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Elaine French Elaine French retired from
the field of educational research and evaluation several years ago and
is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Art History at San Jose State
University. She serves on the Board of the San Jose Museum of Art. In addition, she is an active
environmentalist and is a trustee of the Nature Conservancy of Idaho and
serves on the Advisory Board of Peninsula Open Space Trust. |
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 The Jane Gallagher Award winner: Jim Caldwell, Woodside www.JimCaldwellArt.com  With my painting I am trying to make the public more aware of the beauty of nature which surrounds us on the Peninsula, and the importance of its preservation. In each painting I have tried to capture a moment frozen in time and space, with all of its subtleties of light and shade, its richness of color and texture. I have painted exactly what I saw in nature, not what I imagined it to be. The act of painting is a form of meditation for me, and the result is a form of communion with nature. This submittal focuses on two subjects. One is the beauty of the Crystal Springs Lakes. We are very fortunate that the lakes and watershed have so far remained undeveloped, but we should not assume that they will always remain that way. The other is the forest. Our clean air depends, in part, on the untouched forests, and I have tried to capture their mystery, and majesty. Art gallery back to top Runner up: Patricia Wallis, Novato  www.PatWallis.com The various elements of nature provide the conceptual basis for my paintings. I want to capture my reaction to what I see before me. It is more important for me to convey the feel or mood of the day rather that a realistic rendering of the scene before me. This land -and water - is man's "nest". We need to protect and safeguard what nature has given us. Art gallery back to top JoAnne Horsfall Beasley, Palo Alto  www.themaingallery.org/art/beasley Landscapes have been the love of my painting life since I was a teenager growing up in Northeastern Ohio, borrowing the family car to paint plein-air in the surrounding countryside. Upstate New York and Cornell were wonderfully stimulating and Boston provided me with a brief period of abstraction, but not until my move in 1974 did I witness California with grateful appreciation for its unique and astounding beauty. The Trinities of Northern California, the mid-Peninsula of the San Francisco Bay Area and San Francisquito Creek have been my particular favorites. Landscapes and humans, together, have always resulted in a focus on the human form… perhaps because we humans are so fascinated with ourselves…. Many of my newer pieces incorporate references to mankind in the form of roads, trails, sheds and bridges… small reminders of our common humanity. I love the landscape uncomplicated by mans' presence but I am finding these subtle human references an expansion of my horizons in ways that do not demand or compete with the natural land upon which they rest. Art gallery back to top Kay Duffy, Saratoga 
www.KayDuffyWatercolors.com I love the beauty of wild, open spaces; the healing power of nature. Fear of losing these things leads me to support numerous conservation organizations: Sempervirens, CGF, POST, Yosemite Fund, Sierra Club, and many others. I actively campaigned for the formation of MROSD and served 20 years as a Director. For 30 years I have led monthly AAUW hikes. I grow great tomatoes. I bring this passion for nature to my watercolors. Most often I paint "en plein air", where I feel connected to the natural places I love. There I see light and shadows, feel temperature, and hear the birds. Even dealing with the discomforts and problems of working outdoors keeps my work spontaneous, "loose," and impressionistic. Art gallery back to top Timothy Horn, Fairfax 
www.HornDesign.com/paintings I was born and raised in a small town in Ohio, where the countryside was dominated by corn fields, pig farms and dairy operations. If you stood in front of the house where I grew up, you could throw a rock in three directions and hit corn. There was plenty of beautiful "open spaces" around us, but it was all agriculture land - oceans of corn punctuated with barns and farmhouses. This instilled in me a deep appreciation for farming, and I think explains why years later, I am drawn to scenes that include barns and outbuildings, livestock, and farming equipment. As I travel the back roads of the Bay Area, I'm in awe of the spectacular beauty and undisturbed quality of the landscape here. Much of this land remains agricultural. These operations have helped to preserve the quality, history and beauty of the land that I have come to appreciate so much. Art gallery back to top Kerri Lawnsby, Santa Clara  www.KerriLawnsby.com I create soft pastel drawings that use whatever color feels right to create ambiance, without adherence to local color. When I am drawing landscapes, I work outdoors because the air, sunshine, and landscape influences my artwork to convey my inner reaction to the place. I have not yet included people, animals or man-made objects in my landscapes because I feel they are out of place with the focus of my artwork: the landscape itself. There is great sense of peace that envelopes me when I am outdoors, and the majesty of the landscape. The reality is I am not always working in complete peace and quiet - generally there are other people nearby while I am working - but I choose to omit mankind from the artwork because I like it better that way. Art gallery back to top Julia Munger Seelos, Santa Clara 
www.JuliaSeelosGallery.com Plein air painting is my solace. I have always needed to be outside where it's green. I grew up in the hills of Kentucky overlooking the Ohio River. My childhood was like Huckleberry Finn and Anne of Green Gables all rolled into one. My sister and I had free reign of the deep hardwood forest behind our house and made daily excursions to "the woods." We watched patiently as freshwater craw-dads built elaborate mud castles and lightning bugs lit our secret places under the branches. We ran through Queen Anne's Lace and Jack in the Pulpits as we came home for dinner each summer night. I traced the delicate patterns of butterfly wings and leaves in my sketch books. My serious return to painting was sparked by the California plein air painting I discovered here. My church is the golden Bay Area hills and pine forests. I am truly at peace when I am out in the open with my paints and my brushes. Art gallery back to top Carolyn Shaw, San Mateo  I fell in love with the California landscape in my childhood as I rode back and forth from Pasadena to Woodside to visit my grandparents. Often, we took the train which went along the Coast or through otherwise inaccessible ranchland valleys and mountain passes. I feel as though I lose a part of myself each time I see a new development appear. Even as a child, I felt a sense of wonder at the beauty of nature as well as its power to nurture my soul. Isn't that the meaning of recreation? My initial impressions of the landscape have not changed much but have sharpened through my painter's eyes, and I feel fortunate to be able to express and share them now. Art gallery back to top Sheila Sondik, Berkeley 
www.SheilaSondik.com I have always found my deepest joy and wonder in nature, beginning in the insect-filled vacant lot next to my childhood home at the edge of Hartford, Connecticut. When I moved to the Bay Area after college, I knew that I had found my true home. The western landscape - from the Pacific Coast to the Eastern Sierra - thrilled me and gave me a sense of belonging. It is those deep chords of feeling that spring from being alone and at one with the natural world that I hope to evoke in my painting. The unique crinkled-paper technique I have developed results in texture which knits together the various landscape elements, visually representing my sense of ecological connectedness. My paintings are based on specific places, but that are not hyper-realistic depictions of them. Rather, they portray the resonance and refreshment I feel in the unspoiled areas accessible to urban dwellers. Art gallery back to top Michelle Waters, Los Gatos  www.MichelleWatersArt.com My art gives voice to those whose voices go unheard: the animals whose world is being stolen by development and overconsumption. We live in the midst of an extinction wave greater than that of the dinosaurs, albeit human-caused. More and more scientists are saying that we have no time left to change our ways; we face certain ecosystem collapse within a short time unless we immediately and drastically lower greenhouse gas emissions, chemical usage and consumption. Given the dire straits of these times I feel an urgency to produce images which are uncompromising in the indictment of our greed and avarice as the source of the environmental crisis. By creating art which speaks of the politics and economics of the environmental crisis I aim to unearth truths buried by the constant barrage of corporate-controlled visual images. I offer my work as cultural resistance to ecocide. Art gallery back to top Alex White, Berkeley 
www.AlexWhite-Artworks.com "Everybody needs beauty," said the naturalist John Muir, and it is the natural beauty of California that inspires my artwork. My work honors this special place and its unique light and color. My painting expresses the spiritual connection we have with nature, through the harmony of color and shape. My hope is that the viewer will enter the painting, where the tangible will transform to a timeless experience - the work of art as meditation. It is my goal to foster the preservation and care of our natural resources so that all people find places such as Muir did, "where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike." Art gallery back to top Thomas Wood, Nicasio 
www.TWoodArt.com I paint primarily on public open space lands. My work reflects my love of unspoiled landscape and so, I think, makes an implicit argument for environmental preservation. I paint to reveal the extraordinary within the ordinary, to convey nature's beauty, simplicity, and emotional tranquility, and to evoke the experience of real places. Painting in an obscure canyon, along a stream, or among oaks, I find a spiritual essence, a governing harmony. In open lands one feels a restorative life-energy, an antidote to modern population and development pressures. I am pleased if through my art I can reinforce - or awaken - a viewer's appreciation for the natural world. Art gallery back to top Page last updated August 31, 2004 . | ||||||
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