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"