Holiday Gallery Cheer

If you are looking for some much needed peace and beauty Sullivan Goss has three terrific shows on the walls now and the doors are open to visitors. 100 Grand, the annual celebration of local art in small format, still has plenty of precious gems awaiting homes. And in the back room is the Winter Salon which features many new works by the gallery’s stable of artists. Tomorrow we are expecting the first rain of winter, what a great way to spend some time if you can’t be outside!

Works by Nicole Strasburg, Ken Bortalazzo and Patricia Chidlaw

Coastal Magic

A warm and hopeful wish this season for a prosperous new year. May we all find peace and joy while we wait for a vaccine that will restore us to a modicum of normalcy after almost a year of uncertainty.

I seek daily to find moments of glory, joy, peace and magic. Today without the gatherings of friends and family, the sharing of meals and stories of Christmases past I decided to seek warmth from nature. This time of year always holds the promise of a low tide and beautiful skies at the shoreline. Today was glorious and I was reunited with an old friend that I have not seen in a few years.

In 2007 I painted Morning Tide, an image from our local point during a minus tide. The sand recedes during the extreme winter tides revealing amazing rock formations. This one appeared looking like a lone dinosaur with it’s young on a beautiful morning beach walk. I was elated today to rediscover my friend waiting for me in the December tideline.

It wasn’t a hug from family or friends but it was a wonderful connection that reminded me of home, someone waiting to welcome me, the familiar that leads you to believing that everything is going to be okay.

Blessings and gratitude to friends and family near and far. May you all find the magic in the small moments this holiday.

Campus Point, Low Tide, December 25, 2020

"Home on the Range" online @ Craig Krull Gallery

The inspiration for these paintings was a wildflower tour on the backside of the Tejon Ranch two years ago during one of the California poppy super blooms. While on our way to the poppy fields we came across a small herd of pronghorn that reside on the Tejon Ranch. 

Gouache is a paint that is heavier than traditional transparent watercolors and is centuries old. Its name, which rhymes with squash, comes from the Italian “guazzo” meaning “water paint.” It was originally used to illuminate manuscripts. Because of its opacity, gouache behaves in a similar way to oil painting with the ability to build layer upon layer of color.

 I have always been drawn to miniature images, smitten that something so small could hold a world of information. Small also became important recently while helping out my aging parents. There were many days where long hours working in the studio was impossible, but having something that was fast drying and readily at hand allowed me to keeping my brushes moving and helped me stay centered. Pushing paint around even for 20 minutes reminded me who I was. These wee paintings were all about finding joy, no matter how small.

 - Nicole Strasburg

 All of the artwork in this online exhibition is available for purchase. For inquiries, please call 310-913-0749 or email at info@craigkrullgallery.com.

Spring Poppies 1 3/4 x 2 1/2” Gouache on 6x4” arches board

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Selections from the 2015 Katmai series are also available the CK website.

Katmai 9, 4x6” Gouache on Arches Board

Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art

Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art is celebrating 10 years with the exhibit 5x5 showcasing work from artists around the country. The small 5x5” format and online auction began on December 3rd and runs through Friday, December 18th. Bidding closes sharply at 5p.m. Now is your chance to bid and take home one of these exceptional pieces.

My own contribution, Morning idyll, is a black bear from Alaska’s Katmai National National Park contemplating a morning bathe.

Don’t wait! Start your bidding now!

Morning Idyll 5x5” gouache on Sommerset Paper

Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art

5x5 museum installation

La Paloma Cafe, Santa Barbara, California

Despite the current state of the State of California and the rolling shut downs, a new restaurant has been born, La Paloma Cafe. Words from their own website:

"We welcome you back in time, back in Santa Barbara history, back to La Paloma! After 37 years "the dove" will once again take wing on the iconic corner of Anacapa and Ortega. And like an old friend, the celebrated neon sign will once again state the original letters: La Paloma Cafe. Early in Santa Barbara's history, Ortega Street was "restaurant row" and a hub of activity. Opened in 1938, La Paloma Cafe was the premier Mexican restaurant on the strip and was frequented by stage and screen stars. During Old Spanish Days, vaqueros and cattlemen tied their horses in front of the corner bar building to wet their whistles. The old main house and patio buzzed with energy day and night where locals enjoyed the Luera family's hospitality delivered"

The new owners at Acme Hospitality have given the space a fresh clean face lift and added a second deck for outdoor dining (complete with heat lamps). The interior is spare and beautiful and many of my landscape paintings adorn the walls.

More on the restaurant HERE and to order take out check the MENU.

January Tide 40x40” oil on birch panel

Commission Installation - just in time for the holidays

Pacific Coast Fog 60x36” was recently finished and installed into the home of a happy client. They had been looking for the perfect something for this location and when they found it the painting was just too small. We figured out the perfect size and recallibrated the image for the new dimensions and zhuzhed up the color. Happy holidays from Santa Barbara.

Pacific Coast Fog 60x36”, oil on birch panel ©2020

100 GRAND @ Sullivan Goss

It is that amazing time of year again when Sullivan Goss in Santa Barbara puts on the annual 100 GRAND show. Gathering their stable of artists and a slew of local talent it is always the show not to be missed. It is a great opportunity to see work from new artists and find work from artists you love at an affordable grab. Start your collection or add to a growing one.

My contribution is a trio of gouache paintings representing a koi pond visited on the island of Oahu.

A merry start to the holiday for all. Be well. Stay safe.

Allegro 3.75x4” gouache on arches board frame to 13x11”

Animato, 3.75x4” gouache on arches board

Con Brio, 3.75x4” gouache on arches board

Bare Limbs Painting at Sundance

Signs of winter are showing today, the trees are dropping the last of their leaves as the wind blows through the emptying branches and big clouds from the passing storm linger in the blue sky.

Bare Limbs Painting 29.5 x 19.5” oil on birch panel at Sundance

Bare Limbs painting now at Sundance

Warblers in the garden and shop

I sure enjoy watching the birds in my garden but I have no claim on being someone who can accurately identify the different species. We do have a pair of what I’m saying are warblers in our Grevillea shrub in our front garden. When I search online it seems they are Orange Crowned Warblers, although I have not actually seen the crown. These little guys like to hang out deep inside the shrub and only on occasion pop into view. Still, I’m in love with their twittering sound and their flitting nature.

Three new bitty gouache paintings are added to the shop today.

Grevillea & Warbler, Gouache on Arches Board, 1.75 x 2.25”

Gouache now in my online shop! →

If you haven’t seen yet, Sundance Online has new collections of my work that went live on their website this month. I have been a regular with them since being featured on the cover in the summer of 2004. Sundance has represented my oil paintings for 16 years and this month they are showcasing two collections of framed gouache paintings. One grouping is a set of miniature paintings depicting pronghorn antelope inspired from a visit to Antelope Valley during the spring poppy bloom. The second is a selection from a series of ocean and sky images.

Wee Bun, California Cottontail, 1.75 x 2.25” Gouache on Arches Board

With the pandemic and our required confinement to home I find my solace at the drafting table creating small portraits in gouache of the local wildlife, mining from images that I have taken from past trips out in the world when the world was a safer place to roam.

As the days and months roll by (or creep or seep, like molasses) I find that my collection is becoming pile after pile of paintings that are taking over my work space. I’ve decided to release them into the world that they my find homes and bring the kind of comfort (and JOY!) that they offered me while making them.

I will be posting new images each week. There are nine new on offer today!

September at Sundance

Three new collections arriving this month at Sundance Online.

Sign up HERE be the first to hear about upcoming shows and sales.

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New landscapes images of mountains and sky by Nicole Strasburg.

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Sky Sea framed gouache paintings by Nicole Strasburg.

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Miniature gouache of Antelope Valley Pronghorn by Nicole Strasburg.

Summer Salon at Sullivan Goss in Santa Barbara

The Summer Salon at Sullivan Goss has officially opened. The exhibition will run through August 31, 2020. The gallery is open to stop by however better to make an appointment and have the 3 galleries to yourself to peruse all the new shows on the wall.

Road to Water Canyon Beach, Santa Rosa Island (22x17.5” oil on panel) on display with Ken Bortolazzo, Joseph Goldyne, Eric Beltz, and Will Simons.

SPRING SHOWS

Lotus 30x30”

“Lotus” will be included in the opening tomorrow night at Sullivan Goss “Masterworks” a group of gallery represented artists through June 23rd, 2019

AND

Winter Light 10x10”

Winter Light will be included in the exhibit opening next week at the Bakersfield Museum of Art. “The Sublime” is part of the 2019 Visual Arts Festival running through August 2019.

ON THE SIDE

Did you know that I have a small rubber stamp company that was inspired by my two border collies?

You can find an Etsy shop with many loving renditions of my dogs and dogs from the local park. I also have an island collection as well as Los Padres Outdoor collection. Take a peek HERE.

THE RIVER'S JOURNEY: REVISITED

White Rock at start of the Rey Fire, 2016 2.5x7” Gouache on Arches Board

There is still time to see The River’s Journey in the city of Santa Barbara in our historical City Hall.

This show is a smaller version of the Rose Compass exhibit hosted by the Wildling Museum last Winter.

On First Thursday, March 7 from 5-7pm there will be one last reception to celebrate this leg of our four venue exhbition. You can also see the last iteration of the show at Westmont Ridley Tree Museum on the Westmont campus in Montecito. That exhibit will remain on view until mid June of this year.

Check out the website and stories of the journey at rosecompass.com.

There is also a wonderful exhibition catalog that goes with the show. Find a copy in the shop or at a local bookstore.