News Archive 2 • 4-10-14

Current News

The Calistoga Art Market
Calistoga Art Center
at the Napa County Fairgrounds
1435 North Oak Street, Calistoga, CA
Saturday, April 12, 2014
11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

April is a busy month in Napa Valley! It's time for Arts in April, many places are celebrating Earth Day, Calistoga is once again holding its citywide garage sale day – and Calistoga Art Center is holding its April Art Market!

What is an Art Market, you might ask? Well - just as you have the opportunity to see and buy produce straight from the farmers at a farmer's market, at the Art Market you have an opportunity to meet artists, see what they do, talk with them about their work, and buy their work directly from them.

Our booths are compact, but you'd be surprised at how much wonderful artwork you get the opportunity to see. I usually bring a good-sized painting or two; as many small paintings as I can fit in the space; and a nice selection of matted reproductions and greeting cards. In the past, I've brought reproductions of my work on tiles and small tile magnets, though I'm nearly sold out. If I have a chance to order more in time, I'll bring them, too.

Calistoga Art Center
Art Miniatures show and art demonstrations
at the Napa County Fairgrounds
1435 North Oak Street, Calistoga, CA
April 26 11 - 6pm

Me, painting at Jericho Canyon Vineyards in 2013

Here's the scoop, from the Calistoga Art Center:

"Art Miniatures is a diverse exhibition of original artwork donated by artists affiliated with the Calistoga Art Center. The show is FREE and will include paintings, photography, prints, and sculpture. During the event, everyone has the opportunity to win their favorite pieces and raise funds for the Calistoga Art Center, by purchasing raffle tickets. Visitors will also be able to attend hands on art workshops and view art demonstrations."

Yes, I will have a miniature in the exhibit - and I'll also be giving a painting demonstration from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. I'll be glad to talk with visitors and answer questions about just what it is that painters do all day!

And yes, that is me in the Calistoga ad! Last year I painted on location at heavenly Jericho Canyon Vineyards just outside of Calistoga, for a film crew working on footage for a commercial inviting visitors to enjoy the delights of our town.

Although that footage hit the cutting room floor (can you still use the metaphor in this digital age?), our local Chamber of Commerce is now using photos in their current advertising. Yes, Calistoga is that gorgeous and inspiring. You just may want to bring paints and an easel!

Wine & Palettes in the Vineyard!
Cosentino Winery
7415 St. Helena Hwy.
Yountville, California
(Right next to Mustard's Grill)
Sunday, May 11th, from 1 to 4 p.m.

Cosentino WInery's tasting room, on St. Helena Highway in Yountville

I'm looking forward to a new kind of event, which I'll be doing with event planner Kate Shelley, at Cosentino Winery in Yountville for Mother's Day, Sunday, May 11th, from 1 to 4 p.m..

It will be a simplified form of instruction, usually called a paint & sip event — I'll be leading participants through the creation of an acrylic painting (a landscape), while they get to enjoy great wine and appetizers at this wonderful winery location.

We'll be sitting at tables in the vineyard as we paint (probably creating a landscape painting of the beauty we'll find ourselves in the middle of). You can download the flyer here. To reserve a spot online, head over to www.vineyardpaint.eventbrite.com. You can also call Kate for more information about either event (or both) at (707) 921-2864.

Acrylic Painting classes
Calistoga Art Center
at the Napa County Fairgrounds
1435 North Oak Street
Wednesday OR Friday afternoons, from 1 to 4 p.m.

Acrylic Painting classes are in session again! There are sessions in January, February, and March. You can sign up for a session of four classes, or drop in for a single class, if you like — and sign up online at the art center's website, or in class when you come. You can learn more about them on my Art Classes information page.

The Calistoga Art Center is located on the grounds of the Napa County Fairgrounds in Calistoga — as you're facing the fairgrounds buildings, it's the one on the far left.

The Grand Hand Gallery
1136 Main Street, Napa, CA

I'm looking forward to bringing some of my paintings down to the Grand Hand Gallery in Napa sometime later this year – it's been postponed for the present, but I'll announce it once it's scheduled. The director of the Grand Hand in Napa is Kristina Young, previously the Executive Director of Arts Council Napa Valley, and whom I have long known through our mutual connection with Napa Valley Open Studios.

News Archive

Napa Valley Open Studios Artists
at Taste of Yountville 2014
Yountville Community Center
Yountville, California
Friday, Saturday, & Sunday - March 14, 15, & 26, 2014

I'll be joining many of my Napa Valley Open Studios colleagues for this year's event during Taste of Yountville. It's the only place you can see the work of many NVOS artists – and meet them, too – at the same place and time. It's a fun event – about which I'll be posting more details soon.

The Calistoga Art Market
Calistoga Art Center
at the Napa County Fairgrounds
1435 North Oak Street, Calistoga, CA
Saturday, November 16, 2013

This is the Calistoga Art Center's second Calistoga Art Market, the first being in October (which I also participated in. It's a nice opportunity to meet up to twenty local artists first hand (and indoors! in case the weather's less than optimal). I was there with some of my smaller paintings, and plenty of greeting cards and matted reproductions I've made with images of my paintings. The Art Market begins again in February of 2014, and I'll rejoin it in April.

My booth space from the first Calistoga Art Market in October of 2013

Painting Demonstration for the Artists' Round Table
Veterans' Memorial Building
Santa Rosa, California
Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Each month the Artists' Round Table, like the Napa Valley Art Association, has a visiting artist give a demonstration as part of their regular meeting. In November of 2013, that was me! I demonstrated my painting process and answered whatever questions people had for me.

I talked about beginning a composition, outfoxing the linear brain in order to let your creative self do what it's best at, and the green goo principle. (Wonder what that is? Ask me sometime! Or ask any of my students!)

Working on location a few years ago, on a small ranch outside of Calistoga, where I used to live.

Napa Valley Open Studios 2013
Studio #48
5140 Sharp Road, Calistoga, CA
Sept. 21 & 22 and 28 & 29, 2013

This year I participated in Napa Valley Open Studios with my friend and colleague Sequoia Buck, at her studio and glorious garden. I used to live in a cottage there, so it really is a case of coming home.

Sequoia is a mixed media artist who creates handmade paper, and combines it with paint, collage, and digital photography to make glorious new works of art. (I'm proud to say she was a student of mine, in my painting and mixed media classes. But she's been a papermaker and commercial photographer many years before that.)

So this year I brought my landscape paintings of rural California, some of my mixed media paintings, some drawings and block prints, and some new abstract pieces I've been working on. One of the things I love about Open Studios is that I don't have to confine what I'm showing to one body of work. I like to do a lot of different things, like so many artists - I just don't usually get to show it all!

This is also my second, and final, year on the steering committee for Napa Valley Open Studios. I've worked on marketing (our press room blog, our Facebook page, getting the word out to the press, and more) and so much more (teaching a website building workshop, working with jurors on our jurying process to find new artists, editing and rewriting our applications and policies, meeting with representatives of other regional open studios organizations, among others). It's work that I hope will continue to help our open studios organization grow and evolve in positive directions.

I look forward to being able to squeeze in a little more painting time, at last!

To those who came to visit Sequoia and me during Open Studios (braving the weather on occasion) – my thanks!

Ekphrasis - a show of "art pairings"
Calistoga Art Center, 1435 North Oak St., Calistoga, Ca
April 13 - April 20, 2013
This show features "art pairings" – by pairing a photographer with an artist in some other medium. The second artist chooses a photograph as inspiration, and then takes it in whatever direction they would like to go. The art center was completely made over for the show, where you can see the work of 52 pairs of artists. I am honored to have been able to work with Wes Thollander, whose amazing and evocative photography I have admired for years.

Cotati Dental Wellness
8125 La Plaza, Cotati, CA

I'm pleased to announce that Dr. Ralitza Varlakova has chosen several of my paintings, including the original painting of The Red Tree, to grace her dental offices at Cotati Dental Wellness. The paintings look right at home! You can see them there, right across from the Cotati Plaza, if you drop in.

Napa River Inn
500 Main Street, Napa, CA

Last summer, the Napa River Inn chose me as one of the four local artists whose artwork they wanted to put in four new luxury suites. This February they wanted more! They now have reproductions on canvas of The Red Tree in ten of their rooms!

The Inn is a beautiful hotel in downtown, old town Napa, situated inside the historic Napa Mill, and looking out across a particularly beautiful part of the Napa River. You can see what it looks like in my blog post, Strolling Around the Napa River Inn.

Napa Valley Open Studios at Taste of Yountville 2013

This was the third year that Napa Valley Open Studios participated in Taste of Yountville, a wonderful festival in the small town with more multi-starred restaurants in it than any place else in the country. It is the one place where you can meet and see the work of a whole host of Napa Valley Open Studios artists in one place. The artists enjoy this – we get to catch up on what everyone else is doing – since during Open Studios we aren't able to visit each other.

I gave a painting demonstration this year, and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with all of our visitors. Four
of my paintings have now gone to very good homes, too!

Taste of Yountville 2013

Scheduling workshops for 2013

I'm also busy planning what workshops I'll be offering next year. Winter (possibly February) will be the first time I've taught a two–day, weekend–long color workshop in at least five years. I've developed the course material a good bit in the intervening time, and will be taking a slightly different approach, which I'm excited about. And 2013 will bring more! There's so very much to do!

Straightening up my studio

Now that Napa Valley Open Studios 2012 has ended, I'm in studio cleanup-and-preparation for winter mode. With three new big sets of shelves set up and the space to reorganize, the deck to seal before the rains come, and - maybe? - some wall painting to do, I've got my work cut out for me. There is also part of one wall to insulate - but that's a long-term project that may have to wait a bit. And I have two big commission paintings awaiting me....

Napa Valley Open Studios 2012
September 22 & 23 and 29 & 30, from 10 am to 5 pm

74 artists – 42 studio locations – where else can you see so much Napa Valley art and meet so many Napa Valley artists in their creative spaces?

It's valley-wide, on the last two weekends of September – September 22 & 23 – and I am proud to say that this will be my eighth year as a Napa Valley Open Studios artist. I particularly appreciate the opportunities this has given me to get to know my colleagues in this beautiful valley.

This year I'll be at Studio # 8 in St. Helena, with Carolynne Gamble and Davina Rubin, at Carolynne's studio. We've been planning demonstrations throughout each day of acrylic and mixed media painting, incorporating collage, and I know Davina is coming up with goodies to eat....

Come visit us! We'll be at 1807 Crinella, just off Highway 29, at the northern end of St. Helena, from 10 am to 5 pm, September 22 & 23 and 29 & 30.

Studio # 8 - images of the work of each of us, with a link to a website with even more

It's Napa Valley Open Studios' 25th anniversary! You can read more about it here.

Photos from the home page of our press room website

Like Napa Valley Open Studios on Facebook!

Blog post about Karen Lynn Ingalls

As a member of the NVOS steering committee, two of my projects have been our online press room and our Facebook page (in case you're wondering why my blog posts have been a little sparse in the last few months!). Come visit them – you'll find lots of information about my colleagues – about their work and what inspires them. It's a good group of people – I hope you'll come visit!

Napa Valley Museum – Take a Chance on Miniatures – May 2012

80 local artists, myself included, have tiny art gems in the Napa Valley Museum's May show, Take a Chance on Miniatures. One of the museum's annual fundraisers, this show also presents your opportunity, with a little luck, to take home your favorite miniature for the price of a raffle ticket.

And perhaps your favorite miniature will be my little painting, Vineyard Palm, which you can see there from May 4th through June 2nd, 2012.

The Sketchbook Project 2012 World Tour

The Sketchbook Project 2012 goes on tour! You can see my sketchbook, Travel with Me to the Napa Valley, in any of thirteen venues all across the United States.

Opening in Brooklyn, New York, in April, it moves to Chicago, Illinois; Portland, Oregon; Vancouver, Canada; and Los Angeles, California in May.

I'll be going to visit it in Oakland, California, June 1st - 20th; and in July it goes to the Lynn, Massachusetts in the Greater Boston area; followed by Portland, Maine; and Toronto, Canada.

In August, it goes to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Atlanta, Georgia; and in September it travels to Winter Park, Florida and Austin, Texas. I hope you'll have a chance to see it somewhere along the way!

Napa Valley Open Studios at Taste of Yountville 2012

2012 marked the second year that Napa Valley Open Studios artists have been a part of Taste of Yountville, in Yountville, California – the little town with probably more multi-starred restaurants per capita than anywhere in the country (maybe anywhere in the world?).

I painted a small series of 5" x 7" miniatures on panels specifically for this show, a series which I plan to continue for Open Studios this fall. And I was pleased to have four paintings go to very good homes, including two of the new miniatures.

Napa Valley Open Studios 2012

We're planning already for Napa Valley Open Studios' 25th anniversary year! Napa Valley Open Studios is run by the participating artists; this year I was elected to the steering committee that puts it together. I'm looking forward to the last two weekends of September - but there's a lot of work to do first...

In the works....

I'm planning a series of large landscape paintings of the area where I live – 3' x 4' and 30" x 40" paintings – my special project for 2012.

Black Stallion Winery
Holiday Open House and Art Show
4089 Silverado Trail, Napa, CA
Saturday, December 10th, 2011

In December 2011, I and some of my favorite colleagues from Napa Valley Open Studios brought our work for a special Art and Wine event at Black Stallion Winery in Napa. There was a wonderful variety of work including ceramics, blown glass, jewelry, bronze sculptures, weaving, and paintings.

Black Stallion Winery, on the Silverado Trail, just north of the city of Napa

Black Stallion Winery's Barrel Cellar

Yountville Autumn Invitational Show & Sale
Yountville Arts Gallery at the Community Center
October 1 – December 2, 2011

I was honored to be invited to be a part of Yountville's Autumn Invitational Show – and to find my paintings were hung in a place of prominence in the Community Center lobby, at the main entrance. And I was pleased to have my painting, Hillside Vineyard (Tilted Heart), chosen for the banner hanging outside the community center and for internet promotion. There's a lot happening in Yountville, artwise - my thanks to the Yountville Arts Council!

PaintOut! Calistoga
October 7 – 9, 2011

Calistoga Art Center held its first plein air paintout, an event that drew about thirty painters from Northern California and the Bay Area. Painters checked in on Friday morning, and had Friday and Saturday to complete paintings that they checked in Saturday evening.

I painted at Chateau Montelena's Jade Lake on Saturday, along Foothill Boulevard at the Yellow Rose at sunset on both Friday and Saturday, and along Silverado Trail on Saturday. I'm not a traditional plein air painter, and I was pleased to see a variety of styles and approaches to plein air painting by all of the participants. It was a fun – and hard-working – weekend!

Napa Valley Open Studios 2011

Napa Valley Open Studios 2011
September 17 & 18, and 24 & 25, 2011

Hillside Vineyard (Tilted Heart) was my Napa Valley Open Studios catalog image, and was also chosen as the first image in the NVOS 2011 website slide show.

This year I shared studio space with Ed Breed, a marvelous glass artist in St. Helena. Ed was also chosen as the Napa Valley Open Studios catalog cover artist for 2011. We had a wonderful turnout of visitors – my thanks to everyone who came by!

Napa Valley Open Studios 2011 catalog cover, with glass art by Ed Breed

With County Supervisor Diane Dillon (right), who stopped by to visit between meetings

Some of my paintings on display during Napa Valley Open Studios, at Ed Breed's glass studio in St. Helena

Summer Art Workshops 2011

Summer Art Workshops – 2011
My last one–day workshop for the summer of 2012 was Soft Block Printing on August 27th. It's a wonderful medium – and I'm excited to see how the glass artist who joined me to learn the process will apply it to her glass work! To see what I taught this year – and get a preview of what I'll be offering in 2012, you can visit www.NapaValleyArtWorkshops.com.

My 2011 art workshops began this year with a new sketching workshop, Sketching Calistoga, which I've been giving periodically on Sunday mornings, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. I'm pleased and proud that this workshop was made an official part of Calistoga's 125th Anniversary celebration!

We had a great Painting Landscapes workshop on June 25th, with people coming over from Santa Rosa, Cobb, Napa, and Sacramento (in addition to a couple of locals!). It was a pleasure to meet and work with everyone – a wonderful group of painters!

Painting Collages on July 23rd was a lot of fun, too – thank you to my students who came and created three collage paintings each! You can find out more at www.NapaValleyArtWorkshops.com.

Summer show in Calistoga — Simple Pleasures — 2011

Summer show in Calistoga – Simple Pleasures – 2011
All Seasons Bistro in Calistoga was the venue for my summer 2011 show. Our First Thursday Artwalk, on June 2nd, was a great way to kick off its opening! Thank you to all who came – it was a wonderful gathering. All Seasons is located at the corner of Lincoln and Washington Streets in Calistoga, California.

I showed a series of smaller still life pieces that I particularly love. They are really graphite drawings, painted with acrylics in a transparent watercolor manner, using a slightly more subtle palette than is typical for me. They have a sense of simplicity and meditativeness about them that I appreciate. I'll bring them to Napa Valley Open Studios, too, where I'll be at Ed Breed's glass studio in St. Helena, California.

Painting Demonstrations at Napa County Fair — 2011

Painting Demonstrations at the Napa County Fair
July 2 & 3, 2011, Saturday and Sunday, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Napa County Fair, at the Calistoga Art Center (in the fair grounds)
1435 North Oak Street, Calistoga, California

I gave painting demonstrations on both Saturday and Sunday at the Napa County Fair, in the Calistoga Art Center, from 5 to 8 p.m. The painting, combining both landscape and collage, is called My Calistoga. Painted especially for Calistoga's 125th Birthday, it will be auctioned off to raise funds for the Calistoga Art Center.

You can see photos of the progress of the painting on my Line, Color, Paint, Joy blog at Painting Demos at the Napa County Fair for the first part, and "My Calistoga" - continued progress for the second part.

Calistoga's 125th Anniversary Celebration

My Sketching Calistoga workshop was chosen as an official event of Calistoga's 125th Anniversary celebration – which was quite an honor! The official birthday celebration was held on Saturday, July 16th, 2011.

Yountville Arts Presents Napa Valley Open Studios Artists — 2011

Yountville Arts Presents Napa Valley Open Studios Artists
mid–March through late May 2011
Gallery, Yountville Community Center
6516 Washington Street, Yountville, California

Hillside Sunlight and Shadow was my painting in this show, which ran through late May 2011 at the Yountville Community Center, a show featuring many of the artists of Napa Valley Open Studios.

Napa Valley Open Studios at A Taste of Yountville

Napa Valley Open Studios at A Taste of Yountville
March 2011

This year, for the first time, Napa Valley Open Studios artists joined Yountville Arts for A Taste of Yountville, an event celebrating Yountville's fabled restaurants and marvelous wines.

Knights Valley Autumn, from my California Landscape series, was also chosen for the Open Studios event brochure, postcard, and banner.