Artist Spotlight: Walter Crew

It Is What It Is

Walter Crew lives in Pleasant Hill and has been painting for over twenty years. Before retiring, he had a career as a Journeyman Aircraft Machinist at Alameda Naval Air Station. He also bred and showed English Bulldogs for fifteen years.

"Painting is my therapy - it’s positive and relaxing, especially with so much negativity in the world. I usually paint each evening before I go to bed. I want to be creative and do my own style - I don’t think anyone else paints quite like I do. I want to make paintings that will make viewers stop and take a second look and hopefully remember it. If I’m not able to get the viewer's attention right away, then I haven’t succeeded.

With the above mixed media piece, “It is what it is," I just sat down and did whatever I felt like doing at the time. I love creating this kind of unplanned work. I added collage objects to my acrylic painting, worked in different figures, netting, cut-outs...I had fun and I want to do more like this.


My bird painting was done in oils with added solvent drippings for texture.

I enjoy working with a variety of styles and mediums - I want to try it all! Never be afraid to make mistakes - that’s how we learn. You won’t be very creative or go very far if you're afraid of mistakes."

Artist Spotlight - Eric Vandetta

Inductive Reasoning

Eric Vandetta is a teacher at Wren Avenue Elementary, an arts magnet school here in Concord. He has been creating digital art for about 12 years, and exhibiting for a little over a year. 

When asked what keeps him motivated to create, Eric says, "To be honest, it's pleasing myself that is most inspirational. When I look at a picture and know it's done (at least temporarily), I think, 'I made that and I like it!' It's pure pleasure.

Inductive Reasoning is inspired by my affection for the religious art of the Renaissance - the dramatic poses, angels and other objects flying through the sky, the fluidity of the images, and the richness of color. This picture brings the style a little closer to our time with the addition of the fence and lattice. 

Pretend You Don't Notice


Pretend You Don't Notice started as a photo of a tree. In fact, that tree led to five completely different pictures. I created the landscape, then I saw a deer's head camouflaged in the picture, so I created the two deer from scratch."

Learn more about Eric at Vandetta-Art.com.

Artist Spotlight: Martin Biro

sunset martin biro
Sunset 


Originally from Budapest, Hungary, Martin Biro currently resides in Pleasant Hill. After studying art and economics in college, he became a silversmith with the family business, Biro and Sons, in San Francisco. 

"I went back to painting in my 40s when a well-known artist, Pauline Teller, asked me why I was not painting. I decided at that time to use only a palette knife instead of brushes, because oil paints create a very moving effect when layered with a knife. I have a growing interest in abstract expressionism, which I feel gives me greater freedom to explore.

All my paintings in the "Five from Six" show are based on photographs I've taken while wandering about New Mexico. My daughter was working on a PhD at the University of New Mexico, so I frequently traveled there to see her, as well as my best friend, Jerry Dunbar, who's an indigenous artist there. We've spent a lot of time spent viewing the colors and landscapes of that state, especially the Native American reservations."

martin biro
Four Corners

Four Corners is about the spot in the Southwest where four state borders meet at one point - Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.

Click here to learn more about Martin Biro's work.