In August, Benicia Plein Air Gallery features the work of member artist Iris Sabre. Sabre is primarily a plein air painter and her pieces sing with vibrance and color that seem more real than life. Her portraits and plein air paintings carry a similar largess. Of her style, she says, “I am an impressionist and colorist. I work with oil paints and do not use solvents. I invoke sun and shadow using thick paint and intense color.”
Sabre received a BA with an emphasis in art from SF State, as well as an art teaching credential. She has taught art around the Bay Area, worked as a commercial artist, and her work has been exhibited in four solo shows. In addition to working out of the Plein Air Gallery, her pieces can be found at the Orinda Community Center, the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, the Frank Bette Center for the Arts in Alameda, the Epperson Gallery in Crockett and several other Bay Area locations.
Iris Sabre Mt. Diablo Poppies |
Art in the blood runs both directions in Sabre’s family—her parents and daughter are all artists. Sabre says, “I enjoy painting out of doors. I take my easel to the grassy hills or the rocky bluffs over the ocean, and paint nature in all its glory. In a sense I am a conservationist. I try to capture on the canvas the natural world at a particular point in time.” The Plein Air Gallery show runs through September 2nd, with an artist’s reception August 12, 3-5pm. The third annual Plein Air Paint Out is also sponsored by the gallery and takes place August 25.
