Meet Artist Ruth Andre, Ironstone Vineyards 16th Annual Spring Obsession OPEN Division artist

Ruth Andre - Spring Obsessions 2013

Contemporary Landscapes and Abstract Oils - Palette Knife Paintings

My paintings have transformed themselves from representational to abstract works in the past  year. The new work has been an awakening, revealing the inner spirit of my heart. The paint moved from the palette knife to canvas releasing the paint to tell its own story. My hand held the energy from within as the mixing of paint colors ignited and nature's beauty emerged. 

I studied art and design at California State Long Beach as well as printmaking at Otis/Parsons Art Institute. My interest in art led me to a career representing artists and photographers located in Los Angles, San Francisco and New York. Then in 1992 I took my first painting workshop with Maurice Larioux in Santa Fe, NM and I was hooked on painting. I continued studying on my own and taking workshops with known artists to learn the art of painting. I have been involved with art most of my life. Printmaking, fiber-sculpture and graphic design are all part of who I am with painting being my true love. I look to my previous careers as very important since they were a molding of different mediums that formed what I do today.

Meet Artist Robyn Lyee Leimer, Spring Obsession Open Division Artist

Robyn Lyee Leimer
Artist Bio

Robyn Lyee was born at Hill Air Force base outside of Ogden Utah. She spent many summer vacations with her grandparents at their home in Ogden. She has many precious memories of time spent with her grandparents on their front porch, looking out at the
mountains in the distance, enjoying the beauty and splendor of nature. Robyn has always been enthralled by nature. Nature's delicate perfect lines and symmetry of shapes, as well as the bold bright variations of colors continually capture her eye.

After receiving her Bachelor of Fine Art's degree from San Jose State University she is pursuing her passion on a daily basis focusing primarily on plein air painting. She is continually promoting plein air in her community and in her life's pursuits. After
graduation Robyn joined up with the Peninsula Outdoor Painting group (POPs) when she can, but enjoys plein air painting in the East Bay as well. She was instrumental in creating and organizing plein air paint out events with the Fremont Art Association as well as
organizing a weekly plein air group for the East Bay called Fremont Art Association Plein Air / East Bay Outdoor Painters (FAAPA/EBOP) which gets together to paint/sketch on Wednesday mornings. 

Robyn is also a member of the California Art Club: actively participating in the various exhibits, artist painting events and painting retreats that the club sponsors. Robyn enjoys the spontaneity of plein air painting. Starting out with nothing; being able to absorb it all from sight to sound. Capturing the essence from temperature, atmosphere and feelings evoked around her while finding the truth in nature that is constantly changing. Robyn says, "Plein air painting is a pursuit that continues to challenge me and I

love it. It is JUST PLEIN FUN!" 

Meet Artist Judy Boles, Ironstone Spring Obsession OPEN Division Artist

Judy Boles Art  

While taking family roadtrips as a girl, my father taught me to see the beauty in any landscape: orchards, corn fields, lakes, mountains, sea coasts ...and even barren desserts. Painting and drawing became my favorite childhood pass time. After getting a teaching credential from Chico State University, I taught high school English and Art in
northern California. However, my art soon had to take a back seat
to raising children and a career in the corporate world. Since
retiring in 2006, I am now able to pursue my passion for art once
again.

My art is a sort of visual diary of places or scenes that have moved
me. The observation required to render a scene on paper or canvas
makes me feel closer to the scene and to nature in general. While
living many years in Petaluma, CA, I was drawn to coastal hills, the
shoreline, and the wonderful vistas of the wine country. In 2011, my husband and I moved to Arnold, CA, in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

We now live in the natural beauty of a national forest. My new
inspirations: mountain streams, alpine lakes, redwood trees and
the constantly changing seasons.

Visit my web gallery at: rojubo.com/jbolesart
Or email me at: rojubo@rojubo.com

Meet Artist Christine Muratore, Ironstone's Spring Obsession OPEN Division Artist

Christine Muratore   

Artist Statement:

Instead of investing in the limitations of creating art from hindsight, we should initiate the path of art with foresight.

The dynamic synergy of structural and organic relationship is evident in our environment. Color, light and texture merging at different moments in time visually transform objects in our environment. Though the objects remain constant, these joined influences change how they are seen.

This coexistence is visible in natural cycles or exposure through time and function.

Working with aspects of architectural restoration has given tangible reference to this relationship.

Individual thoughts, emotions and responses are products of underlying experience. One's perspective has a structural base formed by this history while remaining organic.

As new experiences unfold, people reconstruct that framework, expanding, discarding, or renewing perceptions from current influences upon that support. Learning to play an instrument can initially be a painful experience, once mastered, it's a source of joy.

Inspired by the structural and organic relationship, my compositions explore images, color and textures to create a visual history of experience, while alluding to the ongoing transformation of self. The intention is to capture the ambiguity of perception. 

Short description of Work: Paintings using oil, acrylics, complementing medium and materials where texture is essential to the compositional statement.  An emphasis on the organic and structural relationship through form, color and texture.  

Meet Artist Bobbie Powell, Ironstone Spring Obsession OPEN Division artist

Bobbie Powell, Artist

Roseville CA 
bobbiepowell@surewest.net
www.rosevillearts.org
www.dailyartbeast.com

Bobbie is all about bright colors and heavy textures. She
creates using oils, acrylics, inks, watercolor, collage, etc.
doing landscapes, still life, narrative figurative, abstracts
and commissions upon request.
She is a self taught award winning artist, and attends art
instruction seminars and workshops with some of the best
contemporary artist-instructors in Placer and Sacramento
Counties. She has also been instructed and critiqued by
the nationally famous artists of Intensive Studies
Seminars in Taos, New Mexico.
Bobbie is represented by Patris’ Art Gallery and Studio in
Oak Park, California.
She has a small working studio in Roseville and can be
contacted via email. Her work is shown in the Directory of
Artists at the Roseville Arts website listed above, on
Facebook and she shares her thoughts and art process on
her blog, The Daily Art Beast.

Meet Artist Stephanie Benedict, Ironstone's Spring Obsession Open Division

Stephanie Benedict

sbenedictstudio.com
sbenedictblog.com
stephanieb@sbenedictstudio.com


Stephanie Benedict paints landscapes in oil,
acrylic, and gouache. She came to painting one
evening in the middle of her life, while wandering
through an art supply store. She was looking at
racks of stretched canvas—small ones, big ones,
square and long ones—all empty, white, and
standing in rows against the wall. Suddenly,
Stephanie started seeing paintings on them:
cityscapes, mountains, views through windows. She decided that night to
study painting, and she’s never looked back.
Stephanie earned a BA with honors from the University of California, Santa
Cruz, in History/Theatre Arts. Since that night at the art supply store, she’s
studied painting and drawing with Kathleen Dunphy, Scott Christensen, Terry
Miura, Susan Sarback, and Dan Samborski.
Stephanie is a native Californian, born in Burbank and raised in Sacramento.
After sampling life in Eugene and Boston, Stephanie returned to California.
She now resides in near Sacramento.
You can find Stephanie’s work at High Hand Gallery in Loomis, California,
and on her website, sbenedictstudio.com. She writes about painting, nature,
and painting nature on her blog, sbenedictblog.com.

Meet Artist Vickie Chew, Spring Obsession Open Division Artist

Vickie Chew Art

Vickie Chew is a local resident of Calaveras County. She attended Calaveras High School and never left the area as so many young locals do to earn a living and begin a career. Working in the local law enforcement community she began to study art in the mid 1990’s, as she found art to be great way to relax and escape the challenges of work. Vickie attended some local classes and workshops and took some college art courses while working on her BA in Business Administration degree. She is mostly self taught and pursues the challenges of Plein Air Painting. Her painting Airola Ranch Oak at the Kautz Ironstone Spring Obsession Show was originally painted as a small plein air study at the Airola Ranch off of Dogtown Road, outside of Angels Camp. She liked the scene so much that she painted the large painting shown here specifically for the Spring Obsession Show.

Meet Artist Carol Clark, Spring Obsession OPEN Division Artist

Artist:  Carol L. Clark

O-099 Valley Spring Fog and Sun  oil  24x30m  $400

E-mail:  c14rogercarol@goldrush.com

Carol’s favorite medium is oil paint.  She loves their rich range from bright crisp to soft muted colors.  She also likes the richness that is achieved through glazing. Carol enjoys painting many subjects including local landscapes, historic buildings and homes, florals and still life.

  Carol is currently displaying this work at the Ironstone Vineyards Spring Obsession Show.  As a credentialed teacher she has taught art in California, Utah and Pennsylvania. Her formal Art education was at California State University at Long Beach.  While living in Pennsylvania, she sold work at the Fall Festival Art show in Pottstown and the Birdsboro Community Fine Art Show.  She lives in La Contenta, Valley Springs California. Her current work is sold as originals!   

O-098  Spring Flowers on an old Gate  Oil  12x16  $300

Meet Artist Karen Spotts, Spring Obsession Open Division Artist

KAREN SPOTTS

Born and raised outside of Phoenix, Karen graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelors degree in Art, and a secondary degree in Education.  She also earned a Masters degree in art education from Lesley University in Cambridge, Ma.  She has been teaching all media of high school art since the 1990s.

Karen has lived and worked in California, Illinois and Michigan.  She also spent five years in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, during which time she traveled the world extensively.  She has raised three children.  Besides her passion for art, Karen collects and studies Native American arts and crafts and enjoys bicycling.

Pastels are Karen’s creative choice, although she has also perfected a printmaking process called Clayprints (pulling original, one of a kind monoprints from a painted, textured clay slab).  In addition to studio work, where she primarily paints from photographs she has taken on her travels, Karen enjoys Plein Air in such locations as Santa Fe and Taos.

Karen’s studio is in Evergreen, Colorado where she can be reached at:

303.803.4498

kespotts@gmail.com

Meet Artist Ralph Strong, Spring Obsession Open Division Artist

Ralph Strong

Art Entry:  O-132  “Roman Market”  Open Division, Spring Obsession

Acrylic 12” x 16”

I was always interested in drawing, but eventually decided to follow an education toward engineering for reasons of practicality.  I had taken only two classes in art at Solano College in Suisun, California before beginning my career in engineering.  A good deal of mechanical drawing was required in both of my two engineering jobs.  For several years, I pretty much designed highway and water systems, including creating engineering maps with pen and ink.  Eventually, computer aided drafting (CAD) replaced the ink work and a dozen years later I retired.  This work experience, I think, had been chosen by myself to allow my early interest in drawing to continue in the engineering venue, and has given my retirement painting a certain technical accuracy approach, that now seems to me maybe a bit restrictive, and less fluid or expressive.  On the other hand, the tedious nature of my work experience gave insight in laying out a drawing or painting and more importantly, the patience to push through difficulty and complete it. 

After retirement, with the kids grown, my wife, Cathy, and I spent a lot of time at our summer place in Groveland California just west of Yosemite, where Cathy encouraged me to take some art lessons with Jim Leitzel, a local artist who happened to have a lifetime in art and instruction.  I found Jim and his style of teaching to be a true find, and with my newfound retirement time, I plan to continue and enjoy the experiences of painted art.

Meet Artist Cathryn Stong, Spring Obsession Open Division Artist

Cathryn Ann Strong

0-127, Chinese Camp Barn, Watercolor, Open Division, 18 x 24

 0-130, Calveritas Wall, Watercolor, Open Division, 11 x 14

At age 12, my first oil painting class was with senior citizens at their local center, which offered the only available painting class my parents could find.   It was not until my last year of high school that I was able to take another formal art class,  While in college, I was fortunate enough to enroll in  various art classes and  a drawing class under Wayne Thiebaud while working toward my B.A. at U.C. Davis.   Since I was on an accelerated course for teaching, I did not pursue an art major, but considered a double major.  When I transferred to San Jose State University for a teaching credential, the school was overcrowded, and because I could not get the teaching courses, my postgraduate work was in creative writing and art.   It was at San Jose State that I fell in love with watercolor painting. 

After college I sold paintings and accepted commissions, but during my working career and raising my children, I stopped all serious painting, although I was able to take a few art workshops mainly at Yosemite Art Center or Arts Benicia.   

One day, as my husband and I have a home in Groveland, CA, I noticed a painting class at Mountain Sage under the instructor, Jim Leitzell.   I have been taking classes with Jim off and on for two years and credit him for bringing me back to the art world and realizing my passion of watercolor painting.   Under his guidance, I won second place, best in Show, at Columbia College in 2010.  I continue to take art workshops with various artists at Copperopolis Art Gallery, with Jim in Groveland, CA, and also at the Yosemite Art Center every chance I get.  

 My work will be shown at the Groveland Library with the Sierra Professional Artists, Saturdays, April through June.   I have been a member of Sierra Professional Arts since 2010, and Ironstone Spring Obsession 2013 is the first art show that I have entered.

Phone:  209-962-5603.  Cell: 707-373-1232

Meet Artist Dana Wayne Phillips, Spring Obsession OPEN Division Artist

Dana Phillips        

DanaPhillips-Art.com

O-147 Saturday in the Fountain by Dana Wayne Phillips oil  16x12 $495

Dana Phillips is a Sacramento area artist who does landscapes and figures in oils, dividing his time between plein air and studio work.  He is a studio member at Capital ArtWorks. 

Dana has been accepted in juried plein air events including the Los Gatos Plein Air Festival, the Frank Bette Plein Air Paintout, the San Luis Obispo Plein Air Festival, and the Epperson Gallery’s Valonna.  He has been included in the juried Sacramento Fine Arts Center exhibitions and in the 2012 California State Fair Exhibition where he received an Award of Merit.  In his first plein air event, the 2010 Winters Paint the Town, Dana received an artist’s choice award.   Dana has paintings currently hanging in First U.S. Community Credit Union in Rocklin, California, and the Koloa Rum Company in Kauai, Hawaii.

O-148 Long Ride Home by Dana Wayne Phillips oil 12x16 $495

Dana has taken workshops and classes with area artists including Debbie Gualco, Don Hatfield, Terry Miura, Deladier Almieda, Philippe Gandiol and Fongwei Liu. 

Dana was born and raised in Texas.  He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and then the University of San Diego, receiving a degree of Juris Doctor.  He practiced law in southern California for ten years before moving to Sacramento to work for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, where he retired as General Counsel after 22 years.