Christopher Pilafian " The Open Gate"

I lived in an Old spanish house on a hill for eight years, until I got a call from my landlord saying he had broken up with lis girlfriend and needed to take the house for himself. I was going through a challenging time myself and the disruption of the forced move on short notice had an impact. at the same time, the usually pricey Santa Barbara housing market was peaking and had become daunting. Life's inevitable uncertainty and impermanence seemed heavy and dark.

Then a great place appeared: a spacious, light-filled loft in town, with ocean and mountain views. with this as my new home, I looked back and painted " the Open gate" as a memento of the joy I knew in the old house, a send-off to the past and a celebration of an auspicious beginning.

Shadows of trumpet vine, bougainvillea and palms mingle with the old brick of the front porch. I painted this from a photo. It is the most representational piece in a series around light and shadow.

Christopher Pilafian

Age: 56

"The Open Gate"

Acrylic on canvas 48" x 30"

2003

Christopher Davis

I grew up about five miles from the ocean in Southern California, where to find snow you had to make an effort and make an effort we did from time to time. Then when I was in my twenties I lived in Minneapolis for a few years. Now this is a place where snow is a way of life and once it falls in November it’s on the ground until April. It was there that I learned that a sunny day does not necessarily mean a warm day, usually quite the opposite. I also learned the way snow changes the way we see and hear things, the way we experience the world, and the way it can challenge us in our daily activities. I now live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, which resides in a nice place between the constant summer of Southern California and the extreme winters of Minnesota. Here snow falls in winter but usually doesn’t stay on the ground for long. It stays just long enough to enjoy the beauty of its falling, to alter our landscape for a brief time and make usually easy routines a little more challenging. I especially love the way it dampens sound. This is one Southern California boy who has learned to love the seasons

Christopher Davis

'Untitled"

Digital Photography

December 2008

N. Lacie Abell " Red Trees in Winter"

When in Doubt, Let it Out

A self-confessed 'Late Bloomer", I have brought much of my long past to my present, and artwork is no exception. The tricky part is leaving the baggage behind and pulling the treasures forward!

With a difficult childhood, I developed the bad habit of negative self-talk, reminding myself too often of how I had missed the mark, fell short of expectations and simply made "too many mistakes". I occasionally struggle with it still, but God has blessed me with the wisdom to recognize it. One of the advantages of age is that we can recognize this for what it is, and work with it, and, perhaps, turn it into an advantage.

The treasure I pulled forward in order to create this piece is a lifetime of "working around" challenges. My local color studies of this state park on the columbia River left me bored, so I decided to put doubt away and "let it out" by tweaking the palette, changing the paper and breaking a few rules.

Sometimes, in order to remain positive in life (or art, politics, music etc.) one has to break a few rules.

N. Lacie Abell

"Red Trees in winter"

Soft Pastel