Thursday, July 31, 2014

After the Mount Diablo Fire Series, After the Fire V and VI

After the Fire V 12 x 16
This is looking up at the summit in the fire zone. We had had some rain and there was new growth in the chaparral areas that was a lovely fresh green, the bare chert soil was a  deep red, burnt orange that contrasted nicely.


After the Fire VI 16 x 20
This is at Devil's elbow, just below the summit. The fire hopscotched through this area leaving patches of soil and singeing the lower part of the pines.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

After the Mount Diablo Fire Series, "After the Fire III" and " After the Fire IV"

 After the Fire III  Plein Air watercolor 16 x 20


After the Fire IV Plein Air Watercolor 16 x20

Here are two more paintings showing the changes on Mount Diablo  in the first year after the 2013 fire. Despite the drought  there is green vegetation returning in the bald areas left after the fire. As the season prgoesses I am trveling further up into the burn zone to see the plants against the bare earth.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

"By Invitation Only, Revealing the Landscape" at Saint Mary's College Museum of Art



I am thrilled to have three paintings in this Saint Mary's College Museum of Art Exhibit

The opening is August 10th 2 to 4:30 pm.  The exhibit runs August 10th to September 21st.
Here is link to the Saint Mary's web site for more information
http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/saint-marys-college-museum-of-art/exhibitions-and-collections/upcoming-exhibitions

By Invitation Only, Revealing the Landscape: a contemporary landscape invitational featuring 27 of the Greater Bay Area's most intriguing and gifted artists, emerging, mid-career, and established, who vividly demonstrate the remarkable range and breadth of this iconic subject.


After the Fire 18 x 24 Collection the Artist

This is the side of the mountain I paint most often. It had a lovely trail of pink soil left in the fire's path. There was a brief green season this spring with softer greens than usual. I feel compelled to try to capture the changes on Mount Diablo as it heals and am working on an after the fire Series.






Zuma Canyon  14 x 21 Collection the Artist

This was painted in Malibu. It was the first time I saw how different the ridges and canyons are in Southern California.
This scene has no trees, only bare rocks and low vegetation that hugged the hillsides.The lovely fractured geometry of the rocks is clearly visible.







Rare Sight 14 x 21 Private Collection

This was a Monday morning and chores and errands waited while I seized the opportunity to capture the snow on the summit of Mount Diablo. Usually the snow melts as soon as the clouds lift. This snow fall happened late enough in the season so that it contrasted dramatically with the spring color on the foothills below, it was painting like winter and spring at once.



I have visited the annual summer landscape exhibits at the Saint Mary's Museum of Art, it's usually a highlight of my summer to see the inspiring paintings. So it is especially thrilling to be invited to exhibit here.Saint Mary's College Museum of Art is located at 1928 Saint Mary's Road, Moraga CA

Additional Information:
By Invitation Only:Revealing the Landscape
August 10 - September 21, 2014
Opening reception: Sunday, August 10, 2- 4:30 PM, Museum Patio. Come meet the artists. Visitors will also hear them speak about their own work in a new Guide by Cell tour.
Every summer Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art presents its annual summer landscape exhibition. This year’s exhibition, By Invitation Only: Revealing the Landscape, marks the 24th summer the tradition continues.
On view will be more than 80 works of art, including painting, drawing, photography and sculpture, by 29 artists. These artists paint in plein-air in the natural landscape, sketch in urban locations, sculpt in studios and photograph on mountaintops and in their neighborhoods, each finding fresh new visions of the environment in which they live and work.
 The exhibition will include work by Chris Adessa, Sharron Antholt, Randy Beckelheimer, Martha Borge, Nicholas Coley, Christin Coy, Willard Dixon, Warren Dreher, Jessica Dunne, Stephen Joseph, Louis LaBrie, Richard Lindenberg, Peter Loftus, Catherine Mackey, Heidi McDowell, Jack Mendenhall, Teresa Onoda, Sandy Ostrau, Carol Peek, Robin Purcell, Roy Schmaltz, Randy Sexton, Linda Simmel, Tracey Snelling, Anne Subercaseaux, Tom Taneyhill, Bryan Mark Taylor, Donna J. Wan, and Wanda Westberg.

About the Museum
The Hearst Art Gallery was built with the aid of a grant from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. The Gallery opened in 1977, replacing a smaller William Keith Gallery. The College previously collected and distributed art for several decades, including many works by William Keith (1838-1911), a key figure in the history of California art. Brother Fidelis Cornelius Braeg, Saint Mary's College art professor and Keith biographer, established the original William Keith Collection and Gallery at Saint Mary's in 1934.