9"x12"



White rock, river view, 6"x10"


Sycamore, Paradise camp 9"x12"


foggy day san marcos reserve, 8"x10"


Eucalyptus at Naples, 9"x12"


Lake Los Carneros, 10"x10"


Cypress II, Coal Oil Point, 8"x10"


Cypress I, Coal Oil Point, 9"x12"


Lake below, Figueroa Mountain, 9"x12"


Poppies, Grass mountain, 6"x12"



Sundown, Alamo Creek Road, 7"x18"


Sycamore (Libby Painting) 16"x16"


Morning Sycamore, 5 1/2"x14"


Haskell's beach, east 8"x10"


beached boat 8"x8" sold

Rock cliffs, Goleta beach, 9"x12"


Backside Rincon, 6"x12"


Carpinteria Bluffs, 11"x13"

paradise camp, gouache, 3"x5"










Thursday, September 27, 2018

Double Vision

Libby Smith and I had a fun opening reception for our show at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara - good turnout and so many kind comments, plus great food and conversation. We were pleased with how the Gallery looked - our work was framed beautifully and we spent a lot of time hanging everything in a balanced and complimentary way. We have forty pieces in the show - 20 each - and we grouped them by area. My frames are walnut and hers are maple, so people could figure out who's who. The paintings were all done 'plein air' from our Monday painting outings, so there is a freshness and immediacy to them.
Not a lot of over-done studio work or using only photo references.

Here is a shot of one of our walls

Our statement, some info about Rose Compass and a photo of us.

Some of the work is very similar in subject matter, but different in style and approach:

beached boat, Goleta Beach

Other paintings were done at the same location, but looking at an altogether different view or time of day:

These were both done at Marcia Burtt's ranch - Libby's early morning view looking west and my sundown view looking north.

I will post all the paintings soon - just need some time to organize them.

Next up is the Sullivan Goss 1st Thursday opening for "The River's Journey - a Wider View" that will feature larger oils and new gouaches from the Rose Compass group. We will be doing a radio interview with Elizabeth Stewart on the Friday morning after, and then hosting a film event and panel talk at the Faulkner Gallery on Sunday the 7th. We have partnered with David Grannis from Cal Lutheran to show his film "Turf Wars", the Santa Barbara Water-Wise folks and the Book Den which will feature books about water issues in California.



Wednesday, September 19, 2018

more in September

The Annual Museum of Natural History Art Walk will be held this weekend - I'm showing two paintings:



Island view from the Botanic Garden, 6x12" oil on panel


Old Oak-Tucker's Grove, 9x12" oil on panel


Unfortunately the opening reception for this show overlaps the opening reception for Double Vision! But folks can come at 5 to the Architectural Foundation and then get to the Natural History Museum by 6 and make both events. ArtWalk is open Friday Night through Sunday, the 23rd.




Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Falling into September

After spending weeks preparing for several upcoming exhibits, we took some time to visit St.Paul Minnesota. My brother lives there in a beautiful old warehouse that has been converted to live/work spaces for artists and craftspeople. We had a great visit and took a day to drive to Winona, MN to see Thomas Paquette's beautiful exhibition of paintings he did following the Mississippi River from it's beginnings above Minneapolis to it's final flow into the Delta. Thomas's work was so inspirational to our Rose Compass project -The River's Journey. We were all intrigued with his small gouaches and how much beauty and information were packed into them. It was a treat to see these dynamic, larger paintings beautifully displayed in the Minnesota Museum of  Maritime Art. The Museum itself had a varied and rich collection - a real gem.


Installation of Thomas Paquette's exhibition"America's River Re-Explored" the Mississippi from Source to Gulf.


 


We also took some time to go to the Sierras for an overdue holiday. Clear skies after all the horrible fires of the summer. Finished another gouache of a small shack nearby.


sportplatz, camp la salle


Last Thursday, we held the opening reception of "The River's Journey Re-visited" at the Santa Barbara City Hall. It's a smaller venue, but we had some room to play and added some interesting elements: a floor map of the Santa Ynez River that goes the length of the hallway, clouds that change color and a video.
There are a lot of new works telling the story of our watershed to a new audience. Both Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann and Santa Barbara Public Works Director spoke about our project and the important message it brings to the public about our precious water resources.



Estuary, Lompoc, 10x10" oil on panel



Oak, Cachuma Lake, 10x10" oil on panel


Equipment Shed, Gibraltar Dam, 6x4" Gouache



SCAPE will have a 2-day exhibition at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden on the 14th and 15th of this month. We spent a lot of Mondays painting there so it will be good to see some of the work on display.



shady steps, botanic garden, 6x8" oil on panel








Friday, August 3, 2018

Summer slipping by

The weeks seem to be blurring one into another - here it is August! Keeping busy with house projects, a short trip to the Sierras, the final panel talk for the closing of The River's Journey at the Wildling and preparation and installation of work for the Santa Barbara City Hall Gallery iteration of the River show.
New paintings and a beautiful installation - we have already received many great comments on the exhibit. We decided to skip a 'formal' opening until 1st Thursday in September, due to Fiesta this week. We will still have some surprises for the event.
In the meantime there was the SCAPE show for "Heal the Ocean" at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, plus getting ready for their next one at the Botanic Gardens. It's been great to paint up there every Monday for the last month or so.

Libby and I are preparing for our Double Vision show coming up in September. Here's a peek at our postcard:




















yes, it's meant to be interactive - you have to turn the card to see each image.



Right now it's the drudge work of framing and getting everything ready. We think it will be a really good show.