Victoria Ryan

In December I finished a commissioned painting – a 30×40″ pastel depicting the land and view of Mt. Diablo from the Emerson Dairy property in Oakley California.   I met Trish Emerson at the Sausalito Art Festival and she told me about having grown up in Oakley and the Dairy was in her family for generations going back to the late 1800’s.  Ironically enough, I had lived in the same area from 1989 through 1999 and was familiar with the arid landscape that exists there.

Now, the last of the land, property and buildings had been sold and she wanted to give her parents a gift for Christmas to memorialize the property – a pastel painting for their new home which they were in the process of building. After spending an afternoon walking the property and taking reference photographs I chose a composition from one of Trish’s favorite areas of the property to do the painting from.

On Christmas, Trish’s parents were presented with the painting and were reportedly elated.   This was one of the most enjoyable commissions I’ve worked on and I’ve created hundreds in my career.   Trish selected another painting I created from the site – of the grainery building seen below.   After giving a gift like that she had to go home with something  to remind  her  of such an amazing and historically significant place.   Thank you Trish and thank you Emerson Family!

"Yellow House at the End"

My recent pastel painting “Yellow House at the End”  received a “Best of Landscape” award at the 52nd Annual Spring Exhibition at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka, CA this past weekend.   This is one of a continuing series I have been developing over the past few years of compositions from local alleys and street views from the area in which I live.    The juror for this event was Debra Lehane, curator of the Voigt Family Sculpture Foundation in Geyserville, CA.

Garden

French Vineyard

Dining Room Wall

We recently delivered and installed a three piece pastel painting commission to new collectors in San Francisco.  Their home, which they completely restored, was stunningly beautiful inside and out so it was an absolute joy placing my work in their surroundings.   This is the same commission discussed several posts earlier.  I’m confident that they were happy with how everything turned out.   Custom framing was done by Art Brokers Inc. in Sausalito.

Renowned Publicist and online marketing maven Anne Marie Baugh is featuring an interview with me on her site Whopple.com I am so delighted to have met her and that she is currently featuring me on her site which is devoted to highlighting and promoting fine artists and their work.   Thank you Anne Marie!

Kennedy Publishing has posted the entire Vol. II of Best of America-Pastel online.   To view the portal page to the book

click HERE. To go directly to the section of the book where my pages are click HERE. I am on pages 73-74.    The actual book  can be ordered directly from the Publisher.

Thank you Kennedy Publishing for inviting me to showcase my work in this beautiful book!

For the last 6 weeks I have been working on a series of commissioned paintings for new collectors in San Francisco.  With the 3 paintings successfully completed, approved and now being framed I am now in the preparation stage for the next commission.   My San Francisco patrons have been wonderful to work with and the process has gone as smoothly as I could possibly hope for.    I promised them at the onset that working with me to have their fine art dreams realized would be a rewarding adventure and I did not want to disappoint.   When creating paintings for clients I try to zero in on just exactly what it was that drew them to my work in the first place.   Was it the sense of color, mood, the texture of pastel, a particular composition,  the dramatic use of light, a sense of stillness in a particular painting or was it simply all of it.   Understanding what  evokes and inspires an individual or a couple about my work is very important when I am given the opportunity to create something new for them.    My San Francisco collectors, as a couple had different points of view and likes about the direction to take with the series.   My job as an artist was to stick to my own vision while being conscious of my client’s wishes.   Many artists find this idea daunting.      I myself, love the challenge of delivering something beautiful and special to the people who entrust me to create for them.   Commissions are a specialty of mine and I have been doing them for my entire 2 and a half decade career.   Here are  two of the paintings for the San Francisco commission.   These garden paintings will be featured in their dining room .   I am also including a picture of one of the walls the paintings will appear on as well as the framing choice.   We are using a distressed silver moulding from Max Moulding with an umber wash (that warms it up.)    Linen wrapped mats with hand painted bevels will set off the paintings.   Custom framing will be completed at Art Brokers Inc. in Sausalito, CA.

"French Garden"

"Tangled Up in Blue"

Dining Room Wall

Max Moulding 923S

Famed  Humboldt County  author Terry McLaughlin is featuring my pastels on her  new website .   Terry is a celebrated romance novelist.  Visit her here!<http://www.terrymclaughlin.com.

Earlier this year I was invited by Kennedy Publishing Co. to be featured in one of their Best Of America books, specifically Volume II Pastels, which is in the final stages of completion.    I was honored and excited to be chosen to be included in this publication, which consists of both juried entries and invited artists.   The paintings chosen for the book are seen above.   Clearly my strong color contrasts are what impressed the publishers!   The book contents, as well as other offerings from Kennedy Publishing  can be viewed at www.bestofartists.com

My husband Bruce and I had a great time at the Sausalito Art Festival.   I had worked very hard in the weeks and months prior preparing for this final event of the summer season and my planning and execution paid off.   The Sausalito Art Festival is like no other, at least in my rather limited experience with the higher end art fairs in the western region.  In the years preceding the “great recession” painters and artists from other media would enjoy brisk sales and additions to their collector base from visitors who come to this event from all over the world to purchase art.   The economy has certainly put its stamp on the volume, but the throngs of enthusiastic patrons who appreciate and support the arts are still showing up in Sausalito over Labor Day Weekend.

Where else can you spend a day or weekend seeing the works of about 300 juried artists and dance to English Beat on one day and Jefferson Starship on another while drinking a margarita!   This event is truly a blast and for all the hard work, we artists manage to have an immensely good time as well.  The festival organizers brought in a huge crowd each day and for that I am thankful.

I am grateful to my new and established collectors who purchased from me this year and who commissioned paintings….I’ll be kept busy for months to come.    As one visitor put it,  in this economy,  many  with discretionary income would rather invest in individual artists rather than purchasing from large chain operations, thereby contributing to the health and sustenance of  the arts as a whole.   I highly condone that!

Here’s me at the Preview Party.   I’m showing off my new JayneMax handbag – a gift from  Designer Jayne Dearborn.   Check out her beautiful line at:

http://www.designsbyjayne.com/

Sausalito Preview Party

  It’s Sausalito Art Festival time!   Labor Day Weekend, September  5, 6 and 7   marks my favorite show of the year, and my 10th straight year participating in the #1 art festival in the country.  This year will be the first year I will be debuting a series of oil paintings in addition to my pastels.   Check the “Oils” category on the right side tab bar for a sampling of what I will be showing.  Additionally, I’ve been adding new pastels frequently so be sure to check the Pastels category as well!   For the past two years I’ve been fortunate enough to serve on the 2-D jury and this year there should be some great work by new artists  and of course excellent art from artists who have been exhibiting at Sausalito consistently over time.   I’ve been working hard doing extensive preparations for this show so I hope to see you all there…its a wonderfully fun event!

For more information visit www.sausalitoartfestival.org