Meet Artist Connie Carson-Romano

T-004 an inclusion of color b7 Connie Romano oil 20x14 $435

 

Meet Artist Joy Willow

 

O-036 Hillisde Flume by Joy Willow mm 42x25 $1250

Joy Willow's "abstract naturalist" style combines the love of organic line and texture with images inspired from nature. Working on canvas, panel and on print-making paper, she aims to create a feeling of spontaneity and space while implying an internal landscape. Her panels afford a build-up of textures that suggest earth and rock forms. Her works on paper often begin with linear expressive gestures which are then "processed" in a way that adds and subtracts as the painting reveals itself.

Several techniques are evident in the work on canvas and panel, such as underpaintings "which provides a subtle background), mono printing, collage, found objects, glazing, and the use of sponges, brushes, rags, brayers, and fingers. The canvas become a field of discovery in which totally unplanned surprises are revealed.

Joy has been exploring the visual arts for over 30 years. She is also a trained musician and has taught voice and piano for over 40 years, maintaining an active studio in her home in Sonora. The quiet language of painting provides and wonderful balance and counterpoint to the verbal expression of song and poetry. Painting and poetry are really not very different for her, each voice whispering its invitation like woven lines of music. Her published collections of poetry are available locally and on Amazon.

Born and raised in eastern Pennsylvania, Willow was happily making abstract markings with finger paints until the coloring book with its strict lines stopped her joyfully messy experimentation. It took several decades to recover her desire to make art; long solitary walks allowed her to unconsciously absorb nature's patterns, forms, and textures; thus her inspiration for painting re-emerged. Encouraged by the late Judith Hale of Mendocino and Judy Sohigian of New Mexico, both mentors led her to explore the mysterious connections of inner and outer worlds.

Her work has been exhibited in galleries and private collections through out northern California, including Sonoma and Marin counties, San Francisco, Sacramento, Cambria, Lake Tahoe and the Motherlode area where her work has been shown in Sonora's former Ventana Gallery and Murphy's Handmade Gallery; currently her work can be viewed at Aloft Gallery in downtown Sonora.

Joy invites you to visit her website: www.joywillow.com.

Meet Artist Joani Taylor

BIO: JOANIE TAYLOR       

O-002 Mario's Red Tail by Joani Taylor 12x16 wc $1000

Art has always been a major part of Joani's life. Born & raised in South Florida, she had her girst gallery show experience at age eight when her charcoal drawing of a brown pelican was chosen for a special exhibit to hang in the Women's Museum of Miami Beach. Her formal schooling includes graduation with an AA degree in Fine Art from Palm Beach Junior College in Lake Worth (1970) and a BA degree in Design (Interior Design, College of Architecture) from University of Florida in Gainesville (1973).

O-003 The Golden Gate by joani Taylor acr 9x12 $475

        She moved to California in 1975, Calaveras County being home for 46 years. She married & raised a family, and although art was incorporated into everyday life, put her art career "on hold" until her children were grown. She joined Arts of Bear Valley in 2006, introducing her art publicly in 2007. In her first four years, she won two "Best of Show" awards. She's been one of the original local artists with the Art on Main Gallery, Murphys since it's inception in 2012.

O-004 Molokai from Kapalua Bay by Joani Taylor 9x12 acr $475

        

Tropical exotic plants & florals have been her passion & main focus for ten years and watercolor ner medium. In 2018 she began experimention with other subjects in acrylics on board & canvas with the plan to eventually transition to oils. She, also, plans to begin trying her had at "plein air" this year.

        Contact info: (209) 728-9440  or jtaylorlyons@gmail.com

"I just want to honor the beauty I see in Nature."

Meet Artist Lynne Sutton

 Lynne Sutton Bio

O-042 Love of Music by lynne_sutton_wc 29x25 $450.00

I have lived in Calaveras County, in the Mokelumne Hill area for the last 47 years.

I always painted and did other Artisti things while growing up. Things went on hold for a time during child rearing. Later, I took classes in Oil Painting and Pottery at Delta College in Stockton, CA.

Since my retirement from retail, I have more time and am back to painting and mix media Art. I get a lot of my inspiration from looking at Art Galleries and while traveling.

I often have dreams about my next project and can hardly wait to see what happens when implimented. Sometimes I feel they turn out good, and sometimes not. But, I am still doing what I love to do ... ART!

Meet Artist Monika Stattner

 Monika Stattner

Biography

O-049 listening by Monika Stattner pencil 14x9 $175

Art is something I love to create and experience.

My childhood memories are of the times when I spent many hours reading beautifully illustrated fairy tale books. This consistent activity resulted in drawing my own illustrations for home work assignments, especially for history classes.

I enjoy drawing with graphite. It has a certain poetic power that I adore so clearly. In my highly detailed drawings I thrive to present the real persona, the character of the subject at that moment when I felt to freeze it in time.

In my other artworks where I use color, I like to use the medium that I think fits the best to express what I see.

My favorite medium is graphite and oil, but I also work with pastel and color pencil.

O-052 happy_cows by Monika Stattner pastel 12x16 $275

Among others, I am most inspired by the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarotti, and the illustrations of Arthur Rackham, and the Hungarian Peter Balogh.

Meet Artist Cali Roberson

 Cali Roberson

O-055 bridled_blondes by Cali Roberson pastel 11x14 $1200

    Cali Roberson grew up outside of Oakdale, California where her parents raised horses and sheep. Her dad worked for a large ranch and Cali spent a lot of time working with him, learning how to handle horses and cattle. Her artistic tendencies were apparent early on and the local butcher shop would put her finger paintings in the window.

    At age 11 she began spending summers living with cutting and cow horse trainers Carl and kathy Gould. Cali moved with them to Napa, going into home schooling and training her own horses and working for local ranches during shipping and branding seasons.

    After taking drawing and art classes in high school, Cali realized how passionate she was but still wasn't sure about making a career of it. In order to live at home and continue her other passion, showing cow horses, she went to her local college, CSU Stanislaus. While there, Cali majored in Art and also received a minor in Business Administration.

    After years of trying to work a full-time job, train her horses, and draw, Cali decided to make a change. She quit her office job in 2009 to be a full-time artist. She is married and raising two little girls on their small ranch in Escalon, California. She continues to train and show her own horses and works part time for a large cattle ranch. Cali feels this first hand knowledge of her subject matter is essential to the authenticity of her art.

Meet Artist Susan Regert

 Susan Regert Gallery

SusanRegertGallery@yahoo.com

(209)777-0685

T-028 Flower Garden by Susan Regert Casagrande wc 20x28 $1499

A native Californian, Susan Regert grew up on a small ranch close to the city of Merced. She raised her two sons at the same location. For fifteen years she raised a flock of Suffolk sheep with the help of her boys. "That was the best time of my life" the artist states. The sudden death of her father plunged her in a whole new life experience as she took over the family cattle operation. It was an intense operation with 1200 head of cattle and a feedlot during the summer months and the cattle in the hills in the winter. During the first two years of learning the business there was no time to paint. The hours spent horseback and working cattle were used to mentally gather information and subject matter to transpose into watercolors.

In 1986 she opened the Regert Gallery, "It was wonderful to have a special place to work and display my paintings. I prefer to work Plein Air or paint on location but ny studio was great when the weather was bad. Painting is my escape from pressure. I can truly lose myself in my work." Susan has shown her artworks throughout California and has won numerous awards. Her watercolors hand in several banks and in many corporate and private collections. One major firm owns forty0five of her paintings. Two of her paintings were featured on the cover of national magazines and two were commissioned by Wallco Land and Cattle of Australia for their corporate offices.

In 1996 she started Z Garden Party. I designed and manufactured metal garden sculptures. I had permanent show rooms in Atlanta and Dallas plus doing shows across the US> I had never traveled much so this was exciting. The shop for eh metal work was at the ranch with the cattle so I could keep an eye on everything. It was a very challenging and busy time but my two sons worked with me through it all.

I closed my gallery in 2019 after 33 years in business and moved to Truckee with my new husband. The mountains, rivers and snow were a great inspiration for paintings and Covid gave me lots of time to paint. The sudden death of my husband in 2021 has sent me back to Merced and my family. I am truly grateful to be able to paint. It has blessed me through the good as well as the difficult times of my life. My business would never have succeeded without the help of my family and friends and support of my customers. I am grateful to all of them.