Hotter and My Neighbor Jim

Well, it's been getting warmer now that summer is here. I hate the heat because in the afternoons there will be no painting in the studio because it gets too hot in here. One day while I was working on the bluff painting my neighbor Jim came by. Jim is 92 now and a WW2 vet. We can both talk each others ear off. If I was going to remember Jim for anything it would be not for his part in WW2 but more for his love of nature. Jim grew up in Santa Barbara and as a kid he would ride his bike to the bottom of the mountains and then thumb a ride from anyone headed up the mountains so he could hike miles to a campsite. From there he'd watch for animals, hike more, fish and just enjoy being a kid up in the mountains surrounded by nature. Age keeps him from doing all of these things now but he can name any peak I point out here in the valley. He can describe in depth details about any area around here. Jim, more than me or anyone else I know around here, is who God created this part of California for.

So Jim comes by and tells me that before he dies, which I suppose at 92 he thinks about, he wants to paint a life sized California condor....they are very big birds. He wants me to give him advice for either stretching the canvas or just making a panel...at that size I suggest stretching canvas over a frame that he plans to build. I suggest paints, acylics, and other details for him and off he goes. A week goes by and Jim calls to tell me he'd like me to come see his setup before he stretches the canvas. Linda and I go by and he's got a frame the size of a garage door! No I'm not exaggerating. Needless to say Linda, Jim and I all tackled stretching that canvas which was actually a paint drop cloth he bought at the hardware store since he couldn't afford or find regular canvas in that size. It took us about and hour to do it. I loaned JIm my canvas pliers but we didn't use that, just pulled on it with both hands. We had my electric stapler with lots of extra staples so thank god for that! 

Right now Jim is painting that baby. Why? Because Jim has a love of nature and wants to share his love of the California condor with anyone who can't miss running into a life sized painting of a condor....that is a big painting and if I can get some shots of it when he's done I will post them. Did I mention Jim has only sketched when he was a kid growing up....never painted at all! I'm proud of his drive. Helping Jim with his goal has been the most fun in art this year for me. He needed the help and I enjoyed sharing whatever it is I could share. Fun stuff!          

Vineyard at Sunset

"Last Light"

16"x20" Oil on Canvas

Another scene of the Firestone Vineyard at sunset. The Firestone vineyard  is acres and acres of vines rolling across the Foxen canyon with a spattering of oaks. In the center is their victorian house that is either just an office or the actual living quarters for family or foreman...not sure because I've only been there once but that was for a concert they had with David Crosby and Neil Young years ago.....yeah, it was a good one and I got to meet David Crosby and the rest of his band backstage. If you ever come out to the Santa Ynez valley you need to spend a day just crusing up Foxen Canyon. The canyon is beautiful and filled with dozens and dozens of vineyards. If you like wine tasting you can spend the whole day driving up through the canyon.
I think maybe just a few small tweaks and I'll call this one done. Having fun teaching myself to paint light this way.  

Elverhoj Show

Art From The Groves

I have a couple of paintings that were juried into the Elverhoj Museum of History & Art here in Solvang, CA. I feel pretty good about that because getting into any show is good. I know many of the artists in the show so it will be nice to be together and talk shop. One of my paintings is a studio piece and the other is a plein air piece done last Winter along the olive groves below the mission.
Sales have been practically non existant for me in this economy, and yes, the economy still sucks, so the occasional show is something to look forward to. I like shows...it's fun to see your peers and meet new painters....see the talent out there. Shows are good for inspiration. As a person it is great to see really fantastic art but as an artist it really inspires you to do better work. I've always been honest about my work and when I see something else painted better it makes me want to paint better so shows are a good way to push your(my)self.

Teaching yourself to paint....I hate that term because nobody really teaches themselves to paint. Books, the internet, art teachers, seeing other painters works....it all effects us even if some of us want people to think they were some naturally gifted miracle that discovered painting all alone. Baloney. If you want to learn to paint you turn into a sponge and soak everydrop of inspiration in no matter where it comes from. Thanks to nature what you take in will become your own vision and have your own look unless you're trying to go after some other artists style and you don't want to do that. Be who you are....even in art.

Anyway, if you are around Solvang on June 14 between 4-6 pm come by the show reception. The rest of the show runs June 14 - September 28, 2014. The Elverhoj is located at 1624 Elverhoy Way in beautiful down town Solvang, the land of Danish bakeries and wine tasting rooms !    

Santa Barbara News Press Review

Art About the There There

IN 'THE VIEW FROM HERE,' THE CURRENT EXHIBITION AT SOLVANG'S ELVERHOJ MUSEUM, LOCAL ARTISTS PRESENT THEIR PERSPECTIVES ON SANTA YNEZ VALLEY

Josef Woodard, a News Press Correspondent.
March 29, 2013   

           This is an excerpt from a review of the Elverhoj Museum of History and Art show I am currently in titled "The View From Here". The show consists of paintings created by 6 local artists and how each artist interpretes their view of the valley in their art. The show is wonderful thanks to the calibre of the artists and each of them has their own take on what we all see in our daily lives here in the valley. I was very happy to be asked to be a part of this show.
  
          "With the show truthfully titled "The View from Here," six area artists take on the subject of the "there here." What emerges is a sense of place via landscape painting, of six individual sensibilities at work. Along the way, the show roughly tells the story of this Valley's continuing evolution over the years.

Entering the gallery, the viewer is greeted dramatically by the tall, vivid presence of Ron Guthrie's "Morning Sycamore," on the far wall facing the entrance. But the same artist also shows a more unusual painting just to the right of the door, "Mission Santa Ynez Bluffs," a happy convergence of hillside, trees and yonder foothills, a poetic pact of light and composition. Mr. Guthrie also impresses with the vertical tree study "Majesty" and the peaceable atmospherics of his "Storm Clouds Over Adobe Creek."

The rest of this very good review on all of the artists is availble to read in the "Scene" section of the SBNP paper...cost $2.50 to read if you are not a subscriber, sorry.
...a very cool review of the show Mr Woodard, thanks!

Old Mill Road Sycamore

"Old Mill Road Light"

12 X 14 Oil on Canvas

Not far from Mission Santa Ynez stands an adobe grist mill that was built in 1820 by a Bostonian named Joseph Chapman. Chapman had travelled here with a pirate named Bouchard. When they arrived here the pirates, along with Chapman, burned down the Ortega Adobe at Rancho De Refugio. Chapman was arrested and tried and sentanced to a firing squad. Eventually Chapman was parolled to Mission Santa Ynez. Chapman was a master builder so he built this grist mill and another duplicate of it at Mission San Gabriel. I occasionally go down to this mill and take pictures. Along the way there stands this old eucalyptus tree with many twisting branches. I like how the morning light played across this tree and cast long shadows across the mill road.

The old grist mill, now a Santa Barbara historical site

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Elverhoj Opening Reception

We had a really good opening reception for the Elverhoj Museum show on Saturday evening. This show was a 6 artist show and we all know each other so it was fun to be in a show together. Some are old friends who I've known since I moved here and it was really nice to hang out with them. We had a good crowd that seemed to be pulsating in attendence leaving time in between it getting really crowded to talk to each other. I think by the end of the reception 4 paintings had sold which was great except none of those were my sales, but hey, like the song says, "sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug" and if you can't handle that art is not the career to be in.
I had a great spot for my largest painting of a sycamore tree as you can see in the pic below....

 Maybe I didn't mention it but the Elverhoj is a Danish museum built in a Danish farm house that was owned by 2 artists who did pottery in a studio that is now the gallery area. They heated that room with a large fireplace and had their kilns outside behind the studio. The rest of the house is the museum decorated with things a house like that would have an other Solvang historical artifacts. Lots of charm.

Linda with my friend and artist Carol Wood. Carol is my favorite painter in the valley and the most down to earth person I know around here. I have never been around Carol where we didn't laugh...she's that much fun. Linda of course is always my running buddy. While there we bumped into a couple who live on a super large ranch just outside of town. His father was one of the founding members of Solvang. They let me go up to their place to paint or take reference photos. I was glad to run into them because I need to go back to their place to get some better shots of a canyon with a meadow filled with oaks. They gave me the green light to come up anytime. Yahoo! 

   The museum did a great job of hanging the show and getting the word out. Good crowd, sales, excellent lighting etc. Thankfully, the museum is only 5 minutes from my house so it is the most affordable show I can do in this awful economy. Maybe I'll make a sale before the show is over...ya never know.

Elverhoj Museum Show

I will be part of a 6 artist show at the Elverhoj Museum of History and Art in Solvang from Feb. 2 through April 28 2013. The show is called "The View From Here" and features 6 local artists presenting their interpretations of local scenes throughout the Santa Ynez Valley. I am honored to be a part of this invitational show and am looking forward to having my work shown at the Elverhoj. If you live close to Solvang please come by the museum on Saturday Feb 2 to the Show Reception between 4 to 6 pm. Also, on Saturday March 2nd there will be an artists panel discussion that I will be participating in.

Here is the show card below....for more info please contact Esther or any of the other fine people working at the museum....805-686-1211

Wildling Museum Move

The Wildling Museum in Los Olivos has found a new location in Solvang. Not only is the new location about 3 times larger, maybe 4 times but it is also lower in monthly rent. Personally, I think Los Olivos has gone berserk over property costs and now it's mainly a wine shop town. It used to be a town of gift shops, art galleries and some wine tasting rooms, a small home town feel but not any longer. Too bad.
The Wildling has supported the arts and local artists so when word got out  Linda and I volunteered to help....and we have a truck. Today we got there early for the move and helped carry most of their equipment out to the waiting trucks. We had about 15 volunteers show up so it all went much faster.
Good luck with the new location to the Wildling!

Mission Santa Ynez Bluffs

"Mission Santa Ynez Buffs"

36" X 48" Oil on Canvas

Mission Santa Ynez is located on a piece of land next to Solvang on one side and these bluffs on the other. Below the bluffs are the fields that the missionaries and Chumash Indians grew olives. It's a beautiful overlook towards the east end of the valley and a great place to sit in the shade of the pepper and sycamore trees there and wonder how many people had done the same long, long ago. Lets see if you know your mission history....did you know that the Calfiornia missions were built within a days "walk" from each other going up the coastal road which would later become Hwy 1?? Did you know that I live right next to a small creek called adobe creek and the mud from there built guess what??? Have you ever tried to dig adobe when it is hard and dry like it is in my yard???....I'm veering off the path (....and you don't want to try an dig dry adobe....ever!).
The painting looks good here but my camera loves and sucks up yellows so I had to back off the intensity here which has made my trees look a little dull unlike the rich, vibrant greens they are....sorry about that, life is always a trade off.

Alisal Trail

Alisal Trail

18" X 24"

Oil on Canvas

This is a scene just south of Solvang heading towards Nojoqui Falls. This trail is actually a two lane road that I've driven quite often heading towards a favorite stand of Sycamore trees to gather reference photos. I like this spot and have painted plein air just a bit further down the road. I like the spot and enjoy looking towards the valley over the hill and just seeing big puffy clouds gliding along the ridge line here. The cattle that belong to the Alisal Ranch will occasionally come strolling by the wire fences lining the road which always make for interesting company. If you try and apporach them they shoot off down the valley where less humans reside. It's hard to believe such large animals can be so intimidated by man....then again they aren't eating us are they?

Last Light

Last Light on the Oaks

20"X 24" Oil on Canvas

Taking a break from the Coast Guard work, this painting is of a spot close to home. This hillside is a view right from the end of my driveway. We had a storm blow out and when that happens I like to grab my camera and take reference photos of the clouds over our hillsides. I like a blue sky as much as the next guy but add massive clouds and things start getting majestic!
I like the colors of the last light hitting the trees so that was the goal here without getting over dramatic about it. The dark colors for the shadowed parts of the trees were a dark mix of Alizarin, Ultramraine Blue and a hint of Cad Yellow Light for taste....my usual colors. Fun painting.
Some details....

That little young sycamore was fun to throw in there and a nice contrast in color.

  

Santa Ynez Hillsides

"Santa Ynez Hillsides"

12 X 24 Oil on Canvas

I've painted the view from our deck looking across the valley many times. A lot of times I focus on a neighbors oak tree or the ridge you see in the mid ground of this painting. In reality, there are homes that dot the ridge line there and I decided to paint this one minus the homes. I love the color of the hills against the distant blue Figueroa mountains. The foreground here is all out of my head since there are nothing but dry grasses on the hills at the moment. Fun to throw in some color and a tree or two....actually, that tree looks a lot like my neighbors!