Los Altos artist Stephanie Maclean is set to show her colorful abstract paintings of California’s landscapes and seascapes at the Rotary Club of Los Altos’ annual Fine Art in the Park open-air show, scheduled 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Aug. 12 and 13 in Lincoln Park in Los Altos.
Maclean’s inspirations include masters of form and color throughout art history, such as Sandro Botticelli, Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse. She is also inspired by modern master artists, including Richard Diebenkorn, David Hockney and Wayne Thiebaud, all of whom combine graphical, abstract elements with representational work.
Rather than making realistic paintings, Maclean said she is interested in creating a representation of a place that conveys the excitement, beauty and joy of her interaction with the nearby lands and sea.
Her landscapes and seascapes feature bright, contrasting elements – blue skies; sun-beaten golden hillsides dotted with lone oaks; deep, cool canyons; and dramatic mergers of land and sea. The vibrant elements stand in striking contrast to the more subdued Scottish scenery of Maclean’s youth. While living and painting in California, she has developed a modern, abstract style, characterized by painting simplified graphical elements, layered with multiple bright colors.
Maclean begins her process by consulting detailed topographical maps of nearby wildland parks. After choosing a park, she traverses it, following the map’s contours, hiking well off the trails. Her memories of the excursion and a reference photo she takes provide form to the art she will create, as she remembers how the contours twist and turn.
To scale and ground her compositions, Maclean paints patterns of such elements as oaks, trails, rocks, clouds and ocean waves. These elements may arise from her memories of her recent excursion melded with those of other, similar hikes. Maclean then applies multiple layers of color to each element. While her layering technique depicts a place’s underlying geography, it also hints at movement, such as a breeze’s effects. She leaves drips and brush marks visible to add to the viewer’s engagement with her piece. The bright, saturated colors – unfiltered blue skies, golden hillsides, blue-shaded valleys and multicolored meetings of land and sea – add to the immediacy and directness of the scene she has painted.
Maclean’s work is shown around the Bay Area, and she opens her Los Altos studio to the public during the annual Silicon Valley Open Studios tour.
Her art will be on display and available for purchase at Fine Art in the Park in booth 109.
Fine Art in the Park is the major fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Los Altos. Profits from the event support the club’s charitable projects and organizations locally and around the world.
For a preview of artists’ work and more information, visit rotaryartshow.com.
