My purpose in going tonight was to attend the First Saturdays: Wine + Art event at Studios on the Park. There was a reception for Sheryl Knight and Linda Mutti, plein air painters who paint together. Their show is titled “California Backroads and Kindred Spirits.” The walls are covered with their uplifting landscape paintings. In talking to them, it’s evident they have become fast friends. Although the Studios will be closed on Easter Sunday, you still have an opportunity to see the exhibit before it closes on April 29.
Sheryl and Linda often paint in Los Olivos and the Santa Ynez Valley, a plein air painting paradise. Both love being outdoors to paint so that they can capture all the color and light they see in a scene, as well as injecting their own spirit into it. Both women have been drawing and painting since childhood. You can learn more about Linda and see more of her work on her web site. You will also want to visit Sheryl Knight’s web site.
If this exhibit were not enough for me to enjoy in one evening, there was still more to see. Liv Hansen was demonstrating how to paint on silk as we walked by the Paso Robles Art Association classroom. We stopped to watch her for a few minutes and took this picture. She will be giving a class on how to create your own silk painting or scarf on May 5, 2012. You need to register by April 28. See details on the PRAA website. She also had one of her finished silk paintings next door in the Paso Robles Art Association Gallery. You can see it below.
Here’s the sign for the exhibit, a piece of art by Monika Roe, who also did the 3/D “Spring Poppies “paper sculpture, which jumps right out of it’s background. I have placed it below the sign. You’ve got to see it in person.
Monika is an illustrator who has a studio in Paso Robles. She was new to me at this show. You can find out more about her at her blog.
Please do yourself a favor and get in to see both these exhibits before they close on April 29. I will leave you with one section of wall in the gallery, but that’s just to tease you. You can’t see the first place painting by WB Eckert unless you see it in person. And he’s got a studio full of other treasures you won’t want to miss. The winner of the red ribbon had already been sold and taken away before I got there, so all we get to see is the bare spot on the wall with the red ribbon under it.
Throughout the “California Backroads and Kindred Spirits” exhibit, we were treated to the smooth tones of Tim Pacheco as he accompanied himself on his acoustic guitar. As he sang old familiar songs made famous by others, I enjoyed them more than I had the originals. He seemed to add depth to them. If you get a chance, hear him. Visit Tim Pacheco’s website.
As I usually do when I leave the studios, I said goodbye to Smudge, the official Studios on the Park mascot, who was wide awake tonight.