Celebrating the Heritage and Practices of Traditional Fine Arts Worldwide
March 21 - June 19, 2023 CAC Virtual Gallery
Building upon the California Art Club’s long history promoting traditional art forms, we are pleased to present Spring Awakening, the ninth installment of the quarterly Excellence in Traditional Fine Art Competition!
Our gratitude goes to Sarah Gianelli, Editor of American Art Collector, for being the guest judge and curating these images for this virtual exhibition, showcasing the most exemplary submissions as well as the prize-winning works.
All artwork is available for purchase. If you have interest in acquiring a work, please submit a purchase inquiry. In addition, we suggest consulting our Terms of Sale.
Spring is awakening but the coldness is still reflected on her cheeks, ears, and sweater. I was captivated by the sculpture-like serenity and beauty of this young lady, who is immersed in something she is looking at.
I have a real passion for painting people into my compositions. I believe doing so adds a degree of life and vitality that can only come from the human condition. This scene exemplifies that. In this case, here are two hard working individuals harvesting onions in the early morning light. The surrounding landscape in and of itself is inspiring with the vast open green fields framed by beautiful foothills in the background. However, the couple in the scene take the composition to a different level by giving it a more vivid and realistic depiction of the environment I am portraying.
As spring comes we welcome new beginnings and let our guard down, allowing us to embrace the changes instead of facing away from them. This piece reflects the tender and delicate moment of this instant.
Everything blooms in the spring including romance. These fresh blooming roses speak of the possibility of love, the hope for the beginning of a new relationship. They aren't red for love yet. They're soft, pink, dreamy and full of the light of spring in bloom.
I am so enamored by California sunsets. Every evening allows me to take a break from my day and live in the moment of everchanging beauty and awe as I am wowed by what Mother Nature puts forth in the sky.
I wanted to capture the sublime beauty and wonder of the late afternoon sun and how it illuminated everything along with the dancing sparkles on the water. This painting depicts the Tide Pool at Montero Del Oro natural park in San Luis Opisbo in central California. It began en plein air and was finished in studio.
Painted early morning in January, along Highway 1 in Half Moon Bay. Brilliant yellow, with mustard and oxalis flowers as far as the eye can see. I had to work fast over two sessions on site to capture the effect.
With harbors increasingly full of white fiberglass, you’ve got to love a red boat. I have a crush on the red SSS Viking and am inspired by the young women who participate in the San Francisco Sea Scouts. Here they are sailing toward Alcatraz on a flamboyantly colorful and blustery spring day. The Viking was built by the US Navy in 1938. Today’s home port is the Maritime National Historic Park in Aquatic Park, San Francisco.
In Spring, the evergreen cypresses along the California coast find themselves surrounded by a sudden celebration when the seasonal trees unfurl their bright greens. I was in Cambria last March and took the reference photo under a thick canopy shading the sunlit morning, looking inland with my back to the sea. Cypresses are usually painted in relation to the water, but this view of springtime spoke to me, with its purple-blues and infinite greens.
I love to paint scenes from nature and people enjoying it because to me it brings a sense of peace. I titled this painting "Grateful" because the man strolling along the beach hand in hand with his little son to me means he has "awakened" to the appreciation for family, nature and the simple things in life.
The ocean has always been a comfort to me: the sound, the movement, the breeze, the chill of the water and the play of the birds on the shore. The Sea Nymph painting is an expression of this feeling depicting a young woman watching the waves come in on a bright Spring day, awakening a thrill of optimism in her heart, inspired by the eternal power and untamed beauty of the ocean.
When the seasons gently drift from spring to summer, colors in the grasses fade from rich greens to tawny golds with south-facing and higher slopes changing first.
Tipping Point depicts the raw emotion not often acknowledged in Animals. Its intensity taps directly into the viewers capacity for empathy and brings the subject into the realm of universal feeling. The screeching, the explosion of feathers and gripping talons: suspended and silent.
Motherly concern of the mare for her foal is shown in the posture and gaze depicted in the equine sculpture. A mother's love is evident no matter what species of life.
Morgan Hill is a small town south of San Francisco. In the spring, mustard flowers emblazon the fields with color when everything else it dormant. In this painting, It's February, and the mustard is just coming in to bloom in a field left fallow for the winter.
Reflected in the hues of a new day, boats embraced in the calm waters of Catalina Island’s Cherry Cove are poised to embark on a journey of adventure and discovery. This painting is a tribute to the spirit of exploration and the allure of the unknown, reminding us that every day is a new opportunity to contemplate the endless possibilities that lie ahead.
