Editor’s note: This is the third and final installment in a series profiling the three featured artists of New Perspectives, a biennial group exhibition at Gallery Los Olivos.
Over the spring and summer of 2020, Karen McGaw found solace in three hobbies to combat pandemic-induced monotony: painting, tennis, and bike riding. Unfortunately for her, the latter activity ended up sabotaging the other two.
“I had a bike mishap in August that led to surgery, and I was unable to paint for three months,” said McGaw, who landed badly on her right shoulder during the accident, injuring her rotator cuff. “After the surgery, I was in a sling for six weeks. I had no idea it would change my life so drastically for months to come.”
But autumn of last year marked a glorious return to painting for McGaw, who primarily used to paint most of her vivid landscapes in watercolor. Her most recent works however, many of which are set to be showcased in Gallery Los Olivos’ next group exhibition, are oil paintings.
“When I’m working in oils, I can paint at a slower pace and stop when I need to without being critical to the painting,” said McGaw, who still aimed to capture certain attributes of her previous watercolor works within her new pieces.
“I love the fluid transparency of watercolors, and I’m trying to achieve the same feeling and effect in the oil paintings,” McGaw said.
In the upcoming Los Olivos exhibit, New Perspectives, McGaw’s paintings will be displayed alongside the exhibit’s other two featured artists, Jim Tyler and Neil Andersson. Although all three artists are local to the Central Coast, they haven’t been able to congregate much socially, outside of coordinating the exhibit together (mainly virtually or through email), something McGaw hopes will change as soon as the ongoing pandemic subsides.
“I don’t know Jim or Neil very well, but I look forward to a time when we can paint together in the future,” McGaw said. “I admire their work and really look forward to our show together.”
Most of McGaw’s landscapes in the trio exhibit, which is scheduled to open on Feb. 4, depict destinations in Santa Barbara and embody a running theme of tranquility.
“I’ve chosen local scenes that give me a feeling of peace and quiet retreat in our time of COVID isolation,” McGaw said. “Being a Santa Barbara native, these are also scenes that I know very well.
“All these places were painted on location, another practice I enjoy to survive this time of isolation,” McGaw added.
Two of McGaw’s featured paintings in the show capture the pond and water lilies that inhabit the courtyard area of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, which she called “a peaceful, reflective place to paint.”
McGaw said she admires the academy’s European vibe, especially in light of having to cancel a trip to Limoux, France, last year due to the pandemic.
“It has become a home away from home with many friends, beautiful scenery to paint, and wonderful food,” McGaw said of the region she’s frequently traveled to on painting expeditions and other memorable occasions over the past two decades.
McGaw’s academy paintings particularly stand out as outliers when compared to the majority of her oil pieces in the show, which are primarily coastal landscapes and seascapes depicting Santa Barbara County beaches.
“The coastal scenes have always been my places to go to reflect, a habit I started in high school to help get through tough times,” McGaw said, tracing her appreciation of living so close to the coast to her youth. “My solo beach visits started when I was able to drive. I had a dog who loved the beach, so walking him at the beach became a weekly habit.
“I found that I always came home uplifted and feeling good about everything,” she continued. “Walking on the beach allowed me time to contemplate. I found that problems lost their importance with that big, ever-changing view of the ocean in front of me.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood is down by the seaside at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 4, 2021.