CALIFORNIA GROWN

OPENING AT WINDWARD

CALIFORNIA GROWN

My latest series of oil paintings, are a celebration of California fruit and a traditional Chinese craft.

The series is done with frames painted on canvas that are reminiscent of Chinese lacquer ware, known as Chinoiserie. The fruits are done in a heavy oil painting technique that sets off the botanical renderings of the orange, lemon, pear, avocado, grape and olive.

                        

“I’m an avid gardener and love that we see all these wonderful fruits growing here on the Central Coast. I have always enjoyed the fruit crate art of the early 1900’s and wanted to profile a few of the beauties that we have in our area.”

California Grown will be at Windward Winery August 1 thru through October 31^st. Windward Winery is located at 1380 Live Oak Road in Paso Robles.  Marc and Maggie and the crew at Windward are always wonderful hosts.  Their tasting room gallery is a beautiful place to display art.  If you are in the area of the California Central Coast between now and the end of October, I hope you'll stop at Windward, enjoy the wine and original art.

   Thanks for your attention.  Remember to support an artist or musician and have a great summer.

  

IN THE NEW LIBRARY

VILLAGE PRIDE

     I'm happy and proud to report that my work is hanging in the new Cambria library.  I am especially proud to be the first artist to be in the new facility.

     It is a large space so we hung a combination of my recent abstract expressionist series Lyrical Abstracts, as well as classical Plein Air. Of course Tom was there to "document" the hanging.

   It is a wonderful new library, the busiest in San Luis Obispo County, and artists are pleased we can help add some color and personality.

BOTTLES BEAUCOUP

IT JUST COMES NATURALLY

     I've hung my latest series, and it is directly from wine country.

BOTTLES BEAUCOUP will hang until the first of the year at the WISE OWL in Cambria.

      The collection contains mixed media, including a few collages and a couple of large canvas acrylics.  I used paper that I made in a couple of the collages, and had a lot of fun experimenting with style, color and texture.

A Little Wine and Music 

Big Reds

   I'm fascinated by the varying shapes, sizes and even color of wine bottles.  The Paso Robles wine region lends itself to being the inspiration for this series.  

 Paso Vino

Vin Blanc

    It is interesting to see how light works on the bottles and the wine.

 The Wine Table

 Bottles in Abstract

 Rose'

 Wine and Music

3 Bottles

     I want to let my Plein Air friends, fellow artists and collectors know that I have not left the fold, but I'm enjoying the fun of playing around with different styles and techniques.
     Thanks for looking in.  Have a wonderful Holiday Season, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

927 2013

NON TRADITIONAL FUN

    Summer fun in the Cambria artist colony means 927.  It is a tradition here on the Central California Coast where artists who live in the 927 prefix, create something non-traditional and out of our normal comfort zone.  You can see some pretty wild and creative things.  You may recall, my Well Traveled Lady sculpture, won a couple of years.  You can see her below.
    Here are my offerings this year.

QR-T  

as in QR art

    QR codes are everywhere, so I decided to use the interesting positive and negative space in lines and boxes to create a painting.  If you notice in the bottom left is a real QR code.  That is my code and will link you to this blog.

VINTAGE CAMBRIA

    Cambria is on the western edge of what has become California's most popular and prolific wine region, the Paso Robles Appellation.  More than a couple of the artists enjoy the local vintage, as do most Cambrians so, here is

Chateau Cambria

   Our cats and an occasional friend who wondered into my work space were mystified by the strange object that started taking shape.  It is a paper mache tribute and statement.

   After creating the form with cardboard, I covered it with multiple layers of paper mache.  

  Then I covered it with a layer of plain brown paper.  Then the

paint and label.

   Cambria is a village with a lot of opinions.  Of course everybody thinks their opinion is right, so on the front label where wine makers list the grape, I created a blend of 50% conservatrol, 50% liberale and 100% convinced.

   The back of the bottle reads "Chateau du Cambria is an aged blend of hard oak opinions with a complexity that lingers.  There is a slight hint of arrogance, an undercurrent of pine and pacific fresh overtones.  It pairs well with conversation and food.  May be hazardous to your health if taken too seriously."

     It is fun every year to see what kind of "non conventional" creations that members of our colony come up with.  Thanks

for visiting, and Cheers!

IMPROVISATIONS AT WINDWARD

HIGH NOTES ON A GOOD TIME

Windward Vineyard has a special place in my heart because of more than Marc and Maggie and their wonderful wine.

This is now the third time a new year begins with an exhibition of my work in their beautiful gallery.  In the past two years I have presented my Plein Air work.  This year, Improvisations is a departure.  Actually it is a return to my roots.  When I was a student, our art department was very much a part of the modernist school.  I painted in an abstract style until our move to Cambria and my study with the great Plein Air colony there.  My time and study with the Wednesday Irregulars has been extraordinary.

However for this exhibition, I did a series of lyrical abstracts and bio morphic paintings.

The Windward Vineyard takes a winter rest, and provided a beautiful setting for the opening reception. 

Manager Anna, has again been as helpful and supportive as she is gracious and beautiful.

The reception was a great time and gave us a chance to visit with some wonderful people.

Here's a closer look at the pieces.

Toccata

Cadence

Sonata Duo

Allegro

Gizmos

Equipose

Aguacate
Thanks for looking in.