With great anticipation, this week we’re finishing framing 
and hanging our new show, Carol Peek and Davis Perkins: Painting the West. This Saturday is the opening, which we’ll celebrate with a reception for the artists.
Davis Perkins says,
Carol Peek has been my wonderful friend for over 30 years. She’s a marvelous painter as well as an amazing art instructor. Over the years, we’ve shared many outings and art exhibitions together. When Tim suggested a joint show with Carol, I was delighted! Since we’re both intimately familiar with the Marin landscape, Carol came up with the idea of painting the same scene of the hills above Spirit Rock here in West Marin.
The results are two gorgeous 16″ x 24″ canvases titled “Late Afternoon, Spirit Rock, Marin County”.
We set them both in 3″ wide, carved quartersawn white oak frames with gilt slips. Carol’s is a compound with rounded and carved cap moulding and sight edge that echo the shapes of the oak trees and the softer light and feeling of the piece.
Carol Peek writes,
I have long desired to paint this scene and consider it a quintessential Marin landscape with it’s gently sloping hills, as a body in repose, rich groupings of a variety of greens and tree types and a lush horizontal pasture with various animals, usually cattle, coming and going throughout the day.
This is “that” place, which has always struck me with a jolt of inspiration as I have driven by it for decades with a different destination planned and in my mind I always heard “Someday I will paint this remarkable scene.”
As I considered the idea that Davis and I would paint the same location, I began looking for a scene that would serve each of us well. On a recent, lovely, fall afternoon as I dropped down into this familiar valley, the lighting was just right and I knew I had our location. What you see here in this presentation, is how two artists interpret the same scene, translating how we see what is essential and important through our use of tools and materials, to tell you a story about what we find moving and meaningful.
This particular scene has nearly designed itself, which is very unusual, as not much is required of the artist in rearranging visual elements to create a beautifully designed painting. This place feels like a gift, waiting for each of us to enjoy it however we might choose. It is at the very least a visual feast, for all who take a moment to see, throughout the changing seasons, as they walk, ride or drive by on their way to somewhere else.
It’s fascinating how the two compelling views, both of which capture the quintessential feeling Carol talks about, contrast so dramatically in color and atmosphere. This is, of course, partly due to the difference in seasons. But as Carol says, artistic interpretation also plays a big part. Davis’s reading of the hills is more rugged and angular, calling for a slope with sharper edges—our No. 22.6 CV.
Again, “Carol Peek and Davis Perkins: Paint the West” opens this Saturday, February 10, with a reception from 2 to 4. It closes March 16. We hope you’ll come and enjoy these exceptional painters.