Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

John Hassur, an art docent and artist at Gallery Saratoga, takes in the current 'Love Connection' exhibit.

Hearts and flowers fill Gallery Saratoga

By Shari Kaplan

Although spring is a month away, dormant seeds begin to sprout in February, early-blooming trees and flowers show off their flowers, birds return with song and--for some people--love starts afresh.

It's beginning to look a lot like Valentine's Day.

At Gallery Saratoga, it looks like The Love Connection, this month's exhibit in which the gallery's member artists use their creativity to celebrate the beauty of both love and nature.

Los Gatan Linda Spencer, an author and personal empowerment coach as well as an artist, works in encaustics, a technique in which colored wax is heated and "burned into" the canvas. Two of her pieces, "As One" and "Intimacy," offer a somewhat Cubist rendering of the human form. A loving couple stands amid splashes of color--cool in the former, hot in the latter--with the man behind the woman, his arms protectively wrapped around hers.

Spencer also created "Real Roses Captured in Time." Enclosed in square wooden boxes with clear glass covers are delicate rosebuds, petite other flowers and leaves treated with a glaze that preserves their beauty without dulling it, thereby eliminating the poetic reminder to "gather ye rosebuds while ye may."

ShaRon, a San Jose resident, also favors flowers in her large oil paintings "My Garden" and "Two Roses." Nearby, her tastefully depicted nude "The Rose" shows a sensual woman with a rose tattoo above her outer ankle. The drape on which she reclines is also a deep rose-red.

Love among family members--human and animal--also has its place. Dori Simmons of Cupertino shows two boys hugging and kissing the pets they don't want to part with in "Free Kittens." Elsewhere, she wittily blends the motifs of both hearts and flowers with "Floral Wreath."

In Monte Sereno resident Dennise Meier's "Rabbit Secrets," two rotund white rabbits nuzzle each other while fluffed out on the snow. She paints quail coveys and barn owl families as well.

Lori Waterman of Palo Alto paints mostly human families. "First Born" shows a new mother's sense of wonder, while "My Sister's Hat" depicts two little girls sharing an outdoor stroll in their Sunday finery. "Violets for my Love" shows that a couple's advancing years need not dampen their romance.

Some artists use outdoor scenes in general to appeal to the romantic at heart. Using soft watercolors, Saratogan Norman Carter's "Lower Road, Montalvo," is a peaceful scene of a tree-lined mountain road. In the distance, a couple surveys the scenic Saratoga foothills.

Dori Phifer, also of Saratoga, captures the rugged beauty of a rocky, windswept beach in "Sea Stacks," while Saratogan Jane Garrod offers "Cow Camp in the Sierras"--a tranquil old barn surrounded by stately evergreens and quietly falling snow.

Saratogan Donna Padrick, who came up with "The Love Connection" as exhibit title, takes in the beauty and simplicity of nature and transfers it to distinctively glazed ceramics that are lead-free and dishwasher-safe.

Motifs of trees and blooming flowers appear on her bowls, plates, vases, pitchers and soap dishes, especially in hues of pink, green, blue and purple. On some pieces, Padrick fashions delicate little birds who affectionately touch beaks while babies cheep from the nest. An appropriate Valentine's Day motif, as tradition has it that birds select their mates by mid-February.

Gallery Saratoga is located at 14531 Big Basin Way, Unit 3. Hours are Tue.-Sun., 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. For more information, call 867-0458.

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