Santa Barbara artist Ellen Yeomans used to consider herself “strictly a plein air painter” for the most part, but gradually less so once March 2020 rolled around.
“I began spending a lot more of my painting time at home—refining paintings, painting scenes from around my own house and yard, and so forth,” said Yeomans, one of the three featured painters in Gallery Los Olivos’ current exhibition, Three Viewpoints.
“For various reasons, I’ve had smaller blocks of time in which to paint and that, too, has led to me to work more at home and less out in the world,” she added.
A longtime lover of the great outdoors, Yeomans attributes the early stages of her passion to the various family camping trips she enjoyed throughout her childhood and early adulthood. While the pandemic and other circumstances have caused her painting habits to change recently, there’s a certain thrill unique to painting landscapes outdoors that she’s been missing.
“There’s nothing more exciting for me than painting outdoors. There’s a very motivating bit of pressure from the passage of time, the changing light and weather—heat, bugs, and dust are sometimes a challenge, but there are also all the unexpected things you see, smell, and hear when you stand still outdoors for several hours at a time,” Yeomans said. “It’s pretty wonderful.”
Like many people, the COVID-19 crisis also affected Yeomans’ ability to stay in touch with friends, especially since she was always a bit introverted to begin with.
“Forced isolation added to introversion is powerful. But I have a trusted circle of artist friends who have mostly managed to keep meeting for critiques, and that’s helped me stay connected,” Yeomans said.
Yeomans’ artist friends include Carrie Givens and Morgan Green, whose artworks are currently displayed alongside her own in Gallery Los Olivos’ latest trio show. This exhibit is scheduled to remain on display through the end of September.
For Green (who lives in the same Santa Barbara neighborhood as Yeomans, which helped them keep in regular contact over the past several months), time spent at home during the pandemic proved to be beneficial as an artist.
“It gave me time to study under artists I admire and to experiment,” Green said. “I had plenty of days to work on my process and try new materials. I experimented more, and I think that raised the quality of my work.”
One of Green’s personal favorites of her new paintings featured in Three Viewpoints is Shadow Play, as it fulfilled her ongoing goal as an artist in “catching the unique quality of our local light,” she explained.
“It depicts late afternoon sunlight on our coastal mountains above a tidewater slough. Getting that light to really glow took thought and care,” Green said. “The horizontal format allowed me to depict a wide expanse, which I think was crucial.”
Green produced many of her latest pieces in a larger format than most of her previous artworks featured at Gallery Los Olivos, although “most are still small enough to be hand-carried away by the collector,” she said.
“That’s important at a venue where many people visit Los Olivos primarily to taste wine and haven’t thought about purchasing art until they get there and see our paintings,” Green explained.
For Green, what makes Three Viewpoints a trio exhibit worth viewing isn’t going in with the knowledge that its three featured artists are good friends outside the gallery, but the fact that each of their styles differ so much, offering viewers “a range of experiences,” she said.
Givens, who previously teamed up with Green and Yeomans to organize 2019’s iteration of Three Viewpoints, said she feels “that the work we three accomplish goes well together” and noted that “there was no hesitancy in wanting to do another show with Ellen and Morgan.”
And while she said that the past year and a half has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride, she said that sheltering in place proved productive.
“Most of my paintings in our show were painted during the lockdown,” she added. “I appreciate the fact that I have my artwork to keep me occupied.” m
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood is just one guy, but eats like three. Send comments to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 23-30, 2021.