Point Rayes 50th Anniversary - BayWood Artists help to celebrate

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of Point Reyes National Seashore. To help celebrate this beautiful National Park the BayWood Artists have painted over 150 amazing paintings of the area. We held our preview show at the Red Barn in Point Reyes in September with a grand opening on Labor Day. It was a very sucessful event where 10 of the 21 paintings displayed sold.

White-tailed Kite, 8"x10", o/c

On Friday October 5th we have our exhibit opening at the Bay Model in Sausalito with 140 original oil and watercolor paintings. The amazing scenery in Point Reyes inspired the artists to create a wonderful collection of landscape paintings in a wide range of sizes.

The artists participating in "BayWood Artists Paint Point Reyes - Celebrating 50 years of Beauty" are: Chris Adessa, Christin Coy, Ben Farnham, Jon Francis, Paul Kratter, Lissa Nicolaus, Sherrill Miller, Victoria Mimiaga, Tom Soltesz, and guests artists Krystal Allen and Martha Borge. Fifty percent of the sales will go to benefit Point Reyes National Seashore.

Historic D Ranch, 18"x18", o/c

Ranches & Rolling Hills - MALT Art Show and Sale 2012

Spring is here a bit early this year with daffodils and fruit trees in full bloom. I have been visiting some beautiful West Marin MALT ranches, painting and collecting images for this year's 15th Annual "Ranches & Rolling Hills" art show. Three years ago I painted a portrait of a sheep named Torpedo on Al Poncia's ranch in Tomales. He was one of the 'bum' lambs raised by Anita, Al Poncia's mom, in her laundry room. A 'bum lamb' is one that is rejected by the mother ewe and therefore has either be hand fed or attached to another ewe. He became very tame and for a long time loved people more than his own kind. A couple of weeks ago I made a visit to the ranch and Torpedo was grazing out in the field. When I called his name, he came ambling over to the car and almost hopped in to see what I had in my cooler. I knew he liked apple, so I quickly pulled one out and cut off little pieces to give him. Torpedo loved it and soon had eaten the whole apple. He scratched my leg, just like a dog, begging for more. What a character! I gave him some good back scratches, which he gladly accepted, before he ambled off into the pasture with his flock.

I decided I had to paint another portrait of this friendly guy, and so he will once again make an appearance at the "Ranches & Rolling Hills" Art show to be held in Nicasio on May 19th and 20th, 2012. Make sure to mark your calendars and come out West to see a great show featuring over 40 well known California artists' works of art. Fifty percent of the art sales will go to benefit Marin Agricultural Land Trust so that they can enable Marin ranchers to continue working their land. The event is free to the public. Please visit "Ranches & Rolling Hills Art Show" for more information about this event. Hope to see you there....

MALT - Ranches & Rolling Hills Art Show

May is here and on the 21st and 22nd the Ranches & Rolling Hills Art Show will return to the little town of Nicasio in West Marin. This week some of us will be raising panels, mounting lights, and hanging all of this years new crop of wonderful paintings depicting life on the ranches of West Marin. It's always exciting to see all the art work as it's unwrapped and labeled. Next comes the overwhelming task of arranging the paintings to be hung on the blank panels, something that Arturo Tello of the Oak Group has mastered over the past 12 years. With a lot of patience and a good eye for what will look best where, he walks the floor moving paintings around and arranging them in the best order. Then the hanging crew comes in and we measure and hang each painting with the correct height and spacing, a daunting task at first until we get used to the technique. Within 3 days the old Druid Hall is transformed once again into a beautiful art gallery.

This year I painted "Lucy", a Jersey calf from the Gale Ranch in Chileno Valley. I also will be showing a painting that might just put a smile on your face when you see it. "Milly and the Kids" are six curious Nubian goats lined up next to each other checking you out across the field. When the painting was sitting on my easel it was always fun to come into my studio and find them waiting for me.

The weather forecast is looking good for this week end, sunny but not too hot. We are expecting a big crowd of visitors to once again fill the art gallery and hopefully take home some of their favorite paintings. And in doing so, help benefit Marin Agricultural Land Trust so that they can continue preserving the precious farms land of West Marin. Hope to see you all there!

For more information on the event click here: http://malt.org/programs/sale.php

"PAINT MARIN" art show - a benefit for Marin Open Space Trust & Marin County Open Space District

On October 22nd the BayWood Artists held their opening reception for "Paint Marin" at the Bay Model in Sausalito. The gallery was packed with guests admiring over 130 newly created paintings of Marin County's open space painted by the eleven members of the BayWood Artists. This year the proceeds of the art sales, 50%, will go to benefit MOST and MCOSD to help reclaim and enhance endangered species habitat at the Ring Mountain Open Space Preserve in Tiburon.

"Paint Marin" will be open free to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays until November 20th, with the exception of Sat. Nov. 13th. Please make sure you stop by to visit this beautiful collection of outstanding original landscape paintings. We hope you will find a painting that you will enjoy having in your home or office. You will always feel good knowing that your purchase helped to protect the magnificent open space surrounding us here in Marin County.

Artwork may be purchased by credit card or check simply by picking up a "How to purchase art" form at the gallery and calling the phone number noted. You will be able to pick up your artwork on November 20th at the Bay Model in time for the Holidays.

http://www.baywoodartists.com

MALT - Ranches & Rolling Hills Show Update

For the past two days a group of us have been transforming the Nicasio Druids Hall from a dark plain looking and dimly lit space into a fantastic art gallery... "Ranches & Rolling Hills". The newly erected, well lit panels are filled with wonderful images of West Marin ranch land in a variety of styles, media, and sizes. It's a very magical transformation that takes a lot of hard work and dedication on behalf of a group of artists and MALT staff and volunteers. MALT SHOW INFO

To me, this week of show preparation is something I look forward to every year. I get to work closely with my fellow artists, some of whom I only see once a year since they are part of the Oak Group in the Santa Barbara area. We all work as a team, building walls, cleaning and touching up, hanging lights, organizing and hanging the paintings, labeling, etc., etc. It all makes us feel very lucky to be part of such a great community of artists and to be part of the "Ranches & Rolling Hills" Art Exhibit which raises funds to help permanently preserve Marin County's farmland.

Today I received an email from the Poncia's who own the ranch in Tomales where I have painted many of their sheep over the past years. They told me that "Angel", which I painted for this years show, just had her own lamb two days ago. His name is Angelo, and you can see their picture below.

MALT - Ranches & Rolling Hills Show Coming in May

Spring is here with what seems like endless rain storms with some sun in between. It all made it a bit more challenging this year to visit the ranches to do our painting for the upcoming Ranches and Rolling Hills art show on May 15th and 16th. But, landscape painters manage somehow to brave the wind and rain in order to accomplish their goal, to paint inspiring views on the MALT ranches that are located in beautiful West Marin.

My first painting this year is one of Angel, a white lamb that Al Poncia's mom raised as her pet sheep. Angel was trained much like a dog, walking in and out of the house with a little bell around her neck. I guess you could say that I have a real soft spot for painting sheep...

I visited the Gale ranch in Chileno Valley last Fall in order to do some paintings when the grasses were golden rather than spring green. As a painter I find that I prefer the warm colors of the golden grasses as you can see in this painting with the Gale's flock of grazing sheep.

On Monday May 10th all the artists will be bringing this years crop of paintings to the MALT office in Pt. Reyes Station and in the following week the show will go up once again in the humble Druids Hall in Nicasio. By Satuday morning the place will have been transformed into an incredible art gallery filled with amazing paintings of West Marin's MALT ranches.

You won't want to miss this art show...you'll surely walk away with a new appreciation for the inspiring beauty of West Marin's farmland, and maybe you'll take a part of it with you home in the form of an amazing painting created by one of the talented artists in this years Ranches and Rolling Hills Art Show.

For more information... Click Here: MALT - Ranches & Rolling Hills Show

Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott by Christin Coy on 4/11/2010 8:42:52 PM Comment on this

Last Fall I was contacted by a publisher in New York asking if they could use my image "Lucas Valley Glow" on the cover of a new book due to be released in the spring of 2010. I was then told that the book, Imperfect Birds, was written by the well established Marin County author Anne Lamott. I was truly delighted since she lives only 15 minutes from my studio where I created the painting. This is the first time that one of my paintings has been used as cover art for a book, and how appropriate thatImperfect Birds takes place in the same county where I live and work. One day recently I was out hiking on a local trail and I recognized Anne up ahead hiking with a friend. I walked up and introduced myself (we had not yet met). I told her how happy I was that she and the publisher had selected my painting and how much I was looking forward to reading her new novel. Anne said that she would send me a copy. The following week I received two copies in the mail, one with a great inscription that said this was her favorite cover of all the books she has published. It was very exciting to finally be holding a copy of the book and seeing my painting on the cover. Anne Lamott will be at two local author events this month: Mill Valley Depot Book Store on April 12th at 7pm and at Book Passage in Corte Madera on April 18th at 7pm .