the last of April

Lot's of interesting doings...

The "River's Journey" - still open at the Wildling until July 9 - will travel south to Santa Barbara in August in a somewhat abbreviated form to be shown at the Santa Barbara City Hall. We will have a "First Thursday" opening that month. We will be featuring some new work, including some larger paintings.

The River will then flow to Sullivan-Goss Gallery in October. We will have 2 months to show a portion of our project as well as new pieces.

Libby Smith and I will be having a 2-person show at the Santa Barbara Architectural Foundation titled "Double-Vision". We have painted together consistently for many years and thought it would be fun to show some of our work side by side - same locale from 2 different viewpoints.
This show will open September 21, 2018

One of my paintings was accepted into a California Art Club exhibition, titled "The Shape of Water". It will open at the Altadena Town and Country Club on June 3. This is the piece that will be in the show -

santa ynez river puddle
gouache on archival watercolor board
4"x3"







I'll be doing a landscape workshop with Meredith Abbott this coming weekend.
She's such a great painter - it will be fun to paint the Carpinteria Bluffs with her.

Who knows what else may come up?

spring and easter

the annual SCAPE exhibit and fundraiser for the Gaviota Coast Conservancy was held over Easter weekend at the Bacara. I was a part of the 'hanging crew' that puts up all the juried in work for the exhibition. we have about an hour - really- to hang around 200 pieces before the show opens to the public. Richard Schloss was the juror. 40% of the sales goes to the Conservancy which works to protect out beautiful coastline.

I sold 2 paintings which was nice -

vernal pool, coal oil point   oil on panel, 9"x12"

low tide, naples point   gouache on board, 3"x2 1/2"

we getting back into our monday painting routine now that the weather is getting better. Libby and I are starting to prepare for our next show, which will be in September.

Still getting lots of good press on the "River" show - and sales. Libby and I will be doing a gouache painting workshop at the Wildling in June - should be fun!

More "River"

we are in the midst of a good rain, not without some concern for flooding and debris flows near the burn areas. My studio is located in a "red" zone, so when the weather threatens, we go into evacuation mode.

2 more works from "The River's Journey" - we each have a larger oil painting in the show. It's a nice contrast to the many small gouaches.

river curve, drought  15x30"  oil on canvas, framed      $1750.00  SOLD

river curve, after big rain   15x30"  oil on canvas, framed     $1750.00



there is a beautiful catalog available for "The River's Journey". It includes many of the works from the exhibition as well as other works not in the show. There are wonderful and informative essays as well.

It may be purchased through the Wildling Museum for $24.95 or on Rose-compass.com

paintings from "The River..."

These are my paintings for "The River's Journey" at the Wildling Museum - it's a beautiful show and each of us in the Rose Compass has about 25 pieces in the exhibition - 156 pieces total, plus 2 from our guest artist Thomas Paquette.

All the following works are gouache on archival watercolor board, matted and framed.
Colors may not be perfect - always hard to photograph work.
Purchase inquiries can be made through the Wildling Museum.
www.wildlingmuseum.org or info@wildling museum.org

murrieta divide, jameson lake,  2 1/2 x 5"     $450.00

alder creek, jameson lake, 4 x 3"    $450.00

pool and pipeline, juncal dam, 3 x 4"    $450.00

dam-keeper's shack, juncal dam,  4 x 4"    $450.00

icy crossing, juncal dam   3 x 6"    $475.00  SOLD

gibraltar dam, 4 1/2 x 3"        $450.00

devil's canyon diversion weir, gibraltar dam 3 x 3"   $400.00

gibraltar dam spillway, 3 1/2 x 3 1/2     NFS

dry waterline, red rock, 4 x 3"   $450.00

green pond  3 x 3"   $400.00

high water mark, live oak, 3 1/2 x 5"    $450.00

water shed, live oak camp, 6 x 4"      SOLD

tamarisk, live oak 4 x 4"        SOLD

burn to the lake, whittier fire 5 x 3"     $450.00

umbilicus flumine, bradbury dam  5 x 4"    $450.00

hilton creek fish passage, 4 x 6"    $500.00

pump house, refugio road 4 x 4"    $450.00

dry riverbed, alisal road   3 x 10 3/4"   $500.00

buell flat rock company, 6 x 4"          $500.00  SOLD

river puddle, santa rosa road  4 x 3"    $450.00

next 16 miles, 4 x 6"   $500.00

shade, santa rosa road 3 x 4"   $450.00   SOLD

spring, santa rosa road, 3 x 5"     $450.00

'women', santa rosa park  6 x 4"     $500.00

succotash, santa rosa road  3 x 5"   $450.00

salsipuedes creek fish ladder, 4 x 6"     $500.00

small fry, salsipuedes creek  2 1/2 x 4"     $400.00

pond turtle, salsipuedes creek   6 x 4"    $500.00

hwy. 246 bridge, lompoc  3 x 5"    $450.00

river park, lompoc   3 x 6"    $475.00

train shack, lompoc  6 x 4"   $500.00

so close, surf beach, lompoc  3 x 10 3/4"   $500.00  SOLD

The River's Journey

We're finally here! August 2016 we formed the 'Rose Compass' group and started on this project. Our purpose then - as it is now- was to show the beauty, diversity, fragility and importance of the Santa Ynez River watershed.

The time we spent in the field was bracketed by fire and drought. The preparation for the exhibition was during the time of the Thomas fire and the deadly Montecito debris floods. We were yet again reminded of the conditions that our community has been living with for 7 years - drought.

All these events have made this work more poignant and more relevant than we could have imagined. Our hope is that everyone who visits the Exhibition will become more aware of what our watershed provides and more mindful of every drop of water we use. 

I will post all the works in the show, and then some, after the Opening Reception.
We also have a beautiful catalog of the show that will be available through the Wildling Museum.

Flood and Mud

January started as a hopeful new year full of recovery from the Thomas fire. That changed abruptly early in the morning of the 9th. Probably the worst catastrophe that Montecito has ever seen - mudlsides off the bare, burned mountains caused by the worst downfall of rain we have ever seen -in some places a half inch of rain in a 5 minute period. 
Lives were lost, some still missing; houses and properties destroyed or damaged, and people displaced from an evacuation zone 30 miles square.
My studio is in the middle of that - unharmed, as is my general small neighborhood. Half a block away, homes were drowned in mud and crushed by boulders that came from miles upstream. Just luck of the draw.

So we carry on - the community has come together in extraordinary ways.

After a week and a half I was able to get my work for "The River's Journey"
out of my studio. A neighbor who was evacuating kindly loaded up 30 newly framed gouaches, plus my gouache painting kit and my plein-air painting kit and brought them out to me.

We're moving forward with the show at the Wildling, and the Artist Book show at the Elvehoj. Westmont is keeping the "5x5" show going - ongoing online auction and the reception this evening. Sullivan-Goss held a second reception for "100 Grand" since the fire took a bite out of the first one.

I hope people will come out and support these endeavors - many more artists than just me are involved.

The River's Journey, Santa Ynez River Watershed, Artist Book, 27"x 4 1/2" Filamentous Green Algae, Ink, Blue Thread.

This accordion-fold book is made of 'paper' I made from dried filamentous green algae that I picked up from the SYR bottom. It's a beautiful green color when it first starts to grow, then turns light colored as it (and the river) dries up. I flattened the pieces and attached them with Japanese paper tape. The shape of the watershed is drawn in ink and the river's flow - from the Murrieta Divide to Surf Beach, Lompoc - is stitched in with blue thread.

New Year News

We are just around the corner from "The River's Journey: One Year, Six Artists, Ninety-Two Miles" which will open at the Wildling Museum on February 17.

The six of us - myself, Libby Smith, Pamela Zwehl-Burke, Nicole Strasburg, Holli Harmon and Connie Connally - are really excited to see the culmination of over a years worth of hard and rewarding work.

The Wildling Museum is holding an exclusive Preview Event for the exhibition, which includes a special reception with the artists and the following:

Here are a couple of links to the Museum and to the event - take a look!

https://wildlingmuseum.ejoinme.org/MyPages/PreviewEventforRiversJourney/tabid/934942/Default.aspx

www.wildlingmuseum.org

Another great exhibition of a different sort will be at the Elverhoj Museum in Solvang. "ReOpening The Book" is a show of Artist Books - a unique and interesting art form. There are 23 artists exhibiting their work in this show, myself included. This will be opening on Saturday, February 3, and run through April 29, 2018. Reception is from 4-6 on the 3rd.
I will be showing 4 unique (meaning one-of-a-kind) artist books. Here is a sneak peek:

present

In case you're wondering what an "artist book" is - come and see this show!

Check out www.elverhoj.org for more information.
In addition to the upcoming Wildling and Elverhoj Shows, there are a number of other events and exhibits I am involved with:

January 11, 2018 - Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art 5"x5" invitational:

Please check the following links for more information and to see all the work:

www.westmontmuseum.org/5x5

www.westmontmuseum.org

lake, gouache on archival watercolor board, 5"x5"

This is my piece that is included in the auction. All proceeds go to support Westmont Museum's outreach and arts programming. It's a good cause!

Let's not forget the current Sullivan-Goss Gallery "100 Grand" exhibition - this will be continuing until January 28. Stop on by to see my work and support our local businesses and artists. Here's a link to the Gallery: www.sullivangoss.com

small fir, gouache, 3"x4"

And lastly, the Santa Paula Art Museum "Art About Agriculture" exhibit - this will be continuing until February 26.

Old Dairy Barn, Loleta, oil on panel, 20"x10"