A lompoc tasting room is inviting guests to enjoy their wine flights with a complimentary feast—a feast for the eyes, that is. June marked the debut of a new pastel exhibit at Flying Goat Cellars, where visitors can peruse paintings by Deborah Breedon through mid-August.
“It’s very welcoming to walk in and find a comfy spot to relax and savor fabulous wines and bubbly while enjoying my pastel originals and prints,” said Breedon, a local pastelist who recently moved from Santa Barbara to Lompoc.
Breedon is widely known for her plein air landscapes, which have been featured at the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature, Gallery Los Olivos, and other local outlets over the years. Her latest solo exhibit at Flying Goat Cellars includes a couple of landscapes, but the majority of the show’s featured pieces are portraits of cacti and succulents.
A total of 13 paintings are on display in the new show, which Flying Goat visitors can easily spot on the walls of the tasting room. Breedon said that one of her favorite cactus pieces in the exhibit is Tender Mercies.
“The title comes mostly from the tiny sweet little pink flowers that manage to grow beautifully around all the potentially harmful needles. They’re safe from harm,” Breedon said. “It took me forever to finish because I wanted to paint with a lot of depth and portray the work so that it leaves something to finish with your imagination. There’s a push-forward, pull-back energy to it.”
The original Tender Mercies has already been sold, but a large canvas print of the piece is on display at Flying Goat. While Breedon’s exhibit has been up since June, there’s still time to save the date for the show’s opening reception, which will be held on Monday, July 15, from 4 to 6 p.m.
Over the past year since moving to Lompoc, Breedon has enjoyed becoming acquainted with the town’s art scene. In May, Breedon coordinated a one-day, pop-up group show at the Mission Golf Club, where her paintings were displayed alongside works by Vicki Andersen, Joellen Chrones, Jon Arnold, Chris Jeszeck, and several other artists.
Breedon is an avid outdoor painter, always on the lookout for new locations to meet up with fellow artists and friends to paint together. She’s recently been exploring locales in Lompoc, Buellton, and Santa Ynez, while her past works often depicted areas near Goleta and her former home in Santa Barbara.
“Moving up to the Lompoc Valley has been wonderful,” Breedon said. “Santa Barbara is not that far away, and I love this new change of address. I plein air paint with new friends, and invite friends from [Santa Barbara] and we explore the Central Coast area.”
One of Breedon’s recent ventures took the artist further north up the coastline, to San Luis Obispo County. The local pastelist was thrilled to find out her landscape, Goleta Slough, After the Storm, was accepted to be included in Art Center Morro Bay’s juried exhibition, Pastels USA 2022. This annual showcase is a collaboration between the venue and the Pastel Society of the West Coast, which Breedon is a longtime member of.
Breedon’s piece is one of 99 paintings total featured in the prestigious group show, which debuted at the end of June and will remain on display through the beginning of August. Goleta Slough, After the Storm was accepted into the exhibit’s contemporary impressionism category.
Just a few days before the show’s premiere, Breedon drove up to Morro Bay to drop off her painting and caught a preview of the nearly-finalized showcase, which she described as “absolutely stunning.”
“The volunteers at the Art Center work beyond expectations and it shows,” Breedon said.
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood is listening to Riders on the Storm. Send comments to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 7-14, 2022.
