Artists of North San Luis Obispo County

When I had lunch at the Paso Robles Inn not long ago, I noticed the work of John PartridgeJohn Partridge hanging in the lobby. This may have been one of the paintings I saw there If you check out John's web site, you will see many North County scenes among his paintings. He was one of the plein-air quick draw participants at the recent Paso Robles Festival of the Arts, He also has paintings hanging in many local businesses and paints and exhibits at local festivals.

Many of the other local artist have their work hanging in local businesses, as well. The walls of wine tasting rooms and restaurants serve as galleries for local artists that don't have their work in other galleries, or as ways for artists
who do to get more exposure.

We also have several events which draw artists. We will, of course, find them at Templeton's Day in the Shade, which occurs the Saturday before Mother's Day each year. That's where I first discovered them. That led me to also attend the Paso Robles Festival of the Arts , where I first learned about The Studios on the Park, a wonderful place where many local artists have studios open to the public from Thursday - Sunday in Paso Robles across from the City Park. You can go there, meet the artists, watch them work, and see whatever exhibits happen to be going on at the time. The artists there also offer art classes to the public.

Besides local festivals dedicated to art, you will find artists displaying their work at the Psso Robles Lavender Festival and the Olive Festival. It seems there is some event almost every month that gives the public a chance to see the work of our local artists.

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John Mack is pictured here with his third-place ribbon winning painting, "Hi! Templeton, " a semi-opaque watercolor. This picture caught my eye at the Ranch Dressing Exhibit sponsored by the Paso Robles Art Association, on July 8, 2010
. I couldn't help but take notice, since I have taken may photographs of the same subject. It is the first thing anyone who walks down Main Street in Templeton sees. The picture John painted was of the building before it was rebuilt after a fire.

John is a retired art instructor who taught painting, drawing, sculpture, and art history in both California and Oregon. . He was interested in art by the time he entered high school, but during World War II he was drafted into the Air Force, which interrupted his studies. Afterward he began his art education in the San Francisco Bay Area, where after graduating with a B.A from California College of Arts and Crafts, he went on to San Francisco State University to earn a double M.A. in Fine Arts --Printmaking and Painting. He then pursued PhD graduate studies at Stanford.

He was greatly influenced by teachers George Post and Alexander Nepote -- especially in the area of geometric abstracts, a style which is evident in John's more recent work. His goal is now more to capture the essence of the design and feeling of a subject than to create a realistic picture of a scene. You will see some examples of this in the photo gallery of John's work below.

John enjoys plein air painting, where artists complete a picture in an hour or two. I witnessed a quick draw competition at the Paso Robles Festival of the Arts and was amazed at what the plein air artists there were able to create in such a short time. I have to admire anyone who can do this. John's favorite medium is watercolor, and he is a member of the American Watercolor Society, a quite prestigious organization. His wife, Virginia, is also a watercolor artist and she teaches art at Alan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California. John gave me permission to post the picture in this module and the three in the gallery below. These works are all copyrighted and John Mack retains all rights to them.