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For the past two days a group of us have been transforming the Nicasio Druids Hall from a dark plain looking and dimly lit space into a fantastic art gallery... "Ranches & Rolling Hills". The newly erected, well lit panels are filled with wonderful images of West Marin ranch land in a variety of styles, media, and sizes. It's a very magical transformation that takes a lot of hard work and dedication on behalf of a group of artists and MALT staff and volunteers.   MALT SHOW INFO

To me, this week of show preparation is something I look forward to every year. I get to work closely with my fellow artists, some of whom I only see once a year since they are part of the Oak Group in the Santa Barbara area. We all work as a team, building walls, cleaning and touching up, hanging lights, organizing and hanging the paintings, labeling, etc., etc. It all makes us feel very lucky to be part of such a great community of artists and to be part of the "Ranches & Rolling Hills" Art Exhibit which raises funds to help permanently preserve Marin County's farmland.

Today I received an email from the Poncia's who own the ranch in Tomales where I have painted many of their sheep over the past years. They told me that "Angel", which I painted for this years show, just had her own lamb two days ago. His name is Angelo, and you can see their picture below.

Spring is here with what seems like endless rain storms with some sun in between. It all made it a bit more challenging this year to visit the ranches to do our painting for the upcoming Ranches and Rolling Hills art show on May 15th and 16th. But, landscape painters manage somehow to brave the wind and rain in order to accomplish their goal, to paint inspiring views on the MALT ranches that are located in beautiful West Marin.

My first painting this year is one of Angel, a white lamb that Al Poncia's mom raised as her pet sheep. Angel was trained much like a dog, walking in and out of the house with a little bell around her neck. I guess you could say that I have a real soft spot for painting sheep...

I visited the Gale ranch in Chileno Valley last Fall in order to do some paintings when the grasses were golden rather than spring green. As a painter I find that I prefer the warm colors of the golden grasses as you can see in this painting with the Gale's flock of grazing sheep.

On Monday May 10th all the artists will be bringing this years crop of paintings to the MALT office in Pt. Reyes Station and in the following week the show will go up once again in the humble Druids Hall in Nicasio. By Satuday morning the place will have been transformed into an incredible art gallery filled with amazing paintings of West Marin's MALT ranches.

You won't want to miss this art show...you'll surely walk away with a new appreciation for the inspiring beauty of West Marin's farmland, and maybe you'll take a part of it with you home in the form of an amazing painting created by one of the talented artists in this yearsRanches and Rolling Hills Art Show.  

For more information... Click Here:   MALT - Ranches & Rolling Hills Show