May 26, 2005

Seeing life through art

Almaden artists share love of painting via Silicon Valley Open Studios

By Jeanne Carbone Lewis
Staff Writer

Four Almaden artists displayed their creative sides last weekend, much to the delight of visiting art fans on the warm spring day.

With numerous group and solo exhibitions to their credit, it is obvious that water media artists Cindy Blain, Sue Lyttle, Marion Podolski and Judy Welsh have found their true fortes. With the help of Silicon Valley Open Studios, the amicable women showed their paintings as a group at Blain’s Almaden Valley home.

Cindy Blain
Blain’s studio showcased her love of anything anthropomorphic. Faces and figures exhibited the ambiguity of human nature. The colors are vibrant with movements asking questions deep within the soul. Her medium is watercolor and gouache, though she is equally comfortable with monotype, a combination of printmaking and painting.

“Ambiguity in my imagery helps engage the viewer’s imagination and reflection,” said Blain.

Art patrons questioned Blain’s technique and motivation.

“I work in cycles,” said Blain who multi-tasks with a husband and two children. “Whenever I can find time, I create. And I find deadlines are good. As long, as you generate something original.”

Prolific, Blain has had numerous solo and group exhibitions. She has received awards from Allied Visual Artists Artfest and The Poetry of Watercolor Annual Show. Her professional affiliations include past president of the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society and member of San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art.

Blain’s work may be seen at Viewpoints Gallery, 315 State Street, Los Altos or call (408) 268-5959 or go to cindy@cindyblain.com for a private showing.

Sue Lyttle
One of Lyttle’s watercolors renders an Indian woman in New Mexico weaving, a glimpse of a childhood memory but more than that. Her art career began as a fiber artist, spinning, dyeing yarns and creating stitched art and sculpture, finding the tactile “very appealing.” She worked as a graphic designer for more than 20 years and only began painting watercolors in 1996.

“I am fascinated by the effects of light,” said Lyttle. “How a flower’s petals can glow with transparences or how reflections from the surface of water can give glow to a scene.”

Lyttle’s control of light is evident. Whether a single flower, waterfall, scene from nature, she employs powerful control of a brush. The results are pleasing landscapes—glimpses into nature to be remembered. An avid traveler, she works from photographs and utilizes a computer for composition of dark and lights. Her grandchildren are another favorite subject.

For budding artists, she recommends “experiment and just keep painting.”

Awards from Allied Visual Artists ArtFest, SCVWS Annual Show, Images of Fioloi, South Bay Fine Arts Festival and Visual Artist’s Association Summit have appreciated her talent as well. She has shown her work at numerous solo, group and juried exhibitions. Her professional affiliations include past president of Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society and area representative of California Watercolor Society.

Lyttle’s work may be seen at Viewpoints Gallery, 315 State Street, Los Altos or call (650)-799-6900 or go to jslyttle@att.net.

Marion Podolski
Podolski’s mixed media watercolors of cats [she has three], waves and crystal series are a marriage of pleasing shapes and brilliant colors, surreal to the eye. She won art prize at age 10, but with a degree in pure mathematics, her creative nature took a back seat to science and technology. In 1998, a career move into Web design was impetus into the visual arts. Using natural subjects, she takes the viewer into the realms of their own imagination.

“With my crystal series I actually looked at quartz,” Podolski said in her Scottish brogue. “You can see mountains, all sorts of shapes and colors and I recreate it.”

Equally pleasing are the cat series, full of movement and brilliance many with a touch of whimsy. Color is always dominant with the sense of geometric creating organization and shape.

Podolski has had many group and solo exhibitions. She is a member of the California Watercolor Association and board member of SCVWS where she also does special website projects. Her paintings can be found in private collections in the United States and Europe.

Podolski may be reached at www.artjoys.com.

Judy Welsh, and one of her landscapes

Judy Welsh
Well known to the Almaden Valley Art and Wine Festival attendees [she has exhibited for decades, her work even was showcased on their poster one year], Welsh’s watercolors evoke the rich landscapes of the west: San Diego’s San Vicente, Mt. Madonna, Point Powell in Utah and the San Antonio Mission in King City.

“I love painting plein-air [open air],” said 32-year Almaden resident Welsh. “No telephone and peace and quiet. I love going to Mt. Umhunum.”

Her watercolors are soft, pleasing to the eyes of the patrons who admire her work. Under her skilled brush, intricate landscapes are fully realized with hundreds of carefully placed strokes and a myriad of colors
Welsh enjoyed painting as a young child, participating while her mother taught art classes. She received a degree in fine arts and graduate work at San Jose State University. As a freelance artist, she has painted and drawn in all mediums and her work is represented in private and public collections. She has been a guest artist at several privately sponsored art shows as well as an artistic consultant for home and business concerns.

She can be reached at www.alliedartistswest.org or (408) 268-6501.

Degas said art is not what you see, but what you make others see. The journey from the eye to the soul was an enjoyable experience for artists and patrons of Silicon Valley Open Studios throughout the Bay Area these past three weekends.

Photographs by Jeanne Carbone Lewis