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.