Save the Date for SLOPE's "Open Range: Painting the Chimineas"

Nancy will be one of the featured artist’s in SLOPE’s artshow "Open Range: Painting the Chimineas" at Castoro Winery. The reception is May 16th and the show is open and free to the public for the month of May. The Chimineas Ranch Foundation is a non-profit organization supporting the Chimineas Ranch Units of the Carrizo Plain Ecological Reserve, a state owned ecologically sensitive property of approximately 30,000 acres adjacent to but not part of the Carrizo Plains National Monument. The Chimineas Ranch once occupied over 50,000 acres in both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties including an ancient Spanish land grant and original homesteads from the late 1800's. Today the ranch is a California Department of Fish and Game ecological reserve with controlled public access. SLOPE has already had several overnight “paint-outs” at the Chimineas Ranch to give artists the opportunity to know the land and the artists and their work to convey an intimate knowledge of the area.

The San Luis Outdoor Painters for the Environment (SLOPE) is a group of professional artists committed to preserving the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life found in SLO County. The artists of SLOPE produce pieces that draw public attention to endangered natural communities and generate funds for the protection or purchase of endangered lands. SLOPE works in cooperation with local and national conservation groups and landowners to protect SLO County natural communities. SLOPE has raised significant funds that have either aided in the purchase or preservation of land.

Annual SLOPE Exhibit and Benefit

http://www.slopepainters.com/chimineas/paintings.html

'The Art of Wine' at Studios on the Park

Nancy participated in The Art of Wine exhibit blending art and the Paso Robles Downtown Wineries at Studios on the Park. Each artist designed a work of art that represented the spirit of the winery they were coupled with. The pieces were displayed in their respective tasting rooms then put up for sale during the evening's silent auction which benefitted Studios on the Park. Nancy paired with Ortman Family Vineyards winemaker Matt Ortman to create a magnum bottle adorned in acrylic paints depicting a replica of a specific vineyard in the Santa Rita hills.

Notes from a Visitor

I was visited the other day by a Chris Alba as she was passing through Studios. She is a writer for The Paso Robles Magazine and she took a moment to write about one of my new pieces. Below is her poem.

"The Woman Who Painted Light"

She stood with her knife and her palette
in the spotlight of the darkened gallery
mostly in shadow next to the spotlight
where her painting was clipped to the tall
wooden easel. In the spotlight the painting
glowed but she said come see it tomorrow
in the natural light of the sun. She said
she used nearly a full tube of white
and you would see such inner light
within the thick layers of paint
representing light on water, and her smile
was incandescent. This impression of reed
in river was a new style for her and it
pleased her; you could see the sparks
of pleasure in her eyes. In the two hours
it took to paint it, she reached a zenith
as an artist, and she knew it.