Oil on Canvas

I am definitely not into stuff and not someone who likes shopping. I’d rather have experiences like travel. However there is one that I’d still like to buy. Last October, my husband and I took a little getaway to Carpinteria. On the drive up, we stopped at the Ventura Botanical Gardens and hiked through their various Gardens representing low water climate zones. One of the volunteers suggested we visit the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens, especially the redwood grove. After wandering the trails through the dell, desert, canyon, meadow we ventured out to a viewpoint to see the Channel Islands. There was an event center and gallery out there with an exhibit of a local artist’s work. I fell in love with one of the paintings. I contacted someone at the garden and learned that the art was for sale. The original was very expensive, but some prints would be dropped off at the gift shop. No matter when I called, I could never get the phone to ring in the gift shop. I left messages on many other extensions. It felt like a glitch in the matrix. Of course, the phone was finally answered after the artist picked up the unsold prints. In May, her paintings from the Channel Islands will be on exhibit in Oceanside which is just a short drive down the coast.

— KathyV