We had a terrific opening a couple of weeks ago for our current show, “A California Spring.” It’s up for 2 more weeks (closing Saturday, May 31), and we’d love to have you come by to see this great display of dozens of new works by fourteen highly talented painters. Preview it here. Here are some highlights:
< Sharon Calahan has two seascapes with her characteristically masterful capturing of light. This one is an 11″ x 14″ called “Stillwater Cove.”
> For a wood guy like me this one that pastel artist Bill Cone calls “Fallen” comes complete with the rich smells of the forest, sounds of birds, old redwood needles underfoot… Or maybe that’s just my imagination.
< Kevin Courter’s nocturnes never fail to send me into a still and contemplative mood, as does “Passages.” I love how this dark red-brown stain on cherry works with much of Kevin’s work.
> Christin Coy really excels at moody wetland scenes like “Afternoon Fog, Marin Wetlands” (18″ x 18″). What a hand she has when it comes to the subtle tonalities of our characteristic light.
< Speaking of having down the light of northern California, Mark Farina‘s no slouch either. Check out this 12″ x 16″ oil, “Up on Outlook Drive.”
> I was very pleased to get some larger pieces from Bob Flanary again after quite a long spell. This wonderful work of tonalism, at 18″ x 24″, is called “A Misty Place.” You can stare at it a long, long…
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time…
< Is anything more iconic of northern California than Highway One? Here it is captured by Paul Kratter in a depiction that speaks to every native—and not a few tourists. It’s called “Left Turn at the Pines,” 15″ x 29″.
> Certainly one of the highlights of the show is introducing Richard Lindenberg to our friends and followers—at least to those who don’t already know him, since he’s been making quite a name for himself in the region. This a wonderful, quiet wetland scene called “Pacheco Pond Mist” (12″ x 12″).
< I confess I’m limiting my highlights here to pieces that haven’t sold. We did sell a large James McGrew painting of Half Dome, but this sweet little 8″ x 6″, “Last Light on Half Dome” is nothing to sneeze at either.
> Terry Miura recently wrote on his blog about the element of mystery that he constantly strives for. If California has meant anything to the world, its ever-changing and diverse landscape has meant mystery—allure, possibility, getting lost in vast, humbling natural spaces. It’s all here in “Almost Forgotten,” 9″ x 13-1/2″.
< Robin Moore‘s watercolors fascinate nearly everyone who steps in to the Gallery. The extraordinary color of “Sunset at Flood Time—Martinez” (8″ x 12-1/2″) intrigued many an eye at the reception.
> I don’ t know how anyone could better capture the spirit of a particular place than Ernesto Nemesio does in “Pinnacles at Spring” (9″ x 12″).
< At 22″ x 36″, Paul Roehl‘s “Sunrise, Fremont” was the biggest painting on display, and is a great example of Paul’s love for his native landscape. He grew up in Fremont, and this painting captures the feel of the mornings when he’d get up early to go fishing. It’s also a great example of his love of California tonalism.
> Erik Tiemens continues to tap the great period of European landscape painting to develop his astounding technique and inspire and explore his own discoveries of rural northern California.
I hope the great California painters of a century ago are appreciating what this group of artists is doing to honor and uphold and, above all, keep vital the tradition they started. Getting to frame their paintings is one of the great joys of my life.
Please don’t deprive yourself! Come see and enjoy this rich, varied and beautiful work!