Meet Artist Geneva Davis Season, Spring Obsession Open Division Artist

Geneva Davis Season  

Over thirty years ago Geneva's creative art journey began.  Studying a variety of techniques and mediums has let to a body of work of great diversity. Her work may be characterized as realism to impressionism, but as variety of subject matter a distinctive style has evolved which can vary depending on the subject matter and medium.

The variety of subjects has included animals, birds, rich and lively florals and gardens that evoke color and mood. These might be considered to be signature work whether in oils, watercolors of most recently pastels.
Others might consider the sentimental renderings of children to romantic figures the most moving to the imagination.  In any case the journey continues and might include almost any subject but be assured it will have warmth and emotion as a constant. Geneva's paintings are in many private collections.

Her paintings may be viewed at Pinecrest Gallery in Pinecrest, CA. All that Matters Gallery in Twain Harte, CA.  Town Hall Gallery in Copperolis, CA. and  Ventana Gallery in Sonora, CA.

Geneva's home studio is open to visitor's by app. 209-533-2014

Meet Artist Cate Culver, Ironstone Spring Obsession Open Division accepted Artist

About Cate Culver   

My first memory of doing art was as a young child.  We lived in Vallejo, CA where I was born on November 10, 1945 at the end of WWII.  My father Edson was an early riser up to grade papers and plan his teaching schedule. Soon I was up an about at 5 am too. To keep me from distrubing my mother Ruth and big sister Connie he'd have me draw pictures.  I've been drawing ever since.

By age three we had moved to Sacramento where my father joined the teaching staff at Sacramento State College in the Education Department. At age 14, I sold my first painting for $3.00, a watercolor of a fish. AS a teenager I excelled at my school art classes.  Upon graduation from High School in 1963, I was awarded a $100 scholarship as the Most Promising Artist. In 1967 I graduated from Sacramento State College as an Art Major. I loved my college classes and learned to throw pots, paint watercolors, do print making and cast silver jewelry. I was a History minor and enjoyed that also.

Most of my career was in advertising as a Graphic Artist for Pay Less Drug stores at their corporate headquarters in Oakland. Then Raley's Superstores at their corporate headquarters in West Sacramento.

Then after 25 years I burnt out. Just could not take anymore hours in front of the computer and the stress of deadlines.  I didn't feel like an artist anymore.  I longed to paint and draw again. I was 46 years old and newly married. my husband Jerry and I left our big city jobs and moved to the foothills of California in the Gold Country.  We found low key jobs and put down roots. I worked for a small advertising agency as a Graphic Artist and then moved on to work for the Calaveras County Historical Society as their Historian. I retired in 2007.

I bought new art supplies and began to teach myself to paint again. In 1999 the money came forth for me to build an art studio. It is 16 x 24 and adjacent to our house. At last I'm and artist again!

Meet Artist Connie Carson - Romano, Ironstone Spring Obsession Open division accepted artist

Connie Carson - Romano

Art is an expression of the way the artist views the world in which he lives. Through my paintings I try to communicate the emotions that made the subject something I wanted to share with others whether it be joy, serenity, or the excitement of the beauty of nature. I know I have succeeded at my Art when someone looks at one of my paintings or drawings and says "That makes me feel ...."

I cannot remember a time in my life when I was not drawing or painting. Acrylic paint is my favored medium.  I love the way it works and forms on the canvas. The colors that are present in nature are phenomenal and I love trying to create the same shades.  Being raised in New Mexico I found myself immersed from an early age in the amazing palate of nature and the challenge of trying to recreate that on canvas.  Now as a resident of Northern California I am awed at the diversity of landscapes we live in.

While my paintings for their colors are my favored expression of the world I have also spent time drawing in black and white. In the 1990's I was published for 6 years as the creator of the cartoon strip "Cody Coyote". Cody was a wonderful combination of my drawings and verbal expression of the humorous side of life. Cody was well loved by the readers of the paper in the mountain community in New Mexico where he was published. It was wonderful to walk into someone's house and see their favorite Cody strip hanging on the refrigerator and know that my art added a smile to their day.

   Two Artists looking at the same object of same landscape will create completely different expressions of what they see.  I find it is amazing and exciting that so many different interpretations of the world around us are available through the eyes of Artists. It is my pleasure that I am able to add my own personal expressions to this collection.

 

Meet Artist Aubrey Straub, Ironstone Vineyard's Spring Obsession Open Division Artist

Aubrey Straub

For 11 years, I was classically trained on the piano. In the 12th year, I switched over to jazz, the land of creative exploration...... But the 17 year old ego is a fragile one, and I couldn’t stand the eyes that stared at me while I fumbled through my 30 second solos. Never shy, but always a fierce perfectionist, the thought of being observed and judged while I hit the notes within the E flat scale instead of G minor was mortifying. At the ripe old age of 18 I quit the piano and moved on with “adulthood.”

Many moons later, I began to observe that my life was filled with the technicalities of life; working, paying bills, driving to the grocery store. I was missing something. Where was the creative exploration? Where was the use of tangible to express the intangible? In what ways was I pushing forward with a new skill that was simply enjoyable and not for career gain? How was I forcing my brain to think in the abstract, not just to type out business plans, but to simply express myself? How was I expressing the raw, primal emotions that were important to me, the ones I felt were important in life?

Two summers ago I fell into some painting classes. The details of how I found myself in the quaint, color explosion of a studio are irrelevant now. I have fallen so hopelessly in love with paint, I cannot believe there was a time it was not in my life. Both my grandmothers painted, yet it had never occurred to me that a paintbrush in my hands might be the most natural thing in the world. Not only had I found my expression through art, but my ego was finally capable of handling the mistakes that foster growth.

Painting is not an action for me, or an activity. Painting is a state. I often do not remember the thoughts I had in the midst of painting a certain piece. I do not remember certain strokes that were made. Strokes that I notice after the finish is on, strokes that I wonder might have been put there by some elf in the middle of the night. It is time in which my over-active mind ceases to race, and plan, and multi-task. The moments I spend with my brush are a solace, a sanctuary, a quiet place in which my mind is still, and something else takes over and calmly pushes emotions from somewhere within me onto the canvas.

Aubrey Straub lives in Folsom, CA with her husband, Sonny and their three kids, ages 7, 9, and 11. 

This Weekend Already?! JOIN US!

Meet the artists this weekend! Come to Ironstone's 16th Annual Spring Obsession Art Show Opening this weekend, Saturday & Sunday, March 2 & 3 starting at 10:00 am. 

Joining us this weekend are:

2013 Spring Obsession Artists Art-in-Action

in Alhambra Music Room

Saturday & Sunday

Connie Carson-Romano

Carol Clark

Jerry DeGarza

Randy Klassen

W. Vaughn Lew

Connie McLennan

Ruth Morrow

Phil Murillo

Bobbie Powell

Katerina Rutherford

2013 Spring Obsession Artists that will be painting on site

Saturday

Linda Beach

Stephanie Benedict

Judy Knott

Sunday

Robyn Leimer

Meet Artist Carol DAvid, Spring Obsession Open Division Artist

Carol David

Carol David is a California impressionist whose work is manifested solely, and splendidly, in pastels.

Her love of art and nature began while she was still a child tagging after her father, a US Davis entomology professor who documented his work in pen and ink. Her father recognized her potential as she entered high school and encouraged her to do what many wanting to be commercial artists did at the time; take a correspondence course.

Carol's love of art only grew and correspondence courses led to being her high school newspaper's art editor and then graduation from San Jose State University with a BA in Commercial Art and Art Education, to which she added a teaching credential and certification in Special Education.

Carol added a beautiful family in to the mix and art quickly had to fall a bit lower on the priority list, but Carol's passion remained and she has found her way back to a full schedule of working her craft.
Carol finds great inspiration in workshops and connection with other artists and some of her most compelling work has resulted from that.

Over the past years, it became clear that pastels were her meduim of choice. Carol's work has since been seen in exhibits across California and she as received signifant recognition and awards for her work. Her most recent award was at the Tahoe show "Truckee Exposed" where she received first prize for hier "Lupines" piece.  She was also honored by the Stanislaus Arts Council with their 2010 Excellence in Arts Award for Visual Arts.

Carol's work is also commissioned on a regular basis.  Subjects range from sentimental collage football scenes to sweeping landcapes to people injoying a sunny day to equine beauties.

Carol believes pastels are her tools to interpret. expose and share a beautiful world. And most days, that's just what you'll find her doing.

Meet Artist Bruce Hancock, Spring Obsession Open Division Artist

Bruce B. Hancock

California Painter

Sacramento, California

Nearing the age of sixty, Bruce B. Hancock began a new phase of his life.  After more than 40 years in design and construction management in both the public and private sectors, Bruce returned to a childhood pastime of drawing and painting.  Setting aside his coat and tie and picking up a smock and brush, he began to paint again. 

From the shores of the Pacific coast to the open spaces of the Central Valley and up the foothill slopes of the Gold Country, Bruce paints California.  He is also drawn to the ancient lands and cultures of the great American Southwest.  “The vast spaces of the Western landscape overwhelm and inspire me.  Capturing the majesty, the history and the people of the West will keep me busy for the rest of my life.” 

Bruce paints in both oil and acrylic, but oil remains his favorite medium.  Whether it is landscape, still life or portrait painting, his work is distinguished by strong brushwork and bold color.   An active member of the Sacramento Plein Air Painters, Bruce finds the moments of creating art outdoors to be among the most rewarding aspects of painting.  The immediacy of the plein air experience draws him back again and again.  “Nature is a humbling and endlessly demanding teacher,” he says, “But If you are patient and attentive you will learn lessons that cannot be taught anywhere else.”    

Coming late in life to the easel has presented challenges and opportunities in abundance.   After the initial excitement of returning to painting again, he began to understand how much he had to learn.  To grow as an artist, he regularly studies through workshops and studio sessions with gifted painters he admires.  “There is so much to learn and to experience and to try.  I have to admit that I feel the pressure of time, but I understand that the artist’s journey never ends, no matter when in life it started.  How blessed I am to have each of these days at the easel. “  

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.