Drawn by the lure of the great California Gold Rush, my great great great grandfather Albert Gallatin landed in San Francisco in 1860 with $5 in his pocket and a fire in his belly. Though his adventures in mining the Salmon River failed, he succeeded in launching a family now into its 8th generation. My family is replete with entrepeneurs, artists, and adventurers, each striving to create our own path forward. There’s something about this state that keeps you seeking that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, perhaps because its natural beauty is so awesome that we can’t get enough of it.
My own lived experience growing up in Big Sur and going to school in Carmel inspire so much of my painting. Looking south from the deck at Nepenthe, I wonder how you could NOT try your hand at painting it – or writing a poem about it – or responding in some creative way.
Even when I am not in California, I love painting California from memory. These new paintings express my on-going fascination with the light of the coast, the romance of its pioneering history, and its sublime beauty. I hope these paintings evoke peace, harmony, and joy for you as well. Painting them, wherever I am, I am home.
