San Augustine Summer, Hollister Ranch
24 x 30 Oil on Linen, USD$ 1,500

Gallery Bleu invites you to view
COLORSCAPES
contemporary plein air oil paintings by
GWEN CATES
February 2 to 29, 2010
Receptions for artist
Thursday, February 4, 5 pm - 9 pm
Tuesday, February 16 , 5 pm - 9 pm
With Tantara wines
Gallery hours, Tuesday - Sunday, 11am - 5 pm
456 S La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles

Gwen Cates, a painterly realist colorist, does plein air oil paintings on California Central Coast ranches and vineyards. Her paintings are a celebration of the beauty of the areas where she lives and works. She has completed series of paintings at Hollister Ranch, Sedgwich Ranch, and Santa Cruz Island. She also paints at her second home on a mountaintop near Charlottesville, Virginia.

Welcome to my online gallery. My goal in painting is to astonish myself and to share this sense of wonder with others.  I want the viewer to feel involved in the act of painting, to be aware of the brush strokes and the sensuousness of the medium as much as the subject matter of a piece.

Oil on canvas is my medium of choice.  I enjoy painting wet on wet, sliding one color over the other to achieve richness and vibrancy.  I like to take risks and make new discoveries as I paint.  The color that I respond to when I paint is not necessarily the color that I see as a casual observer of a scene.  Colors emerge that excite me. Shapes become simplified, more abstract.

The act of painting transforms the way I see the world. 

 © 2004-2010 Gwen Cates - all files, photos, artwork, content