On a 12-by-16-inch canvas, artist Neil Andersson intertwines shapes and colors as if piecing together a puzzle.
A yellow swooping line in the lower right corner throws viewers’ eyes back up into the painting, right to the violet Pac Man shape, he said while looking at his painting Antigua.
Andersson thought about removing the Pac Man and changing a few things before he finished the piece but decided against it.
“There’s a point where you have to decide if you want to continue on it or just stop,” Andersson said. “And so I just stopped.”
He kept the violet Pac Man because he thought it was funny, plus it would have messed up other parts of his piece if he removed it. He also kept leaf shapes and something that looks like a bow tie, he said.
Antigua is one of Andersson’s 18 paintings in Rhapsody in Hue, the newest featured show at Gallery Los Olivos. The show is on display until Aug. 31.
Rhapsody in Hue is Andersson’s fifth duo show with Vicki Andersen, a landscape painter out of Lompoc and one of the few remaining founding members of Gallery Los Olivos.
The two met at Lompoc Valley Art Association meetings and became friends, Andersson said.
Andersen convinced Andersson to join Gallery Los Olivos in 2019, and the duo began showing together as featured artists a year later.
The 1924 George Gershwin song “Rhapsody in Blue” inspired Andersen’s pun, which became the name of their show, Rhapsody in Hue.
“I was doing that thing where I’m lying awake at 3 in the morning, things spinning in my head, and I thought I liked the play on Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue,’” Andersen said.
Andersen described Rhapsody in Hue as colorful and interesting, similar to their past shows together. The show features abstracts by Andersson with contrasting landscapes by Andersen.
Andersson recently returned to abstract painting after years of landscape work.
“The abstracts are basically more intuitive and imaginative, and the landscapes are more about observation,” Andersson said.
He blended geometric and organic shapes in his abstracts for Rhapsody in Hue. In his largest painting, called Rhythm Future—one of his favorites—Andersson introduced leaf shapes to make the painting look more natural, he said.
The title Rhythm Future is based on a song of the same name by a French guitarist. Lately, Andersson has been using the names of songs for painting titles, he said, even from his own music.
Andersson is part of the jazz band Pearl Django. The group’s song “Avalon” is now the title of one of Andersson’s paintings in the show.
“This painting just kind of looks like the song,” Andersson said. “To me it’s kind of a bubbly, happy painting, … and ‘Avalon’ is a great swing dance tune.”
He believes his abstract paintings stand out because most of the gallery is filled with landscape work.
“I think there’d be an element of surprise, especially because I think I’m only one of two or three abstract painters in the gallery at this point,” Andersson said.
His abstracts contrast with Andersen’s landscape paintings, but their common thread is a focus on composition and color.
“We appreciate what color does psychologically,” Andersson said. “I hate to use this word, but it’s basically fun working with color.”
Andersen paints from her own photographs she takes while traveling. Sometimes she knows right away that a picture will become a painting, she said.
In Rhapsody in Hue, many of her paintings are inspired by recent photos she took while traveling in Italy to places like the Amalfi Coast and Cinque Terre. Andersen said her paintings are more colorful than the photographs, though, because it makes her happy.
“I enjoy the color, and there’s no deep hidden meaning in my work,” Andersen said.
She never shows pieces she isn’t proud of, and one of her favorites in the show is called Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre—it’s featured on the show’s advertising card.
“There are [paintings] that are kind of your babies,” Andersen said. “When you painted it, it really flowed out of you, so to speak.”
Andersen tends to work quickly and does some of her best work with immediacy. Her speed is one reason why she paints with acrylics more than with oil paint, which takes “so long to dry,” she said.
She is able to paint quickly because she uses large brushes, like the palette brush, and doesn’t spend time on small details.
Andersen discovered painting with a palette brush from a local artist she admired, she said. It has become her main method of painting.
After moving to Lompoc in 1979, she became part of the art community and is still involved with local organizations. She serves as president of the Lompoc Valley Art Association and is part of the Lompoc Ten with Andersson. The group of 10 painters gets together to critique each other’s work.
“I really do appreciate the community,” Andersson said about the Lompoc Ten. “They’re all very, very nice people.”
Reach Staff Writer Madison White at mwhite@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 14-24, 2025.
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