oil paintings

Remind me when we met?

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A week has passed since the opening of SURFACING at Sullivan Goss in Santa Barbara. With the show successfully launched, life now turns toward other, more mundane, pursuits; the long forgotten and neglected chores, the unglamorous tasks, that accumulate during the swirling excitement of completing a body of work and the subsequent installation at the gallery.

One luxury, post-reception, is time.

First to fill my calendar: take a long walk with a friend, followed by a plunge in the Pacific.

As we meandered the cliff and shoreline at Campus Point and while scurrying around the craggy rocks during the advancing tide, I was reminded of an image I painted from two decades ago. Still, this view surprises, inspires and holds my attention.

Every. Single. Time.

How does it do that?

Campus Point, Santa Barbara, CA, 2023

I created several versions of this view, small studies and a larger format oil painting, which caught the eye of my then “soon-to-be” husband. I created one last rendition in a size that would fill a wall in our dining room where it has lived for two decades, still bright, still shiny, still inspiring.

And, this morning, standing in front of the muse as it, once again, sparkled and posed, I caught my breath as the vision spilled its fairy dust reminding me that amidst the ebb and flow of life, some things always remain the same.

Point Break, 30x72”, oil on panel 2003

Save the date: August 3rd 2023

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As many of you have guessed, from the image campaign on instagram/facebook, I have a show opening at Sullivan Goss in a few weeks. I’m busy in the studio getting the last of the paintings done and starting to turn my attention to letting people know that the work will be on the walls in August and September here in Santa Barbara. The reception will be during First Thursday openings August 3rd from 5-8 pm. The show officially opens on the Friday before, July 28th, 2023. It will feel good to emerge from the studio, see everyone and share what I’m working on.

Waiting Offshore 10x30” Oil on cradled panel ©2023

Merry wishes for the holiday!

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Sulllivan Goss has done it again, another spectacular display from local artists in their annual 100 GRAND exhibition. Even though sales have been brisk there are still plenty of worthy entries waiting to be collected this holiday season.

Flight Song 1 10x10” oil on panel (FYI there is a Flight Song 2 that didn’t make the wall. You can ask to see it!)

After visiting the artpalooza in the front gallery, be sure not to miss the WINTER SALON in the back gallery. It is another space filled with myriad styles, sizes and colors for the collecting. Four of my paintings are on the wall accompanying other beauties by Nathan Huff, Phoebe Brunner, Hank Pitcher and Julika Lackner, to name a few.

When you weary of wandering the streets and stores in search of that perfect gift, stop in at the gallery to recharge your holiday spirit. Happy merry holiday!

Summer heat has arrived. The sizzle of August meets us before sliding into fall.

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It has been such a mild summer here on our piece of coastline. I’ve been wondering when the hot days would arrive. So often we get a good blast of heat in October and as the summer ticked away, with cooler than usual temperatures, I kept wondering if September and October were going to be blazing. The heat always shows up, it’s just a matter of when.

Evening Sizzle by Nicole Strasburg. Oil on birch panel. The summer heat has arrived. Evening color over the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara, California. Available at Sullivan Goss Gallery.

Evening Sizzle, 14x14”, oil on birch panel

Summer at Sundance

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Summer Solstice marks the first day of of the new season, the season of blue skies, heat, and running to the shoreline, lake or mountain tops to cool from the radiating summer sun. Sundance has a new collection of paintings celebrating the season, big sky and cool ocean colors or mountain pines with night skies.

Summer and the longest day of the year

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Summer is closing in and the longest day of the year is on the horizon. Sullivan Goss is launching new shows at the gallery with an opening reception happening this week for First Thursday events. I have a brand new painting fresh off the easel being shown in the Summer Salon in their back gallery. I’m so honored to be hanging with artists John Nava, Hank Pitcher, Nathan Huff and Susan McDonnell, to name just a few. AND I get to be on the wall next two lovely Lockwood DeForest paintings.

Patricia Chidlaw is in the front gallery with a beautiful show celebrating the swimming pool and the in main gallery FORMALIZE: Strategies for Abstraction, an exhibition that emphasizes the formalist view of abstract art.

So much to see and enjoy as we slide into the new season.

Western Shore

Western Shore 48x24” Oil on Birch Panel

Spring into Summer at Sundance

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A warm thank you to Sundance for showcasing 16 new paintings online. Represented are paintings from seashore to mountain top, estuary birds and cloud filled skies.

Wild Pines, 12x48” Oil on Birch Panel

Post Show Disappearance

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My show concluded at the end of September of this year and what an amazing show. I felt like I ran a marathon at a sprint putting together the 54 pieces that were delivered to the gallery in July.

By the end of the show all the gas had been consumed from my tank. My normal pattern would be to celebrate by traveling somewhere and filling my eyes and heart back up before returning to the studio. Alas, it has been another grounded year.

Life continues and despite being home there are shows still on the horizon. Right now at Sullivan Goss you can find my work in both the annual 100 GRAND exhibition as well as the Winter Salon.

Sky Sea 40, 4x4”, Gouache on Arches Board - 100 GRAND Exhibition at Sullivan Goss Santa Barbara

I hope the season finds you all well and thriving. May your creativity find you hard at work. Happy Holy Days.

Campus Tide 5, 28x40”, oil on cradled birch panel - Winter Salon, Sullivan Goss

Fall Happenings

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SEA CHANGE  I  SUNDANCE   I   PAPER TRAIL

NEWS FROM THE STUDIO OF NICOLE STRASBURG

May the change of the seasons find you well and thriving. There are just 5 days left to experience SEA CHANGE at Sullivan Goss in downtown Santa Barbara. The show will close on Monday, September 27th. Thank you to all the visitors who have reached out, letting me know you enjoyed the show. HUGE gratitude to clients taking work home, both to add to their collections and start new ones.

I want to thank Marilyn McMahon at the Santa Barbara Newspress for the spectacular spread in the Life section on Saturday, September 18th. Thanks also, to Kit Boise-Cossart for the wonderful studio interview in LUM Magazine. There is a catalog that accompanies the exhibit which is available both at the gallery and online HERE.

Fall means cooler weather, shorter days and often times, color! Leaves changing, clear crisp days and (fingers crossed) rain in the forecast. Honoring the change of season SUNDANCE has twelve new paintings celebrating the fall, plus a few others to choose from.

Fall Willow Tunnel, 10x30”, oil on birch

Fall Willow Tunnel, 10x30”, oil on birch

Recently opened in the main gallery at Sullivan Goss is PAPER TRAIL: The Life Story of Great Works of Art. This is an exhibition focusing on the significance of how art moves through the world and across time. My Overpass Series No. 5, a reductive wood block print created at the Atelier of Richard Tullis, can be found in this exhibit. It is a large print inspired by the San Francisco freeway system. This print traveled in 2015 with the exhibit titled California Dreaming through the Oceanside Museum of Art, Riverside Museum of Art and the Palazzo della Provincia di Frozinone before landing on the walls at Sullivan Goss. Exhibition runs through October 27, 2021.

Overpass Series No. 5, 30x30.5”, reductive woodblock monoprint

Overpass Series No. 5, 30x30.5”, reductive woodblock monoprint

SEA CHANGE officially opens

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Please join me in celebrating a new exhibit at Sullivan Goss in Santa Barbara. It’s been 5 years since my last solo show and I’m returning to the subject of a perpetual obsession, the pacific ocean. After the many months pummeled by news of the world and forced seclusion, I offer you color and vast horizons.

The First Thursday reception has been cancelled for August but don’t let that stop you from the respite that the show can offer, a traveling armchair, a breeze blowing onshore, sunshine radiating from the work.

A catalog for the show is also in the works, look for it mid month.

With hopes of seeing you around the gallery, be well, stay safe and let joy find you outside in the sun.

Gallery walls, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara

Gallery walls, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara

CATALOG EXCERPT:

SEA CHANGE: a profound or notable transformation, substantial change in perspective, transformation after undergoing various trials or tragedies. 

This body of work emerged after the long months of quarantine. We can all agree that the year 2020 altered the way we see and experience the world, a noticeable change in our work patterns, change in our socializations, change in emotional atmosphere.  

During the long seclusion I spent my time combing through old source material for inspiration. Reexamining photographs, I tried to recall the “aha” moment that captured my attention. Looking more closely at these images I was reminded how much information the camera records verses what our eyes are capable of seeing. I question how this influences my work in the studio, the actual verses the recorded, the recorded verses the perceived, all woven into the personal dialog with my materials.

This work represents healing in the making of marks, solace also comes to mind and growth after a long winter. The uncertainty of this past year is veiled as horizons beckon us forward, the passing clouds offer comfort and respite that the storm is moving on, leaving the glorious remains of being washed clean and full of hope.

SEA CHANGE catalog coming soon!

SEA CHANGE catalog coming soon!

Coming soon to Sundance Online

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I love it that paintings have no expiration dates. Even though this was made following a 2009 excursion with beloved artist/writer Thalia Chaltas this painting quietly waited it’s turn to be out in the world in a bigger way.

Badwater, Death Valley was shipped off to Sundance for their catalog. I’m excited for this triptychs debut on the bigger stage this fall.

Badwater, Death Valley Triptych 29.5 x 58.5” oil on birch panel ©2009

Badwater, Death Valley Triptych 29.5 x 58.5” oil on birch panel ©2009