About the Artist
ANNA LEE STEED
A Colorist Painter
Whether painting landscape, still life or abstracts, color is the main focus of my work. I have always found my strongest inspirations in nature and can often be found painting in dramatically beautiful locations such as Point Lobos State Park, near Carmel on the California coast or high up in the Colorado Rocky Mountains! I admire the work of the early California Impressionist Painters such as Guy Rose, Edgar Payne and Franz Bischoff who painted at the turn of the last century. My art education included plein air workshops with landscape painters Brian Blood, Laurie Kersey, Camille Przewodek and others. I read books on color and began doing small, experimental abstract pieces, to learn what color could do. In 2004, I met a kindred spirit and art mentor in Michael Linstrom, Interpretive Colorist. Studying privately with Michael for several years gave me a sound foundation in art principles and continued my development as a colorist.”
I began showing my landscape paintings in 2002 and soon after became a member of Gallery Saratoga where I exhibited for a period of five years. Since then, I have exhibited my work at The Sunnyvale Art Gallery, The Los Gatos Museums Gallery, Gallery Christine (Pacific Grove), and the Salinas Valley Art Gallery, all California galleries. In 2006, I exhibited a collection of my paintings in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. In 2009, I showed 29 still life and landscape paintings at the Sunnyvale Art Gallery in a joint exhibit with my mentor, Michael Linstrom. 2011 was a milestone in my career when I debuted a series of thirty mixed media abstract paintings in a solo show at the Sunnyvale Art Gallery. This truly original body of work featured free form line on a black ground integrated with uniquely beautiful color schemes. Most of these pieces feature the rough texture of oil paint applied with a painting knife. Next came another abstract series represented by the painting "Candyland" and "Blue Intuition". These paintings have a complex texture combining washes, brushwork and palette knife. Many of them were shown in an exhibit at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon in 2014. I find that my work in abstraction helps with my creativity and design in my representational paintings as well. Conversely, the representational work helps to keep my color schemes fresh and shapes more diverse in the abstract paintings.
Since 2012, I have taught a unique series of workshops which I call "Developing As A Colorist Painter". Students go beyond the basics of color and assimilate new ideas of color composition into their work. I have taught painting workshops in California, Colorado and Oregon. I have also taught painting classes for the Department of Parks and Recreation in Cupertino, California and Corvallis, Oregon. A frequent demonstrator for Bay Area art clubs, I have given talks about color and demonstrated painting approaches for the Sunnyvale Art Club, The Los Altos Art Club, Fine Art League of Cupertino, Santa Clara Art Association, Saratoga Contemporaries and the Del Valle Art Club. I love to teach almost as much as I love to paint! In painting you can share your vision with others and in teaching you can help others to acquire the skills necessary to share their own unique vision.
RECENT EXHIBITS
Silicon Valley Open Studios 2019 and 2021
Saatchi Fine Art (International On Line Gallery) www.saatchiart.com (On home page,search by artist, Anna Lee Steed)
Gallery 111, Capitola, CA 2019
Energy & Stillness, a National Abstract Exhibit, Juror: John Maxon, Honorable Mention, Oct/Nov 2016
Santa Cruz Art League, Membership Show, Santa Cruz, CA 2015 to 2019
OSU, La Sells Center, Guistina Gallery, Corvallis, OR "Albany 10 x 10 show (1o Abstract Paintings) June 2014
Primary Elements Gallery, Cannon Beach, OR May and June, 2104
Pegasus Gallery, Corvallis, OR (Landscape Paintings) 2013 & 2014
Albany City Hall, a Joint Exhibition with Michael Linstrom (30 Paintings Each) Feb. 2014
The Portal Center, Lincoln City, OR Abstract Exhibit, 2013
Silicon Valley Open Studios 2012 (Hosted by Sunnyvale Art Gallery)
Los Gatos Museums Gallery 24 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos, CA
December of 2008 through March 2013
Sunnyvale Art Gallery 251 El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, CA
May-July, 2012 An Exhibit of over 40 paintings, both abstract and traditional
February, 2011 A solo exhibit of 30 abstract paintings
January, 2010 An exhibit of 39 paintings consisting mostly of landscape and still life.
Marv Anderson’s Gallery, Moss Landing, CA May-October 2011 Exhibited seascapes.
Gallery Christine, Pacific Grove, CA June-September 2008
Show included seascapes, landscapes and still life paintings
Pagosa Springs Art Council Town Gallery Pagosa Springs, Colorado May/June 2008
Showed 15 works, primarily of the Colorado Rocky Mountains
Valley Art Gallery, Salinas, CA Exhibiting Member 2007-2008
Gallery Saratoga, Saratoga, CA Exhibiting Member 2004-2008
CONTACT INFO:
831-338-9496
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