The Artists Are Coming!

THE ARTISTS ARE COMING! THE ARTISTS ARE COMING! THE ARTISTS ARE COMING!  Do I sound like a modern day Paul Revere?  I think I know some of the excitement he must have felt wanting to ride through the streets shouting.  It is not just because I and my fellow Rotarians at Los Gatos Morning Rotary have spent the last 9 months planning and preparing for the Los Gatos Plein Air event on June 22 on the town plaza; but because of the unique experience of having world class artists from all over the country  descend upon our town to paint. 

Plein Air means that you will find them and their easels set up all over town painting.  They are not allowed to take a picture and then paint from it; but instead must start and finish their work all at one time.  Starting Tuesday June 18th through Friday June 21st I encourage you to wander through town and find where the artist have set up and are working.  It is sooooo cool to drive down Santa Cruz or Main and see an artist standing with his easel painting the display of wedding dresses in a shop window or kids playing in the fountain on the town plaza.  If you are imagining some character standing there brush in one hand, color pallet in the other, painters smock, and beret, you probably are not far off.  I guarantee you will want to park your car and look over the shoulder of the artist to see how her painting is developing.  It’s kind like we will be a Martha’s Vineyard for a week!

Last year I hosted an artist to stay in my home by the name of David Savellano who explained to me how his paintings develop.  With water colors, he has to paint all the light color 1st and then work his way darker.  This means he has to paint the whole scene at once rather than object by object.  If I were an artist, my tendency would be to paint object by object completing one before moving on to the next and then add the background.  I do not think that would work with water colors. 

Another fun advantage to hosting an artist in your home during Los Gatos Plein Air is getting to know them personally.  Many of the artists are an absolute hoot!  I found it really interesting that David’s day job is as a project manager for construction.  To me, project management requires a strong left brain with lots of discipline and rigger.  Being an engineer, I am very skewed to the left brain myself.  In my mind, the stereo typical artist has to be strongly right brained to have the creativity to find the inspiration for great art.  David must have a lot of right brain in him also because his art is absolutely stunning.  At last year’s Los Gatos Plein Air, he was one of the top sellers.  Many of his paintings went at the buy-it-now price because people were so taken by his work that they had to have it NOW rather than bid a lower price and wait until the close of the silent auction to find out if they won the bidding.  David sold so many paintings at buy-it-now that he had to go back to his car to get more paintings to hang on his display panels at the Saturday sale.  Check out his work at http://davidsavellano.com/.  This year I am hosting John Burrow from Utah and I am looking forward to finding out what kind of person he is!  You can buy tickets for the VIP event Friday June 21st and can learn more about Los Gatos Plein Air at lgpleinair.org.

Rob Rennie is the co-chair for Los Gatos Plein Air this year and a member of Los Gatos Morning Rotary.