With paintings hung from floor to ceiling, Gallery Los Olivos has enough space to showcase more than 50 different local artists during Winter Salon, the gallery’s annual salon-style exhibition. And for those unable to make it to the gallery in person this year, the exhibit is available online to view for free.
While the show’s paintings vary in size and subject matter, many of its featured landscapes share a running theme of finding peace through nature.
“I think we need some ‘calm’ right now, after this crazy year, and I hope the viewer finds some peace and calm while viewing,” pastel artist Kris Buck said, discussing her contribution to Winter Salon, All is Calm, which depicts Windy Cove in Morro Bay.
“The waters were so calm, the reflections were wonderful, and the boats looked so peaceful,” Buck recalled of the morning the piece is based on. “I asked the artist I was painting with why they called it ‘Windy Cove,’ when it was so peaceful. She laughed and said to wait for the winds to come up around noon, and they did!”
Winter Salon also showcases Terri Taber’s pastel piece, Golden Hour, which she painted from a reference photo she took while on one of her usual walks near the San Marcos Foothills Preserve.
“I have been walking this area for well over 10 years. This land has shown me peace and serenity and solidifies my love for the landscape,” Taber said. “At certain times of the year, and during that hour before sunset, the grasses can become this warm, burnt orange color. It becomes magical. It is hard to capture that in a painting, but I try.”
Featured artist Linda Mutti also chose to submit one of her pastel landscapes, titled Gaviota Glory, into Winter Salon. Mutti was inspired to paint this piece after admiring the spot from afar for so long, always noticing it from the 101 freeway before finally pulling over one day to capture it.
“Every time I passed by, I would think, ‘I’ve got to paint that scene,’” Mutti said. “I have always loved the trees and trestle.”
Other featured pastel artists include Deborah Breedon, who is showcasing two of her paintings in this year’s group show.
“Both of them were painted during the first few months of the pandemic,” Breedon said of her entries. “Nature’s promise of spring bloom arrived and I went for it. It was pure joy to be plein air painting again after weeks of being sequestered.”
For Breedon, seeing the blooming flowers along the Jalama Beach hillsides was a “welcome inspiration” urging her to paint one of her two featured pieces, Jalama Coreopsis, she said.
“A painter friend took me out to see the coreopsis as I’d never seen it before,” Breedon said. “Not only is the drive to the beach gorgeous, but Jalama Beach itself also has so much to encourage you to paint. Plus you can’t ignore the burgers.”
Oil painter Neil Andersson submitted two of his landscapes into Winter Salon, both of which depict Santa Barbara County parks. Based on a scenic pathway in Lompoc’s Beatty Park, Andersson completed one of his featured pieces, Eucalyptus Tree and Pathway, in his studio rather than on location.
“I think this painting creates the mood of both serenity and curiosity that one can experience in nature,” Andersson said. “I like the way the focus goes back and forth between the tree in the foreground and the line of trees in the middle ground.”
Stepping out of the studio, Andersson painted Sunlit Hill plein air, near a peaceful hillside in Buellton’s River View Park. He described the piece as nontraditional and nonscenic, citing its simplicity.
“Sometimes going on location to paint, you can spend hours walking around trying to find the ‘perfect view.’ This painting tries to show that a painting can be about the simplest and most mundane objects,” Andersson said. “Beauty is one of the simplest things.”
One silver lining Andersson has embraced during the ongoing pandemic is taking more time to paint, especially outdoors, he said.
“I used to paint outdoors from nature a lot, but a few years ago, I started doing larger studio paintings,” Andersson said. “Painting from nature again has been really good for the never-ending goal of just being a better painter.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood needs more art on his ceiling. Send recommendations to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 24-31, 2020.