Oil Paintings

The Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce Business Mixer will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at BIS Computer Solutions, 2428 Foothill Blvd., La Crescenta. Tickets cost $7 for members and $9 for non-members. Call (818) 248-4957. The Glendale Quilt Guild meets at 6:30 p.m. at Glendale Central Library, 222 E. Harvard St. Pat Rollie speaks on “The Magic of Mistakes.” Cost is free for members and $5 for guests. The guild meets at the library the second Wednesday of every month. Visit www.glendalequiltguild.org.

Artist Linda Marquis is thankful to her nieces and nephews, who inspired her to paint children as her subject matter. Marquis, 57, paints young children and animals, but has no formal training in art. She developed an interest in art when she owned and operated a crafts store in Glendale in the 1970s. Marquis took an art class as a means of expanding her knowledge about her business. She discovered she enjoyed painting and decided to develop her own niche. Her oil paintings of children interacting with animals or taking part in routine tasks, are favorite among art buyers.

than rugs and oil paintings. There’s also statuary. The life-sized statues he sells cover a wide range of styles, from pop culture to classic. Replicas of Greek marble statues sit next to fiberglass images of Humphrey Bogart and Betty Boop. "They’re very beautiful and unique," Shemesh said. "We bring them in from the Philippines." The statues used to flow out into the parking lot at his location at Broadway and San Fernando Road, but a year and a half ago, the city asked him to move them back inside the building, Shemesh said.

Gary Moskowitz After he saw John Wayne in "The Alamo" when he was about 8, John Pomeroy was hooked on war stories. He constructed an entire scene of the Alamo out of clay as soon as he got home, complete with the mission setting and handfuls of soldiers. "I really became fascinated right away with telling stories through art forms," said Pomeroy, a Toluca Lake resident. "That interest has developed into a deep fascination for history for me. "And over time, you come up with the kind of show that is over at Forest Lawn now."

California Landscapes — On display through Sept. 30 . The Theodore Payne Foundation Gallery presents “California Landscapes,” an exhibition of oil paintings in the plein air style depicting the beauty and diversity of California as interpreted by four local artists: Margot Lennartz of La Crescenta, Kendra Page of Glendale, Liz Reday of South Pasadena and Laura Wambsgans of Santa Clarita. TPF Gallery is part of the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants and is located at 10459 Tuxford Street, Sun Valley.

Four artists will share exhibit space at Descanso Gardens' Boddy House Gallery through March 3. Visitors to the gallery have a chance not only to see and buy the artworks, but also to meet and talk with the artists. At least one of the exhibiting artists is at the gallery during open hours. Visits to the gallery are free with Gardens Admission. Louise Forbes and her paintings on wood offer "A Glimpse into Nature's Realm." Her oil paintings of wildlife, fantasy flowers and hidden surprise subjects follow the natural grain of wood panels to bring delightful surprises to the viewer.

Storytime hours canceled LA CRESCENTA -- The La Crescenta Library will not hold story time hours during the first two weeks of February. Story time hours resume at 2 p.m. Feb. 22 with the showing of "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron." The animated movie was released in 2002. Refreshments will be served. There is no cost to attend. The library is at 4521 La Crescenta Ave. For more information, call 248-5313. Infant, child CPR taught by Red Cross GLENDALE -- The Glendale-Crescenta Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross is holding an instructional course on infant and child CPR on Saturday at its headquarters.

Laura Sturza, People SUNLAND -- After a long walk by the ocean or in the park, which images leave you with the strongest impression? If you are a painter or someone who appreciates landscape paintings, your awareness of color, light and form can be developed with practice. Sunland artist and teacher Lucille DeThomas has dedicated herself to painting in vibrant colors, using an impressionistic quality inspired by Monet and Cezanne. For more than 25 years, she has mentored students who have gone on to win numerous awards, like their teacher.

In her oil paintings, artist Karen Sill tries to perk up the canvas with color, whether she’s painting a whole garden or just one or two flowers. This week, the La Crescenta resident is working on something new. She’s painting the master bedroom suite of the Frank Lanterman House in La Cañada Flintridge. She hopes to finish it in time to display it in the Foothill Artists League Show there on Sunday. “This is my first interior,” she said. “And I’m enjoying trying something new. When we took a tour of the house and saw the master suite, I couldn’t resist and thought I’d give it a try.” Sill has a love for interior design, and when she saw the space, she said, it looked like a peaceful, restful place to read a book.

The Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce Business Mixer will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at BIS Computer Solutions, 2428 Foothill Blvd., La Crescenta. Tickets cost $7 for members and $9 for non-members. Call (818) 248-4957. The Glendale Quilt Guild meets at 6:30 p.m. at Glendale Central Library, 222 E. Harvard St. Pat Rollie speaks on “The Magic of Mistakes.” Cost is free for members and $5 for guests. The guild meets at the library the second Wednesday of every month. Visit www.glendalequiltguild.org.

Pictures of people and buildings often intrigue oil painter Walter Hurlburt, who applies his own spin to them with his brush and brilliant colors. A photograph of a woman wearing a black hat in a newspaper ad for instance caught his eye. So he created a painting based on it, but he changed her hat to reddish orange and brought out the blue in her eyes by painting her blouse a vivid turquoise. “One little thing you change and it adds just enough to make it different,” he said.

In her oil paintings, artist Karen Sill tries to perk up the canvas with color, whether she’s painting a whole garden or just one or two flowers. This week, the La Crescenta resident is working on something new. She’s painting the master bedroom suite of the Frank Lanterman House in La Cañada Flintridge. She hopes to finish it in time to display it in the Foothill Artists League Show there on Sunday. “This is my first interior,” she said. “And I’m enjoying trying something new. When we took a tour of the house and saw the master suite, I couldn’t resist and thought I’d give it a try.” Sill has a love for interior design, and when she saw the space, she said, it looked like a peaceful, restful place to read a book.

California Landscapes — On display through Sept. 30 . The Theodore Payne Foundation Gallery presents “California Landscapes,” an exhibition of oil paintings in the plein air style depicting the beauty and diversity of California as interpreted by four local artists: Margot Lennartz of La Crescenta, Kendra Page of Glendale, Liz Reday of South Pasadena and Laura Wambsgans of Santa Clarita. TPF Gallery is part of the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants and is located at 10459 Tuxford Street, Sun Valley.

As artist Sang Young Bang gently dipped his brush into an oil palette, art enthusiasts sat watching his every move as he carefully brushed strokes of paint on his canvas. Bang demonstrated basic life drawing techniques during a workshop titled "The Art of Figure Painting" at the Forest Lawn Museum, on Sunday. "We are having this class because of our new exhibit," Matt Aaronson, the museum's educational program coordinator, said. "We make our workshops complement what we do in the museum."

TODAY The Once Upon a Time Bookstore presents a story time for preschoolers ages 3 and up at 10:30 a.m. at 2284 Honolulu Ave., Montrose. For more information, call (818) 248-9668. Borders, Books & Music presents a Halloween story time event for children from 4 to 6 p.m. at 100 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale. There will be treats and story readings. For more information, call (818) 241-8099. The Montrose Halloween Spooktacular goes from 5 to 8:30 p.m. in the Montrose Shopping Park on the 2200 to 2400 block of Honolulu Avenue, Montrose.

Vigen Sogomonyan's rich style is fascinating and captivating in its simplicity. His world is a dimension where dreams can transform into reality, a world created by delicate mixture of bright colors and deep shadows as well as smooth sensuous curves and surfaces which are lush and inviting. His imaginary characters are presented in exotic and colorful costumes while captured during mysterious and intriguing interactions, sometimes with unusual but symbolic objects. The artist uses intense and vivid colors to exude the perpetual turmoil which exists inside the human core.

Tiran Shemesh’s Universal Rugs and Oil Paintings belies it’s name. There’s a lot more to the store than rugs and oil paintings. There’s also statuary. The life-sized statues he sells cover a wide range of styles, from pop culture to classic. Replicas of Greek marble statues sit next to fiberglass images of Humphrey Bogart and Betty Boop. "They’re very beautiful and unique," Shemesh said. "We bring them in from the Philippines." The statues used to flow out into the parking lot at his location at Broadway and San Fernando Road, but a year and a half ago, the city asked him to move them back inside the building, Shemesh said.

Artist Linda Marquis is thankful to her nieces and nephews, who inspired her to paint children as her subject matter. Marquis, 57, paints young children and animals, but has no formal training in art. She developed an interest in art when she owned and operated a crafts store in Glendale in the 1970s. Marquis took an art class as a means of expanding her knowledge about her business. She discovered she enjoyed painting and decided to develop her own niche. Her oil paintings of children interacting with animals or taking part in routine tasks, are favorite among art buyers.