This Group Exhibition spotlights successions of dream like images, ideas, emotions, and sensations based on Contemporary California Landscape by six Bay Area Artists. They are; John Wood, Carolyn Meyer, Brian Blood, Matthew Frederick, Gioi Tran and Donna McGinnis.

Select works by John Wood are from The Lake – a transitional series of new paintings. This work was inspired by three weeks of solitude at The Lake, The Morris Graves Foundation Compound, just south of Eureka, in late Summer, 2015. Here, a 380-acre tract of virgin forest surrounding a five-acre lake became the artist’s muse.

Carolyn Meyer diverts from her energized cityscapes and takes to the coastlines of San Francisco and Stinson Beach. Contrasting the coolness of the water are the rich, almost intense colors and tactile textures – palette knife trademarks of this fearless painter.

Primarily a plein-air painter, Brian Blood focuses on Northern California landscape, and creates hundreds of studies observing the ever changing light of day. He transforms these studies into large scale, contemporary impressions capturing the all of the magic spanning from sunrise to twilight.

Matthew Frederick presents an unconventional and amusing spin on the genre of landscape painting. Inspired by his life amid Northern California’s scenic countryside, Frederick looks within the landscape to capture and exaggerate the whimsical shadows and shapes cast from surging hills, majestic oak trees and gaping valleys. Fredericks style is characterized by the careful balance of structure, color, lighting and mood. His compositions are rendered with a resplendent color palette of generous applications of paint and undulating brushwork, lending to a compelling emulation of the patterns and sensations inherent in nature.

Gioi Tran’s work is based on landscape inspirations. His earliest landscape paintings incorporated some element of water reflecting the landscapes. Over time, Tran discovered that reflection aspects were a lot more interesting so he began focusing and abstracting on the reflections of what he saw. “As I developed my skills, I found the palette knife provided a different kind of movement that works for me as an artist. It allows me to move more fluid and it offers more flexibility from thin rough edges or flat and smooth textures.”

Donna McGinnis refers to her abstract landscapes as “States of Nature.” Her paintings are about exploration and refinement. She explores materials, artistic elements and a state of mind including memories and dreams. Her paintings are started without a preconceived idea and they develop on their own by suggesting their direction as she works. “I enjoy a sense of ambiguity and surprise, says McGinnis. It is the process of painting that I enjoy, a journey, and a timeless interlude.”