December at Sutter Creek Gallery: Judy Day

Artist Judy Day has worked in a variety of media but watercolor and drawing are her favorites.  “In watercolor,” she says, “I like the way the pigments mix on the paper and flow from the tip of the brush.  I can play for hours with paper, paint and water.  Add some salt and a spray bottle and I’m set.”  Day paints and draws daily, anytime from a few minutes to eight hours.  She will be the featured artist in December at Sutter Creek Gallery, with an opening reception on December 2, from 2 to 5 p.m.

Day is not only a practicing artist whose work is displayed at the Sutter Creek Gallery but also a teacher in her two favorite media.  Each month, on the first Friday, she is at the Amador Senior Center teaching drawing.  Students learn to handle graphite, pen and ink, and charcoal.  As a result, Day has added more drawing to her own repertoire.  She also teaches watercolor classes, with a new series starting in January.  She loves learning new techniques and using new colors and combination of colors and these classes give her the opportunity to pass along both her techniques and passion to students.

The artist and her husband have traveled extensively, allowing her to paint landscapes, seascapes and animals in locations around the globe.  Yet she’s just as inspired by scenes around the corner on China Graveyard or up Electra Road. Flowers in her yard or in a vase on a table are turned into paintings.  Playing with paint or drawing becomes a push-pull between the process and the product.  As she puts it, “Do I just sit and play or do I want to work on a piece of art to hang in the gallery?  Sometimes I’m having so much fun I’m surprised a ‘painting’ is the result.”

Judy Day is one of twenty-two local artists exhibiting at the gallery located in the heart of Sutter Creek at 40 Main Street.  Besides original paintings and photography, the gallery offers affordable prints, cards, jewelry, pottery, scarves and glass art, as well as custom matting and framing services. The gallery is open Thursday through Monday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.  For additional information, call 209-267-0228, email suttercreekgallery@gmail.com, or visit www.suttercreekgallery.com.

"Painter"

"Yellow Bucket"

"Grapes"

"Cypress"

December at Gallery 10: “Small Works, Holiday Style”

Happy Holiday Season!  Gallery 10 is offering a show of Small Works for the month of December.  “Small Works, Holiday Style,” is a collection of art work from all our artists, offered at an affordable price, perfect for gift-giving.   The paintings will be small enough to tuck into a cozy corner of your home or the homes of friends and family.  Everything will be priced under $125, many are offered for considerably less.

Stop by Gallery 10, 15 Eureka St., Sutter Creek any day except Tuesday during December, 11:00 am-5:00 p.m., and be sure to come to the reception we’ll be having on Open House Weekend, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2-5 P.M. 

Please note, there is a new restaurant next door to Gallery 10, Rosa’s, serving authentic Mexican food.  You can make an afternoon of it, with lunch or dinner at either end of your gallery visit.  Feliz Navidad!

November at Gallery 10: Brent Parsons

Gallery 10 is delighted to present Brent Parsons as the Featured Artist for November.  Brent has a rich display of his artistic talent at the gallery, and will be sharing several of his larger paintings during the November show.  His etchings are discrete landscapes of back roads and vineyards, iconic Northern California scenes.  Brent has some new watercolors of his hometown, Sutter Creek, where he has lived many years, and where for a long time he owned an art gallery on Main Street. 

For the November show, Brent will be presenting his large and very beautiful pastel landscapes and skyscapes.  “Desert,” “Canyon” and “Cloud” are three he will show.  He may also include a few plein air sketches he’s done in pencil, pen and watercolor from recent camping trips.

Gallery 10 will host a reception for Brent on Saturday, November 4, 2-5 P.M.  Brent and a friend from Boulder Creek will entertain us all with guitar music.  Refreshments will be available to everyone.  Come by, say hi to Brent, enjoy the artwork, and celebrate the show.  Brent’s show will hang all of November.  Gallery  10 is at 15 Eureka St., Sutter Creek.  Hours are Thursday-Monday, 11-5.

\

November at Sutter Creek Gallery: Rick Wise

Rick Wise spent over 50 years as a Bay Area cinematographer before moving to his current home in Amador City.  Since relocating, he has turned to fine art photography as his medium.  Wise, however, has created his own variation, using multiple images to produce a new artwork.

Each piece most frequently begins as a group of related photographs taken by the artist.  With a blank canvas in Photoshop, Wise brings in individual shots to play with.  He moves them around, excludes some elements, distorts others, adjusts scale until the parts combine into a new whole piece.  He then plays with filters and additional masking to bring new life to the image.  “At some point,” he explains, “a kind of shock goes through me, telling me this image is now complete.”  The process for one piece might take from 5 to 50 hours.  

Currently Wise is working on a series based on spheres, such as Sweet Potato Window.  Visitors enjoy trying to parse some of his images, as in the case of Tamale Dreams, which may require a bit of study.  The artist also offers his unique take on self portraits or portraits of a loved one, calling them “Uncommon Portraits,” which can be ordered from the artist.  Rick Wise is one of twenty-two local artists exhibiting at the gallery located in the heart of Sutter Creek at 40 Main Street.  Besides original paintings and photography, the gallery offers affordable prints, cards, jewelry, pottery, scarves and glass art, as well as framing services. The gallery is open Thursday through Monday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.  For additional information, call 209-267-0228, email suttercreekgallery@gmail.com, or visit www.suttercreekgallery.com.

Sweet Potato Window

Hard Wired

Tamale Dreams