KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The winner of the 22nd Kelseyville Pear Festival poster contest is Ruth Morgan.
Her painting, entitled “Pear Picking Day,” was done using a type of paint called Gouache. This paint is similar to watercolor but modified to make it opaque. For inspiration she looked to the styles of Grandma Moses and Charles Wysocki.
Morgan was born and raised in Detroit, Mich. Her father designed cars for GM and her mother was a gifted artist painting flowers and gardens.
Earliest memories of art came from her kindergarten days. Morgan believes that there was never a time “when she couldn’t not be painting or doing art projects.”
She attended and graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a bachelor's degree in fine arts, which included painting and print making.
She moved to Berkeley in 1975 to follow her passion for art. To stay practical, however, she attended a trade school to learn drafting.
In 1988, she married her husband, Jackson Morgan, a tile contractor. After building their own home in Jerusalem Valley in 1989, she became a stay at home mom with their two children, a son and a daughter.
Her life was full with children, art, a vegetable garden and baby chicks.
“There is nothing nicer than carrying your baby chicks around in your apron,” she remarked. Today she still has her rooster, Bob.
Morgan’s art career includes painting, sculpture, and papier mache cards using her own whimsical characters. Her favorite subjects are birds and cats.
She exhibits and sells her art work in the Jessel Gallery in Napa. She also sells her work through her website: www.ruthmorgananimalitos.com and through Etsy.
Morgan has been an exhibitor at the Lake County Wine Studio in Upper Lake and is a member of the Konocti Art Society. She participates in KAS shows as well as many craft fairs.
Other craft projects she makes are movable Ferris wheels and whirl-a-gigs. They are on display at Christmas time at the Main Street Gallery in Lakeport.
Currently, she has a painting on exhibit and for sale at the Saw Shop Gallery Bistro located in Kelseyville.
The Pear Festival offers the “Pear Picking Day” poster for sale on Saturday, Sept. 27.
The festival starts at 9 a.m. with a hometown parade on Kelseyville’s downtown Main Street.
For more information about the festival day visit www.kelseyvillepearfestival.com .