“San Clemente Pier” Oil Painting by Laurie Hendricks

The Laurie Hendricks Gallery presents Colors of Summer at 1504 Mission Street in South Pasadena. Their fourth edition of “Colors of Summer” features some of their favorite artists as well as some new surprises. The show runs July 13th – September 3rd, 2016. “In the summer we love to be outdoors, walking along the beach, hiking up to a mountain lake, or just a picnic in the park, anywhere we can get away with friends and family,” states Gallery owner Laurie Hendricks. “Those who come in to view the show can find fine paintings by a variety of exceptional artists.”

One of their new artists is Tom Balderas who grew up in Torrance, and lived only a few miles from the ocean, which has made nature, along with his family, the main inspiration of his paintings. Balderas attended Loyola Marymount University, where he studied film production and art. After graduating, he worked several years for NBC Productions

“Cypress Cove” Watercolor by Larry Cannon

and made many made-for-television movies. He then began studying under the tutelage of his photographer father, as well as Joseph Mendez, master painter and teacher. Balderas considers the time spent studying with Mendez to be the cornerstone of his growth as a painter.

Also displaying new work is Liliana Simanton, Born in Argentina, Liliana grew up in an environment where art was encouraged and appreciated. Her father, a commercial illustrator, spent long hours working at his drawing table, while her brother, a well known sculptor, was doing his life size figure drawings which Liliana always admired. Liliana is a member of the California Art Club and has participated in their Annual Gold Medal Exhibitions for the last several years and is one of the Galleries most colorful artist.

A newcomer to Southern California, Larry Cannon, a renowned watercolorist, has painted in many juried and invitational plein air events including those in Laguna Beach, Sonoma, Telluride, Sedona, Carmel and Borrego Springs. Discovering plein air painting led to an ever deepening appreciation for the land and sea around him, and a greater spiritual engagement with Nature. Larry has long had a strong emotional and intellectual connection with nature and her infinite variety of moods. In his seascapes especially, he responds to the meeting of land, sea and sky, and to the realization that the same conflict between irresistible forces and immovable objects have shaped the land and human events since time began.

Chuck Kovacic began his art career studying graphic design at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Although he had pursued painting as his minor at the Institute, it was only recently that he resumed painting. Rendered in the traditional “plein-air” style of the Impressionists, his painting investigates a diversity of subject matter, some of which he shares here. “The differences of light and foliage are subtleties of which continue to intrigue me,” he says of his art, these differences are manifested with his recent paintings of Tuscany. He is a member of the California Art Club.

Award winning artist Peggi Kroll-Roberts was trained at Arizona State University and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. Peggi worked as a fashion and advertising illustrator before making the transition into fine art. Using intense color and value to accentuate her subject, she moved into fine art with a bold palette, a love for small paintings and a very loose style that achieves a lot with a few very energetic brush strokes. She prefers to suggest reality than render it. Inspired by her children she paints beach scenes and other aspects of their lives. She also breaks away from the conventional still life by painting scenes of cosmetics and the occasional coffee cup or slab of butter.

Laurie Hendricks is the owner of the Laurie Hendricks Gallery and a well-known plein air painter. In the past several months she has been featured in the Carmel Plein Air Art Festival and will be participating in the Alameda Plein Air event. Since earning her Master of Fine Arts degree at the San Francisco Art Institute she continues to study painting with many esteemed artists including Chinese master painter, Jove Wang, Glenn Dean, Calvin Liang, Ray Roberts, John Budicin, Peggy Kroll-Roberts, Joseph Mendez and others. Hendricks is a colorist who enjoys traveling to beautiful places and painting the landscapes. Some of her recent paintings are from Santa Cruz, Scotland, Claremont, Carmel and Santa Ynez Valley. Her plein air painting, “Malibu Oaks” hangs in the permanent collection of the Desert Art Museum in Palm Springs, California.

Colors of Summer continues at the Laurie Hendricks Gallery through September 3rd. The Laurie Hendricks Gallery is located at 1504 Mission Street in South Pasadena and is open from Wednesday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., or by appointment. For more information, please call (626) 441-1055 or visit their website at www.hendricksgallery.com.