Daniel Clarke

Icelandic Coast Yellow River, Painting, Watercolor on Watercolor Paper

2022

n the sea at the end of the west Curves of orange vermillion Mathematical perfection with the sunset It leaps, it vaults over: Like an arrow straight it flies Out of the fog - sky bridge Like a flowing golden gown...

Downton Abbey’s going off the air. I’m not through yet, it’s just not fair. Nothing before that show ever had That kind of class, that degree of flair. Life without my week...

California fog on a coastal scene. It has all time. It knows the people are a tide That swells and in time will ebb, and all Their works dissolve. Meanwhile the image of the...

The bougainvillea wears your fragrance the scent a silent comfort in my often quiet days I enjoy our conversation while the magenta of its leaves paints a beautiful picture ...

Signed lower right, second panel, 'Isabelle Schrock' for Isabelle Schrock Barnett (American, 1903-1995) and painted circa 1975. Additionally signed, verso, on each panel and titled, 'Hillside City' on artist card. Left panel dimensions: 22 x 30 inches. Right panel dimensions: 30 x 22 inches. Total dimensions: 30 x 52 inches. Exhibited: Lodi 16th Annual Art Exhibition (1975) from partial label, verso, on right panel. An unusual, asymmetric diptych landscape showing a view of a Northern California coastal city, probably Berkeley, set in gently rolling hills and painted circa 1975. Born in Augusta, Kansas, Isabelle Schrock Barnett moved to California with her family at the age of five and graduated from the the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1923. She subsequently studied with Frederick Taubes and Yasuo Kuniyoshi. Over the course of a long and successful career as an artist, Isabelle Schrock Barnett exhibited widely and with success including at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, the Oakland Art Association, the San Francisco League of Women Artists and the Central California Art...

Singed (at lower left): Jane Peterson

Street in Alfama Neighborhood, Lisbon, Portugal in Watercolor on Paper Detailed watercolor by unknown artist "Quignard" (French, 20th C...

Classic mid-century California seascape watercolor of the crashing surf on the rocky coast by Santa Cruz, California artist Margaret E. Rogers (American, 1872-1961), c.1950. Rogers was one of the original "Jolly Daubers" who studied with Frank Heath and took wagon trips to the redwoods and Yosemite to paint. Signed "M.E. Rogers" lower right. Presented in a rustic giltwood frame under glass. Image, 16.5"H x 18.5"L. Margaret Esther Rogers' (1872 - 1961) early childhood was spent in England. The Rogers were a cultured family who came to California for the father’s health and settled on a ranch in the King City area. Margaret grew up in the curiously paradoxical world of early California, breaking her own riding horses and roping cattle during the day, doing a man’s work, riding a man’s saddle, then sitting down to the piano to play classics in the evening after high tea. Margaret’s mother had the only piano for 80 miles around. Her father, Robert J. Rogers, had been an importer of fine tea, coffee, and spices in England. In Monterey County, he raised sheep and cattle and the family lived under comparatively rustic and modest conditions. When Margaret wasn’t riding, tending a herd, plowing a field, or playing the piano, she was painting. Art was an early love. Fame caught up with her early. She was written up in a San Francisco newspaper as “Monterey County’s pretty girl who rides a man’s saddle, marks and brands stock, breaks wild colts, plows and sows, plays classical music and paints in oils.” Margaret’s mother was her first music and art teacher; later she took art lessons from Kate Baldwin in Salinas. She had suitors and several proposals, but never married. In the year 1898, Margaret’s “intended” put in 700 acres of grain, spending all he had plus money he borrowed. Not a spear of grain grew, she wrote, and their plans to marry when the crop was sold dried up with the weather. When her mother died, Margaret and her father moved to Soquel, taking along her favorite saddle horse. Now living in Santa Cruz County, Margaret at once became involved in art circles which were unofficially headed by Frank Heath and his wife, Lillian Dake Heath. Frank Heath and Margaret together founded Santa Cruz Art League in 1919, and a few months later were joined in their efforts by a Dutch woman named Cor de Gavere who arrived in Santa Cruz. The two women artists, Margaret and Cor, became fast friends and remained so until Cor’s death in July 1955, while she was visiting relatives in Holland. They painted together almost every day and shared many meals at each other’s cottages which were just a few blocks apart in the Seabright area. However, those Victorian ladies, raised in the era of rigid social conventions, always addressed each other as ‘Miss Rogers’ and ‘Miss de Gavere’ as long as they lived. Money was never in great supply for either lady, but Cor managed to buy a small automobile, and after six driving lessons the two of them took off for southern California. Cor and Margaret took many camping and painting trips in Cor’s automobile. Sometime later, Margaret herself got brave enough to buy an auto. From 1925 to 1947, Margaret made her home in the basement of the Arts and Crafts Building. She managed the Art League’s first gallery, which was started there. Holding informal court for friends who called, Margaret would open a can of sardines, put out a plate of crackers, and conversation about art or music would follow. During World War II, Margaret raised rabbits in cages. In later years, Margaret purchased a small studio-home on Alhambra Street – still in the Seabright area, which both women clung to as home territory. In 1929, Margaret helped found the Art League’s first Statewide Show, which became an annual event. She served as show chairwoman for more than 20 years. A fine painter of landscapes, Margaret became better known for her strong marine scenes. Once she explained that the ocean was “the real challenge, because it won’t stand still.” She served as president of the Art League from 1925 to 1947. Short, stocky, outspoken and very talented, Margaret gained many honors in her later years. With her short haircut and her dark dresses...