by Elizabeth Monks Hack
Art lovers take note. Nature lovers, take note. “New Vistas” at the Cypress Gallery, featuring oil paintings, pastels and even a conté crayon drawing by Neil Andersson, will feed you soul. Andersson is a plein-air painter who records his outdoor experience with such intimacy that you can feel the breeze and the sunshine on your skin. And when the fog rolls in, you can feel that too. Because we live in the sunshine state, his work is primarily an odyssey through green and blue, and lavenders, and gold.
Also an accomplished musician, Andersson hails from Tacoma, Washington, where he first took up the art of plein-air painting several decades ago. It is the “anticipation of the challenge” of making a good painting that keeps his practice alive. He says, “being outside is rejuvenating. The light, shapes, and colors of nature are continuously in a a state of flux, and always ready to offer something new to learn.” It helps when the weather is dependable, which it usually is on the central coast.
Andersson’s brushstrokes are generally small and horizontal, like tiny measuring devices that monitor the subtleties of the environment. They provide a keen sense of calm. Multi-directional and larger strokes are employed when the occasion calls for it, as in a burst of sunlight or a bank of clouds. In the large work “Good Day Sunshine,” an expanse of foreground is in shadow, while the excitement of light explodes on the horizon line. You will find evidence of such mastery in each of his vistas.
Punctuating the front gallery of Andersson’s work are the sensitive pieces of sculptor Chuck Klein. His beautifully turned wooden vessels provide the warmth of a beautiful forest, abstracted and refined by the artist, as in “Fern Plate.” The room is a place of repose that we invite you to enjoy.
Throughout the main gallery are some remarkable stunners this month, as bracing as the fall air. Our photographers have contributed startling visual experiences. In the lush “Merced River” by Bill Morson, ice cold water on a hot sunny day in Yosemite beckons. Tom Chrones has been experimenting with the abstract qualities of light and dark, as in “Arcs” and “Mystery Ship,” which won third place in our Fall Show. Through “English Green,” Susanne Schenk takes us to the verdant world of her latest adventure in the Cotswolds.
Linda Gooch won second place in our Fall Show for her “Inquisitive,” a hyper-convincing blue jay with personality-plus. This month she displays more trompe l’oeil paintings that will blow your mind; in particular, her pet lovebird “My Buddy.” Come in and say hello to him! Also “fooling the eye” is Lee Hill’s highly entertaining and convincing “”7-Up,” an acrylic painting on canvas of an old, rusted sign, embedded in a real-life fence.
Our artists handle a variety of media with aplomb. Barbara Schmaeling’s exquisite small collages are nuanced but energetic. Joe Gliebe-Goetz’s “Mushrooms” is a small, richly colored watercolor composed on a diagonal. Carol Wood has used paint to simulate a mosaic effect in her colorful painting of a horse entitled “Equine Mosaic.” Chris Jeszeck’s masterful “Majestic” also depicts a horse, but in thick white impasto.
Thank you to all who submitted to our Fall Show! Community member Barbara Curtis won first place for her watercolor collage “Realm of Possibilities.” Visit us to find out more about our Arts Academy, for original holiday gifts, and for that quantum of solace that art provides.
The Cypress Gallery is operated by the members of the Lompoc Valley Art Association is a 501c(3) non-profit organization, committed to expanding and supporting access and exposure to the arts in the Lompoc and Santa Ynez Valley. Located at 119 East Cypress Avenue, Lompoc. Hours are Thursday – Sunday 11;00 am to 4:00 pm. Phone (805) 737-1129 <lompocart.org>