Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep one local acrylic painter from using her preferred medium. Over the past 40 years, Marcia Burtt can only think of a handful of times when weather conditions nearly tempted her to switch to the dark side—oils.
One February in Yosemite, Burtt remembers meeting with a group of oil painters the day after a heavy snowfall.
“The air was moist and the temperature just above freezing. Acrylic dries by giving off moisture and other volatiles, but that can’t happen at very low temperatures,” Burtt explained. “Tears ran down my cheeks as acrylic dripped down the canvas while my oil painting buddies turned out gem after gem.”
But Burtt stood her ground and came across a silver lining, thanks to a nifty solution.
“In spite of the chill, the day was sunny so I was able to lay the painting on my car’s dashboard and let it dry for 10 minutes at a time—I managed to get a couple of nice memories on canvas,” said Burtt, whose acrylic paintings are currently on display in her latest solo show at Gallery Los Olivos.
The show is full of colorful landscapes, painted by Burtt on location and in the moment. Through plein air painting, she’s able to combine two of her passions—art and nature.
“Standing in nature and intently observing it is the high point of any outdoor painting experience,” Burtt said. “Looking itself becomes a kind of communion that isn’t about making a product but rather about trying to join with, and describe, the visible world.”
Burtt’s pursuit in capturing said world has taken her to painting expeditions across the country—Florida, Hawaii, and Maine, to name a few states—and to Europe as well. Still, she can’t seem to rank any locales higher on her favorites list than the spots she finds along the Central Coast.
“Although I’ve been lucky enough to paint in many of the most beautiful places in the world, I find the Central California coastline—Channel Islands to Big Sur—excites me the most,” Burtt said. “This might be the effect of simply painting it often. Like affection in a personal relationship; paying attention increases love.”
Burtt specified that her all-time favorite place to paint is Goleta Beach.
“The combination of placid water in the estuary, waves rushing in, a distant view of headlands, and nearby cliffs, and tall stands of eucalyptus offer great variety,” Burtt said, listing her favorite things about the spot. “There is always something deeply moving to paint at Goleta Beach.”
As a longtime conservationist, Burtt not only strives to illustrate the beauty of the open spaces she paints, but protect and preserve them as well.
“I’ve been painting for conservation since The Oak Group was founded back in the ’80s,” said Burtt, who’s also a founding member of the Southern California Artists Painting for the Environment (SCAPE).
Burtt also owns her own gallery, Marcia Burtt Gallery in Santa Barbara, which she’s owned for about two decades. She described the gallery’s origin as accidental.
In 2000, Burtt and her husband purchased a building on Laguna Street, designed to be “half residential and half commercial,” the artist said.
“I intended to use the lovely commercial space for painting portraits,” she said.
But before turning “the empty space into a cluttered studio,” Burtt decided to use the building to host an exhibition for her close friend and fellow artist, Meg Torbert. She enticed an additional artist, Pat Doyle, to showcase her works as well, forming a duo show between the two.
Twenty-one years later, Burtt is still curating local artists at the venue with the help of her gallery manager.
“Life intervened,” she said. “My great, good fortune in gaining the talents of a wonderful gallery manager after the first year enabled the gallery to, little by little, become lighter, cleaner, and more sophisticated aesthetically.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood feels fortunate too. Send comments to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 18-25, 2021.
