Celebrating the Heritage and Practices of Traditional Fine Arts Worldwide
July 9 - September 10, 2023 Bowers Museum, 2002 N. Main St, Santa Ana, California 92706
This expansive showcase of almost 200 paintings and sculptures is selected from hundreds of entries submitted by current qualified California Art Club members for review by a panel of art experts and leading artists. The final collection spotlights today’s most exemplary works by both renowned and up-and-coming artists.
Having grown up on the Chesapeake Bay, I'm constantly drawn to the ocean to paint. Few things in nature present a challenge to paint that includes not just ever-changing color and light but motion and sound. It's often daunting and elusive. But that's what makes it worth the effort to capture it.
On this particularly still Pacific Grove morning I caught the sunrise and was overwhelmed by the atmosphere, cool and warm hues, high contrast, shapes and calm waters. A plein air study for composition and color was a precursor to this studio piece. The California coast is truly a treasure.
– Rebecca Arguello
Anna Rose Bain
The Ebb and Flow
Oil on linen panel, 6" x 8", $575
This piece was painted on location in Malibu. It was all about chasing those waves and capturing the atmosphere, things which still feel incredibly new and exciting to me. As a Denver artist, I'm grateful for every chance I get to visit and paint the California coast.
On a recent backpacking trip I was captivated by the afternoon sunlight gleaming off my friend’s fishing line as he cast into this clear alpine lake. His white shirt and red shorts contrasted wonderfully against the cool shadows of the mountainside.
This scene is located in the Del Monte Forest (Pebble Beach) along the Monterey Peninsula coastline. Appropriately named Cypress Point, the cypress trees are dramatic and stately. Whenever I paint in this area, I sense the spirits of the early California painters such as Arthur and Lucia Mathews.
In my painting I sought to capture the beauty of a backlit wave as well as its untamed energy and movement. I hope this painting conveys a sense of the ocean's majesty and power.
The sea has always captivated me. No place in nature quite holds the same appeal of painting as the sea. On the edges, where things come together, there is excitement.
California Glow was painted at one of my favorite scenes along the 17-Mile Drive in Carmel. There is a group of majestic cypress trees which borders the famed Cypress Point Club. At sunset, these trees and shoreline take on an amazing warm glow from the sun and I was excited to capture this moment.
As an artist, I am captivated by the timeless beauty and majesty of sailing ships. My vision is to capture on canvas the grace and power of these magnificent vessels as they glide across the open sea.
Newport Beach is a big, beautiful icon in southern California. I wanted to focus on the harbor scene as well as the people setting sail.
– Calvin Liang
Molly Lipsher
Flash and Spark
Soft pastel on paper, 14" x 20", $4,200
The last flashes of the day evoke relief, hope, peacefulness, and gratitude for simply being alive to witness it. As a painter, I am endlessly inspired by such scenes, and the opportunity to convey the color, energy, and dazzling light of this event that is both ordinary and momentous.
“When I am attracted to a certain place or scene, it is always my goal to move beyond a literal translation and say something extraordinary about light in my work."
Known for the quality of light in his work, Joe Mancuso enjoys working on location to accurately see and capture the changing light.
– Joe Mancuso
Tiffanie Mang
Daring Greatly
Gouache on illustration board, 18" x 18", $4,678
I have always been fascinated with the way light creates the most profound symphony of color notes and shapes that we see in landscapes all around us. My goal is not to reiterate what I know onto a canvas but to capture the energy, essence, and fleeting impression that the landscape embedded.
As the sun was setting on the first day of the new year, I was fascinated with how the sky seemed to melt into the tide water below, creating a beautiful liquid design of the clouds and light swept by the wind.
Painted en plein air on a warm fall day at Heisler Park, Laguna Beach: a couple stopping to admire the beautiful shoreline of Laguna Beach.
– Anthony Salvo
Aaron Schuerr
A Boy at the Beach
Oil on linen, 9" x 12", $1,200
A fine morning on a quiet beach in Maui.
– Aaron Schuerr
Naomi Shachar
Reflections
Oil on linen, 30" x 30", $7,600
With years of personal artistic dedication to fine art painting, capturing composition, shape, form, color, and values, Naomi Shachar has been professionally and personally rewarded with recognition by the CAC, OPA, WAOW and others. Her passion and love transcend to equine, figurative, still life, and natural scapes.
This painting was created at Heisler Park in Laguna Beach which is one of my favorite spots to be inspired. The late afternoon light made the colors here very strong and vibrant with contrasting shadows and textures.
Enormous waves swell during a winter king tide event, churning against sharp sandstone cliffs in an incredible natural spectacle. The immensity of the ocean is easiest to perceive during a storm, when its primordial waters soar into the sky. Powerful and beautiful at once, the sea is truly sublime.
– Jordan Walker
Wendy Wirth
Front Row Spectators
Acrylic on panel, 18" x 30", $7,800
With a dramatic cliffside foothold, these pampas grasses enjoy a view like no other of Laguna Beach’s Three Arch Bay. Late afternoon light brought out the best in these delicate plumes, as the crashing waves set a worthy spectacle below. In nature's genius, we find metaphors for personal courage.
