KruegerMug

b. 1953, Lynwood, California

I have been a landscape painter for over twenty years.  I began in the shadows of the orange groves and eucalyptus windbreaks of Southern California.  There is a particular light in that area influenced by the close proximity of the ocean.  The light is scattered by the marine layer and melts the distance into a bluish haze.  I tried to get that light down on canvas.  I painted mile-long windbreaks, migrant workers in strawberry fields, and muddy tracks through acres of orange groves.

I felt an urgency to paint.  An article in the local paper was entitled, “Say Good Bye To Your Favorite Bean Field.”  The last remaining huge tract of farmland in Orange County was slated for development.  I remember painting on location one morning just off the road with a large canvas up on my easel.  I stood overlooking a sea of orange groves, divided by a long row of giant eucalyptus trees.  As I painted two men in hardhats with rolled blueprints tucked under their arms came up the rise, harbingers of what was to come.

Many years have passed.  When I go back to Southern California I have a hard time recognizing those places.  I live in Boise, Idaho now.  A land with distinctly different seasons.  Different light.  Lots of open space.  Rivers and mountains.  After fourteen years living here and that many years of looking at the landscape I have found some powerful paintings.  Some I have made, many that are waiting.

I have shown in galleries for over twenty years. My work can be seen in public collections that include the Boise Art Museum, Banner Bank, Stoel Reeves Law Firm, The Pacific Club of Newport Beach and the Boise Airport among others. See a full list on my exhibitions page.

Professional Experience

1994-Present Professional Artist

2007-Present Painting Instructor- Group classes- Boise, ID

1996-2000 Painting Instructor- Irvine Valley College, Irvine, CA

California Institute for Women- Frontera, CA

1989-1994 Serigrapher for Clearwater Studio, Tustin, CA

1984-1989 Freelance Illustrator for publications and commercial business

Education

1980 Brigham Young University, Provo, UT

Post Graduate Studies in Studio Arts, Painting, and Drawing

Awards

2018 Alexa Rose Grant Recipient

2008 Idaho Commission of the Arts Fellowship

2004 Boise Art Museum Triennial Award of Excellence