Sonoma Art Directory
painting and drawing
Monica Schwalbenberg-Pena creates mixed media and paintings about place and everyday objects: “art about the place, drawn from the land”.
Michelle Carnes explores Russian Impressionism and creates bold oil paintings from life. She migrated to Sonoma County from Chicago, where she graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago. She also has influence as an exhibit designer.
Michele Rosett is a Sonoma County artist of abstracts, landscapes, wildlife and musical narratives. She grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and worked as a clothing designer and business owner for 20 years, before dedicating her time to fine art.
Michael Coy is a painter and illustrator, who blends realism with whimsy. His flora and landscapes are whimsically surreal.
The artist Micah Schwaberow is known for his color woodblock prints, painting and gourd-making. The artist combines traditional Japanese and western techniques into his work. In fact, Micah has demonstrated the traditional art of moku-hanga, woodblock printing for the de Young Museum, Legion of Honor, San Francisco: “Much of his paper work, mainly the woodblock prints, appeared in some precious editions of typographic books, including Tuolumne, Book I, which received the highest award during festivities at Yosemite National Park.
Maurice Lapp (1925-2014) was a devoted oil painter, watercolorist and art teacher, and was recently featured in Art Trails catalog as someone with a calling for communicating the absolute necessity of art. He held a position as an art instructor at the Santa Rosa Junior College.
Marylu Downing creates mixed media artworks that have colorful, contemporary and enhanced narratives.
Mary is a painter of eco-abstracts and nature metaphors. She taught in Princeton, New Jersey for 13 years before moving to Sonoma County, California. She earned an M.F.A. from the Maine College of Art in Portland, and an M.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.
Mary McCrystal is a Sonoma County artist who enjoys making collages and acrylic and wax painting on canvas and wood panels. A quote from the artist: “Creating art becomes a sacred practice, it is supremely reciprocal in its intentionality, and it is an honor to participate in such a mythic journey.”
Martha Mellinger creates paintings of rural Sonoma landscapes, Italy, interiors, western subjects, and wildlife.
The Sonoma County artist Martha Wade specializes in figurative and narrative oil paintings.
Marsha Connell is “a Northern California artist known for her colorful and expressive landscape paintings, oils, watercolors and pastels, and her evocative Dream Vessels collages.” She is also an Adjunct Professor in the art department of Santa Rosa Junior College, and Associate Professor in Sonoma State University’s Depth Psychology Masters Program.
Artist Marsha Klein is a “contemporary visual artist (who) creates metaphorically expressive large format oil paintings and sculptural ceramics.” Marsha has a B.A. in Art and Art History from the University of California, Berkeley.
Maria-Esther Sund is known for her mixed media art, creative paintings and collages. Before settling in Northern California, she was born and raised in El Salvador, and studied art at Simmons College in Boston, MA and La Universidad de Las Americas in Puebla, Mexico.
Maria Bales is known for her paintings of Sonoma farms, rural landscapes, crows and some abstractions. She works in watercolor, oils, acrylics and colored pencil. She is also a knitting artist.
Mardi Storm is a west Sonoma artist who enjoys painting, nature photography, mixed media, and creating large scale sculpture that merges life with art. She also offers “soul painting” workshops for artists.
Marcy Silveira paints the landscapes of Northern California, in plein air with oils and water soluble oils.
Mandy Bankson is an abstract painter, often working on large canvas with acrylics. A quote from the artist: “I paint abstractly because I am lured by the risk of plunging into the unknown to express the beauty and complexity of life.”
Lucy Martin creates watercolor paintings, mushroom paintings, and mushroom prints, burnt landscapes, and bird art.
Lorraine Chapman creates paintings on silk, mixed media art, botanicals and encaustic paintings.
Lorraine Weglarz is an installation artist and painter and works in gouache, watercolor and oils.
Lisa Beerntsen paints underlying abstract forms, color, and movement, overlaid with patterns culled from diverse cultures (Islamic, Celtic, Tibetan, American quilters), as well as plant and flower forms. Lisa has also been an adjunct art instructor at the Santa Rosa Junior College for over 10 years. She has previously taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, California State University, Stanislaus, as well as the Universities of Maine and Massachusetts. Lisa has an M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a B.F.A. from the California College of Arts and Crafts.
Linus Maurer is a cartoonist and artist who resides in Kenwood. He graduated from the Minneapolis School of Art in 1950, and created the cartoon strips Old Harrigan, Abracadabra and In the Beginning, and later Newshound for the Sonoma Index-Tribune. He was a friend of Charles Schulz, who named a character after him in the comic strip Peanuts.
Linda Barretta is in her own words, “dedicated to the excitement of exploring and painting in plein air.” She paints landscapes, using mixed water, acrylics, casein, and watercolors in an impressionist style.
Linda Donohue is a fine artist who grew up at Muir Beach and in the Napa Valley, now residing in Sonoma County. Her acrylics, figurative paintings and encaustic works are often inspired by the Northern California terrain and horses. She is also the president of the Petaluma Arts Association, and the founder of COCA the Coalition of California Artists, a group marketing to the home furnishings industry Linda studied fine art at CCSF and graphic design at Platt College in San Francisco. She worked many years as a designer in the furniture business, as featured on HGTV and Extreme Makeover.
Linda Ortiz is known for her Southwestern American art themes.
Lin Lipetz (1928-2014) was a Sonoma author, artist, instructor and interior architect. She was born in Bozeman, Montana, and studied interior architecture and fine art in Washington and California, before finally settling in Sonoma County. She served on the Cultural and Fine Arts Commission for the City of Sonoma, and helped establish the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art in the 1990s. She also wrote the book, The Secret of Inner Presence. Lin was “a mentor for many students and a friend to all.” Lin had a B.A. from San Jose State University in interior architecture, and M.F.A from the University of Washington in ceramics, textiles and painting.
Liana Harris paints in oils and acrylics. She writes an art blog in order to show her work and express her thoughts about the process behind each painting.
Lauri Luck is known for her drawings, paintings and art notes.