I’m helping Lila Klapman, a fellow artist, organize an invitational group exhibit for artists working on the west side of Santa Cruz. EDGE: Art on the Westside will be held at the R. Blitzer Gallery, located at the edge of town in a warehouse formerly occupied by the Wrigley company (yes, that Wrigley, of chewing gum fame).

If I can speak for Lila, at least part of her impetus for putting together this show is to help foster a sense of community among the many talented artists on the west side. Plus, it gives us a great excuse to throw a party for the Artists’ Reception on May 21st.  And who doesn’t like a party!?!

There’s a lot happening at this end of town.  There are wineries, breweries, bakeries, restaurants, this wonderful gallery, and lots of artists.  I think there are more artists here than people realize, and hopefully this exhibit will give the public an idea of the diversity and talent found out this way.

One of the artists, Lisa Hochstein, has been instrumental in designing our postcard and web announcement, which use a springtime palette. Click on the card to see a larger version with links to the artists’ websites.

I mention the springtime palette because those same colors have been showing up in my paintings as we’ve been working on the card together, only in a more saturated and ‘dark’ way.

Since no blog post is complete without some art, here is one of my newer paintings, influenced, I think, by the colors on our announcement.