Christmas in the Air

Christmas in the Air (The Arroyo Seco), 14″ x 14″, Oil on panel, © Eric Merrell

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! Wishing you a peaceful holiday season with all the enjoyment it brings and none of the stress that tends to accompany. I’m looking forward to plenty of good things in the new year for everyone out there. I was able to get outdoors briefly last week to paint amidst all the bustle of the season, and found this great spot along the Arroyo Seco in South Pasadena. You can see all the colorful trees in the distance – of course, no comparison to Maine! – but see, California does have seasons, also evidenced in the multitudinous vineyards up and down the state.

Since this time of year lends itself to reflection, I thought this would be a good time to quote one of my favorite prose poems by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008).

REFLECTIONS

On the surface of a swift-flowing stream the reflections of things far are always indistinct; even if the the water is clear and has no foam, reflections in the constant stream of ripples, the restless kaleidoscope of water, are still uncertain, vague, incomprehensible.

Only when the water has flowed down river after river and reaches a broad, calm estuary or comes to rest in some backwater or a small, still lake – only then can we see in its mirror-like smoothness every leaf of a tree on the bank, every wisp of a cloud and the deep blue expanse of the sky.

It is the same with our lives. If so far we have been unable to see clearly or to reflect the eternal lineaments of truth, is it not because we too are still moving towards some end – because we are still alive?

[Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Stories & Prose Poems, Translated by Michael Glenny, The Bodley Head, 1971, p.232]

Since I didn’t have a photo of a partridge in a pear tree, I’m substituting a cat in a persimmon tree. Merry Christmas!

The New Year @ LAAFA

The winter semester at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art in Van Nuys, California starts next month, and the Landscape Painting Class will be in full swing again beginning Saturday, January 16th, 2010. The class runs for eight consecutive Saturdays, and class size is kept small so students will receive plenty of individual instruction. LAAFA is offering an Early Bird Special if you sign up before January 4, 2010.

In these classes you will learn how to paint what you see, not what you think you see. Learn how to interpret in terms of paint, using light and color to create form. Color relationships, design/composition, simplifying, and the benefits of painting on location will be discussed, as well as how to design and build a painting that carries an emotional impact. Make an investment in your art – gain confidence and knowledge that will inspire all areas of your creativity.

At the Edge (The San Gabriels), 16″ x 16″, Oil on panel, Private Collection, © Eric Merrell

As artists, we need to be able to interpret what we see and understand what we paint. Ample time is given to demos by the instructor as well as individual painting time. All experience levels are welcome. Limited space is available – call 818/708-9232 or visit www.laafa.org to register your space today!

For more information, please visit www.ericmerrell.com and click on Workshops.

Happy 100th Birthday CAC!

One Hundred Years! It’s an amazing feat for any group, let alone an art club where the demands of the career as well as individual temperaments generally keep members working in isolation. Today marks the Centennial of the California Art Club. The founding of the club was first reported by Antony E. Anderson in the Los Angeles Times on December 12, 1909, one hundred years ago to the day. The early meetings took place along the banks of the Arroyo Seco in South Pasadena and throughout greater Los Angeles, and included artists like Franz Bischoff, Aaron Kilpatrick, and William and Julia Wendt. The CAC’s predecessor, The Painters’ Club of Los Angeles (1906-1909), had limited its members to male painters in the L.A. area. With the founding of the new club, the rules were widened to allow women, sculptors, and others living as far away as New York City to join. Throughout the CAC’s storied history it has embraced time-honored techniques found in the grand traditions of painting and sculpture, molding them into contemporary relevance; at the same time it helped to present such progressive events as the first black American art exhibition in Los Angeles (1929) and the first G.I. Arts & Crafts exhibit (1946, also in L.A.), and maintained a venue to present exhibits of diverse themes and backgrounds.

Over the past century, the club has counted among its members Sir Winston Churchill, architect Richard Neutra, illustrator Dean Cornwell, artists Alfredo Ramos Martinez, Sergei Bongart, Nicolai Fechin and Theodore N. Lukits, as well as many distinguished guests and speakers: the Mexican muralists David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco, conductor Leopold Stokowski, violinist Xavier Cugat, architects Frank Lloyd Wright and his son, Frank Lloyd Wright, Jr. (And of course, most of the well-known Southern California artists throughout the years, too numerous to mention in this post but listed online here).

In recognition of this milestone, I thought I’d link to my article on the Birth of the California Art Club, originally published this past spring. Here’s to the next hundred years!

The California Art Club will be publishing a large coffee table art book (due out in early 2011) with Rizzoli Publishers to commemorate the Centennial, and will be full of paintings by historic and contemporary members of the CAC. Purchase your copy here.

The new logo above was designed for the Centennial by CAC Associate Artist Member Stan Prokopenko.

Rex Lewis

At the latest manifestation of Alexey Steele’s Classical Underground series on November 9, the audience was treated to a special performance by Rex Lewis. Rex was born blind and with severe brain damage, but despite his inability to perform simple tasks like tying a shoelace, when playing, he’s completely focused. Music is his world, and saying that he plays the piano beautifully is only a small part of the story – he only needs to hear a piece once to be able to play it back verbatim from memory.

Along with Brahms’ Waltz Medly Opus 39 and Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu, he even played an improvisation off of a Chopin Nocturne. His mother Cathleen Lewis has written a book about their life of music and struggles together, titled “Rex.” Proceeds from the book help pay for Rex’s piano and voice lessons (yes, he apparently also sings well too!) [Buy "Rex" on Amazon] Rex is easily able to do what we all struggle to do as artists (and, I would imagine, musicians) – focus. As soon as he sits down on the bench, other distractions are tuned out.

Here is the story and video of Rex featured on 60 Minutes in 2006.

Alexey Steele and Classical Underground featured in the Los Angeles Times, August 2009.

Big Sur

The Edge of the Sea, Big Sur, 11″ x 10″, Oil on panel, © Eric Merrell

I recently sneaked away for a week of painting up in Big Sur, the absolutely amazing coastline between Monterey and San Luis Obispo. After a hasty packing and evening departure, I arrived in darkness and heavy fog just before midnight and set up my tent at the Kirk Creek Campground amidst a number of curious raccoons. I met artists Andrew Dickson and Joe Forkan at the campsite there, as they had arrived a few hours earlier and were already settled in. We painted up and down the coast, often just walking down to the water from the campground. I love the atmosphere there; it can go from a sunny afternoon to cloudy in minutes, with heavy fog banks rolling in off the coast. These are a few of the sketches from the trip.

Windswept, 11″ x 10″, Oil on panel, © Eric Merrell

The Sun’s Mirror (Big Sur from Kirk Creek), 11″ x 10″, Oil on panel, © Eric Merrell

New work at Edenhurst Gallery

Pioneertown Corral, 11″ x 14″, Oil on panel, © Eric Merrell

Some of the paintings from my summer residency in Joshua Tree can be seen at Edenhurst Gallery, 73660 El Paseo, Palm Desert, CA. Edenhurst has a neat collection of historic art, lots of early California paintings, as well as some good contemporary work by Junn Roca and Lynn Gertenbach. If you’re in the area, stop by the gallery, it’s like visiting a museum. Plus, you can always get a date shake at Hadley’s, just down the road in Cabazon.

This corral is near the post office in Pioneertown, not far from Joshua Tree. The sign hanging over the entrance gate actually reads “O.K. Corral.” The town was started initially as a filming set by Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, complete with an “old west” street. If you go, make sure you stop by Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace.

Forbidding Lands, 11″ x 14″, Oil on panel, © Eric Merrell

The Roar of Time, 14″ x 11″, Oil on panel, © Eric Merrell

This was painted the day that Ted Kennedy died. I had heard it mentioned on the radio, and when I drove up to the park later in the morning, the flag was at half-mast. When I found this rock near the Hidden Valley area, it reminded me of the “Lion of the Senate.”

Pasadena Star-News article

California Art Club members, from left, Barbara Chung, Eric Merrell, Monika Ramnath, Lisa Cavelier, Elaine Adams and Peter Adams. The two paintings in the back are by (left) Peter Adams and (right) Elmer Wachtel.

I’m in an article in today’s Pasadena Star-News, October 14, 2009: California Art Club Celebrates 100-year History with new book. Download a PDF here.

Upcoming Workshops and Paint-Outs

The Windows Glow, 18″ x 24″, Oil on panel, © Eric Merrell

On Sunday, October 25, I’ll be painting with the Valley Artists Guild at Topanga Canyon State Park from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. The Valley Artists Guild was founded in 1948 by the sculptor Henry Van Wolf (1898–1982). If you’re in the area please stop by and join us. Check out their October Newsletter.

The new Fall schedule begins soon at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art (LAAFA). If you’ve been wanting to sign up for the landscape class, this is your chance. It runs for 8 consecutive Saturdays beginning this weekend on October 3 from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Visit their website or call 818/708-9232. More class info here.

These classes will show you how to paint what you see, not what you think you see. Learn how to interpret nature in terms of paint, using light and color to create form. Become more proficient at mixing and painting color relationships, design/composition, simplifying, gain from painting on location, as well as creating a painting that has something to say. Make an investment in your art – gain confidence and knowledge that will inspire all areas of your creativity. All levels of experience are welcome.

The Southern Sierras and Yokohl Valley

These pieces, created on location (I paint primarily en plein air, French for “in the open air”, to study the way light reveals our world) during a painting trip to the Visalia area this last March, will be part of a new exhibition: Paintings from the Southern Sierra Foothills – Celebrating 100 Years: Capturing California’s Preserved Lands and Historic Districts (that’s a mouthful) at the Old Mill (El Molino Viejo) in San Marino, CA. The opening reception will be on Thusday, October 1 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. Hope you can make it! This paint-out and exhibition, organized by the California Art Club in conjunction with the Sequoia Riverlands Trust, is one of a number of exhibitions and events to celebrate the CAC’s 100th anniversary of its founding in 1909.

Yokohl Valley Sunset, 6″ x 8″, Oil on canvas panel, © Eric Merrell

Battle Mountain Ranch, 12″ x 12″, Oil on panel, © Eric Merrell

Exhibitions at the Old Mill are free year-round and open Tuesday through Sunday, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. (Closed Mondays)

The Old Mill (El Molino Viejo) [Map]
1120 Old Mill Road
San Marino, CA 91108
626/449-5458
www.oldmill.info

Other artists in the exhibition include John Budicin, Karl Dempwolf, Dave Gallup, Ray Harris, Scott W. Prior, Junn Roca and Jason Situ.

Battle Mountain Ranch (Detail)

A New National Monument in the California Desert

Support a New National Monument in California

Plans for a new National Monument that would connect Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National Preserve in the California Desert.

Solar Energy Firm Drops Plan for Project in Mojave Desert (Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times, September 18, 2009)

Brightsource Energy Inc. drops plans to build a renewable energy facility in the eastern Mojave Desert wilderness, the area that is being considered for the new National Monument.

(Thanks Kerri for the tips)