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.

what happened to May?

Time seems to be flying - too many projects and even with longer days, it's been challenging to keep up. Libby and I did 3 (count 'em, 3) gouache painting workshops for the Wildling Museum, teaching both beginners and very experienced folks how to use gouache. It was a lot of planning and prep, but we all had a good time.
We are also preparing for our show in September, "Double Vision" - choosing work, figuring out framing and all the other details for the exhibition.
The Rose Compass group has been busy with the "River" - we will be giving a final Panel Talk at the Wildling on July 8th. Then we pack up and set aside the work that will go to SB City Hall, as well as Sullivan-Goss Gallery. We will also be taking part in an exhibition at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum. The main show is: "Watershed, Contemporary Landscape Photography" and includes some wonderful images. We will have a smaller representation of gouaches to complement the larger exhibition. It should be interesting and is scheduled to open in January, 2019.
We continue to go out and paint nearly every Monday and have been getting work done for two upcoming SCAPE shows. "Heal the Ocean" is the beneficiary of a one day exhibit at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. In September, there will be another exhibit at the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens which has given us a great excuse to go paint there. It's been a lovely spring, even without much rain. Here are a couple of small studies:

Fremontia (California Flannel bush), oil on panel, 8"x8

Salvia, Purple sage and California poppies, oil on panel, 8"x8"

working off the beaten path

Fremontia and Ceanothus, oil on panel, 8"x10"


I am still continuing to make new work for the upcoming "River" venues:

weir house, Juncal Dam, gouache, 4"x4"

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.