He created nearly 70 self portraits. Why? Perhaps that was the most direct path to his source of inspiration, his own inner workings. He wasn't trying to paint accurate images of himself. These self portraits are meant to be seen with more than a viewer's eyes.

His own struggles with the loss of his mother at a very young age, his use of alcohol, his despair, his difficulty in achieving intimacy, his feelings dealing with sickness and death -- all of this is the raw material Munch drew on to create his paintings.

Because he dared to use his art as a means to explore his inner self, his work is appealing to people today. Whether he intentionally wanted to help others or not, Munch is a guide. He art invites us on the inward journey, a journey to our deepest inner selves. It's a journey Munch felt he could not avoid, and perhaps we cannot avoid it either.

I felt the most striking self portrait in this exhibition was The Night Wanderer.

In this painting, Munch suffers insomnia, a consequence of his frequent depressions. His shadowed eye sockets are an attempt to conceal his pain, but in the very attempt at concealment, they reveal his inner turmoil.

This exhibition takes its name from Munch's last significant self portrait, Between the Clock and the Bed. In April of 1940, the Nazis occupied Norway. To preserve his art art beyond the war, Munch gifted over a thousand paintings, 18,000 prints and nearly 8,000 drawings to the city of Oslo. In this self portrait, Munch is standing between a grandfather clock and his bed. The clock, without numbers and hands, and the made up bed ready for him to recline, help Munch picture himself beyond time, as a man running out of time and fast approaching death.

Munch's paintings of nudes aren't at all revealing. His models seem as introspective as Munch himself. It's as if he is projecting onto them his feelings of detachment and depression.

The models appear almost armored, fearful, apprehensive, withdrawn. There are no bright eyes or alluring smiles. There are no inviting seductive gestures or any sense of openness, sexiness or interest in intimacy.

Puberty has an introspective girl at the moment of budding self-awareness. With hands crossed between her knees and shoulders curved inward, along with her austere gaze, it gives a sense of foreboding as her shadow lingers over her.

Munch's Madonna daringly shows both sexual desire with religious piety. Munch captures this contradiction. She's beyond reach, yet she appears as a corporeal woman expecting a lover. Her softness promises new life, but she also carries the threat of death.

The Death of Marat tells the story of the murder of a French Revolutionary leader named Jean-Paul Marat, murdered by Charlotte Corday, a political enemy of Marat. Corday was later executed for her crime. Over one-hundred years earlier, this story was first the subject of a French neo-classical painter Jacques-Louis David in 1793. Munch's portrayal of Corday, standing nude over her murdered lover, points out that the act of love does not reveal murderous intent or insulate from unexpected death.

In The Artist and his model, 1919, Munch is formally dressed while his model Annie Fjeldbu wears a nightgown and open robe. Tension appears in Annie's face while the disheveled bed reveals a less-than-satisfying encounter.

This theme was revisited by Munch in a painting of the same title between 1919 and 1921. The space between Munch and his model exposes his anxiety.

Some critics speculate that Munch was attempting to repress his own homosexuality. If this was the case, it may provide insight into why he chose to depict women as dangerous, or even vampiric.

Weeping Nude features model Ingeborg Kaurin. She also served as Munch's housekeeper from 1911 to 1915. Munch does not depict her as an individual, but as the embodiment of devastation.

The intense color and luminous abstraction blurs any sense of context, but focuses instead on her state of heightened emotion.

Although Munch seemed incapable of experiencing love, romance was a subject which always fascinated him.

For Munch, the complicated mechanics of romantic attraction and the intensity of falling in love were equally balanced by the rage and envy which accompanies romantic failure.

Each time Munch made a positive connection between two people, there seems to be a negative. Love always has its love lost, each sense of togetherness promises emptiness and loneliness. In Jealousy. Munch reveals there are lonely people left on the outside.

Ashes explores romantic love. Set in a forest, a voluptuous woman stands juxtaposed with a melancholic male.

Munch liked painting nocturnes. Low light helped him create a dreamy atmosphere. For him, the transition from light to dark is an opportunity to heighten sensitivity, yet increase uncertain expectation.

Munch was a master an conjuring mood shifts with illumination and tonality.. In both Moonlight and Lady in Black, both figures are facing the light, which in turn makes them sources of light, the focal point of each painting.

Munch's The Scream is an example of his hallucination paintings. In these works, Munch seeks to tell the whole story of reality, both its seen and unseen states. These works appear otherworldly, combining concrete observation with unseen emotional and mental states.

Red Virginia Creeper is an autumn scene. But with the ghostly figure in the foreground, the red building and surrounding landscaping appears as a conflagration. There are two concurrent elements of this painting, one physical and the other psychological. In Munch's The Scream, the figure lets out a paralyzing cry, but his companions are not aware of it. Although not screaming, the figure in Red Virginia Creeper seems terrorized, but otherwise has no effect on his surroundings.

Both Sick Mood at Sunset and Despair are similar to Munch's The Scream. The bowed figures seem lost in an internal struggle while they seem invisible to the cosmopolitan figures in top hats behind them.

Munch's Man with Bronchitis was done in 1920. The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1920 was probably what caused this affliction. Munch suffered bronchitis for long periods during his life

Sickness and death was always a present reality for Munch. His mother died of pneumonia when he was a child. His sister Sophie died when he was a teenager. Although painted over a period of twenty years, Munch looked back at Sophie's death, and created Death in the Sick Room (1893), At the Deathbed, (1995) and Death Struggle (1915).

In Inheritance, Munch explores how inheritance can be good or bad. The mother has given life, but the child also inherited illness. The infant lying in the mother's lap recalls the Christ and the grieving Virgin Mary. Munch also referred to this canvas as "The Syphilitic Child."

Munch first created his composition The Sick Child in 1885-86. Over the next 40 years, he created six paintings with this title. This exhibit has the second and fourth paintings of this series, done in 1896 and 1907. The painting was well received among avant-garde circles. Munch said of it, "It was a breakthrough in my art. Most of what I later did was born in that painting."

To the right is a video documentary of the life and career of Edvard Munch. This is a must see exhibition. The exhibition runs through October 9.

Now Mark and Janet are benefactors of the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University. Their hope is to share their collection and their enthusiasm for California Scene Painting with the California public, and to make this art available to inspire California art students and local artists.

Students of the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts and Chapman University's Art Department now have easy access. Since many of the California scene painters were art teachers, they would be pleased to know their work was receiving critical study from artists of tomorrow.

In early August, Linda Sorensen and I were in Orange and made our first visit to the Hilbert Museum. The museum's current exhibition includes many paintings by some of California's Scene Painting all-stars, with emphasis on the works of some of our favorites, Milford Zornes, Ralph Hulett and Millard Sheets.

To the left, Mark Hilbert offers a video introduction to several of these paintings by Milford Zornes. Below are some of the paintings on exhibit which runs through September 23.

In 1935, Gloria and Milford Zornes traveled through New York on their way to a Honeymoon. Milford did some watercolor painting in the city, including works of Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge. Back in California, Milford used his watercolor of Wall Street to create the oil pictured to the left. Later, this painting was exhibited in museums across America with a traveling show of WPA art.

As a young artist, Milford once hitch-hiked across America, worked on the docks in New York City and visited Europe. He made Los Angeles his home, studying and later teaching at the Otis Art Institute with his friend, Millard Sheets. By 1933, he was receiving awards for his watercolors. He was honored with a one-man show at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C. The Canyon was chosen by Eleanor Roosevelt to be included in the White House Collection.

Zornes became involved in the California Watercolor Movement, and served as President of the California Watercolor Society. During WW II, he was the Army's official artist in China, India and Burma. Most of what he produced at this time was turned over to the Pentagon.

From his home studio in Claremont, California, Milford spent his time painting and teaching, often taking his traveling classroom to exotic travel destinations. At age 55 in 1963, he purchased the former Utah home and studio of California painting giant, Maynard Dixon. Maynard loved the solitude of the place, but had art friends come to visit, including his good friend Conrad Buff.

On January 26, 2008, Milford attended his 100th birthday party at the Pasadena Museum of Art, a celebration attended by many of his students and fans. Less than a month later, Milford passed away on February 24.

The interview to the left was done in November of 2007, just weeks before his 100th birthday. At the time, he was looking forward, planning his next project.

The last decade of Milford's life, Milford developed macular degeneration. Although this depressed him initially, he chose to continue painting and proved to be an inspiration to many who were facing difficulties. He inspired people to not let hardships keep them from their dreams.

Without central vision, Milford taught himself to use binoculars until he understood shapes. Then, he would reduce a scene to its most basic shapes. Since he couldn't see nuances of color, he used intensity to create depth and dimension. He said of his lack of vision, "Actually, I think I'm a better painter now." He was still fascinated with the painting process and still strived to achieve "the perfect painting."

Milford believed art was for everyone. He purposefully kept his prices low while being quite prolific. He wanted everyone to be able to afford one of his original paintings.

In the early 1950's, Los Angeles was growing and changing at an unimaginable pace. Entire hills and the neighborhoods built on them were disappearing.

Ralph Hulett, a background watercolor artist at Disney Studios, was keenly aware of these changes and strived to capture some of this LA scenery before it disappeared.

Many of these hills were built up with turn of the century frame houses. Tunnels had been bored through the hills for easier movement.

It may be difficult to appreciate how the Angelenos of the early 1950's felt about their freeways. But, judging through the artistic eyes of Ralph Hulett, we can assume Angelenos considered these ribbons of intertwined concrete to be modern, curvaceous and spacious means of congestion-free fast transit. Artistically, Ralph enjoyed painting these large arching curves against the LA landscape.

At Disney Studios, Ralph created watercolor backgrounds for animation. Ralph made many friends among the Disney artists, and an especially close friendship with Joshua Meador. According to Ralph's sons, their family accompanied the Meador family on painting vacations to the Eastern Sierra and north along the California Coast.

In 1929, Millard Sheets graduated from the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. Artistically, he was an architect, mural designer, maker of tapestries and mosaics, but is best known for his California scene painting of both urban and

rural scenes. He said he would accept being called a "Regionalist," but that definition would have to include a very large region.

He taught at Chouinard, and his colleagues and students included Phil Dike, Lee Blair, Hardie Gramatky, Barse Miller, Phil Paradise. Paul Sample, Milford Zornes and Ralph Hulett.

Abandoned is a well known and widely exhibited large oil painting created from an earlier Sheets watercolor entitled Mountain Storm. The scene is in the Chino Hills where Sheets rode horses as a teenager. Prior to the Prado Dam, the area was prone to flooding. When this ranch was abandoned, Sheets painted Mountain Storm. In 1934, he looked at his watercolor, moved elements to improve its design, added trees and horses.

Today, Millard Sheets is recognized for his lasting influence on generations of California scene painters. His style is at the forefront of the American watercolor movement and the California Regionalist School. He used to tell his students, "Your painting is a measure of your mind." He also said, “I believe that art . . . has always existed at the very core of life, as necessary and as nourishing as food, as natural as love.”

This exhibition is graced with works by a large number of California scene painting's greatest painters.

Emil Kosa Jr. studied in Paris as well as the Chouinard and Otis Art Institutes. He won an Oscar for special effects for Cleopatra and also created murals for theaters and churches.

George Post was Northern California's most well known watercolorist. He taught art at Stanford and San Jose State.

During World War II, Post was a cargo storage planner for military ships. He drew detailed charts showing where food, ammunition, and other supplies would be stored on board. Once loaded, these ships headed out to points all over the Pacific. While on the job, during quiet moments, he painted watercolors of the ships and harbor.

He is best known for his scenes of San Francisco. Famed art critic Arthur Frankenstein of the SF Chronicle said of him, "San Francisco is a beautiful city and George Post is one of the people who has helped us to realize it."

Sam Hyde Harris was highly successful as both a commercial artist and a fine art painter. Over his fifty-year long career, he won countless awards and exhibitions.

Conrad Buff left Switzerland because of his overbearing father and fled to America. He made his way to California where as a young artist, he helped create murals for artist Edgar Payne. Later, he developed an angular and modernist style of landscape painting. In the 1920's he developed a close friendship with modernist Maynard Dixon.

Suong Yangchareon grew up watching American movies in his father's movie theater in Thailand. He loved America, including the music of Hank Williams. He had a special interest in the work of California artist Richard Diebenkorn. He came to LA in 1974 on a one way ticket, lived with his sister and studied art at the Woodbury Institute. He is known for his vividly clean crisp scenes of the mid-twentieth century landscape, diners, theaters, highways and gas stations.

Suong Yangchareon (1951-), Eagle Rock Winter, 2014

Sueo Serisawa was born in Yokohama. His family moved to Seattle in 1918 and later to Long Beach. Sueo studied at the Otis Art Institute, Scripps College and the Kahn Art Institute. His first major museum exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum opened on December 7, 1941. To avoid the internment of Japanese Californians, he spent the war years in Colorado, Chicago where he attended the Art Institute, and New York. He returned to Los Angeles after the war in 1947. As an interesting sidelight, Sueo was a private art teacher for legendary actor Edward G. Robinson.

Franz Bischoff was born in Austria and studied in Vienna. He arrived in New York in 1885. In 1900, he arrived in California. After some success, he established his home and studio along the Arroyo Seca in South Pasadena. He is known as the "King of the Rose Painters."

William Wendt established California impressionism and was the founder of the California Art Club.

Ben Norris worked in a WPA style for a time, and then moved on to abstract and surrealist styles. Best selling are his California landscapes of the 1930's and 1940's. His Quakerism informs his art, as he strived to treat his subjects non-judgmentally.

Hardie Gramatky is best known for his "Little Toot" children's books. A Chouinard graduate, he worked for Disney Studios and worked as a magazine illustrator.

Lee Blair was a leader in film animation and production. He studied at the Chouinard Art Institute and later taught there. He served as a two term president of the California Watercolor Society. He married Mary Robinson, who gained fame as one of Walt Disney's most treasured artists, widely known today as Mary Blair. Lee also worked at Disney, teaching life drawing. He worked on both Pinocchio and Bambi.

Joe Weisman worked as a matte artist for MGM, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Brothers. He studied at the Chouinard Art Institute, studying with Barse Miller and Millard Sheets. He is known for his paintings of old LA, broken down buildings and back alleyways.

Don David's work was popular during his lifetime. He was exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Oakland Art Gallery, and featured by the Glendale and Laguna Beach Art Associations. In the 1930's, he studied with Barse Miller at the Chouinard Art Institute.

Dong Kingman received far too many awards and is included in too many museums to list, but they include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the de Young Museum and the Art Institute in Chicago. He was able to create memorable images with his unique style, composition and movement. His film work includes paintings for 55 Days at Peking, The Sand Pebbles and Flower Drum Song.

Jade Fon Woo, also known as Jade Fon, is known for his watercolors and was a well beloved art teacher at Diablo Valley College. He worked in the film industry, including doing backgrounds for Gone With the Wind. He enjoyed painting urban scenes, especially of San Francisco, and rural wildlife.

Barse Miller studied in New York and Paris, and taught at the Chouinard Art Institute. During WW II, he was an art correspondent for Life Magazine attached to General MacArthur's Pacific headquarters where he served as chief of the Combat Art Section. As a teacher, he is best remembered for his technique of wet into wet washes, having a huge impact on his students.

Rex Brandt is known for his broad splashy cubist watercolors. He began is studies at the Chouinard Art Institute at age 13. In 1947, he opened a summer school of painting at Corona de Mar, California with fellow artist, Phil Dike. That year, he also married Joan Irving, another accomplished California style watercolorist. Together, they taught art at USC, the University of Vermont and the Chouinard Art Institute.

Lenard Kester is one of the Southland's outstanding artists. After high school, he worked for Fleischer Cartoon Studios in New York. Later he worked for Disney Studios in the 1940's.

Colin Campbell is a well known Toronto artist, but received his MFA from Southern California's Claremont Graduate School.

Martin Fletcher was self taught and is known for his genre painting. He's best known for his Western works and sports related paintings. He worked as a lumberjack and was a professional boxer for a time. He taught at Mill's College, the Otis Art Institute and Claremont College.

Norton Crandall studied with Milford Zornes. He specialized in transparent watercolor and loved painting architectural subjects.

Phil Paradise and is recognized as a leading California regionalist painter. He worked for the Paramount Studios as a production designer, and taught at the Chouinard Art Institute and Scripps College. His works were exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. He made his home and studio in Cambria, California.

Linda Sorensen's paintings now on view at these locations:

Bodega Landmark Gallery Collection,
located inland in the town of Bodega, west end of town a half block from the Casino, and just across from the General Store and the Bodega Volunteer Fire Department.

Corrick's "Art Trails Gallery,"
located in downtown Santa Rosa on 4th Street, just steps from Santa Rosa's newly reopened town Square

& COMING SOON ... ART TRAILS 2017

Linda's Open Studio ... Oct 14-15 / Oct 21-22 2017 Art Trails Studio # 91 -- 2448 Bohemian Hwy, Monte Rio To contact Linda ... lindasorensen@earthlink.net ... 707-875-2911

Linda is participating in three preview exhibitions. 1. Corrick's, September 1 5-7pm and October 6, 5-7pm; 2. Healdsburg Center for the Arts, September 23, 5-7pm; 3. Sebstopol Center for the Arts, September 28, 6-8pm.

Linda Sorensen now rents an artist's cabin /studio, located near Monte Rio, overlooking Dutch Bill Creek among redwoods -- near the Russian River. She reports plenty of company from the mallards and mergansers on the Creek. THIS IS WHERE LINDA'S ART TRAILS OPEN STUDIO #91 WILL BE HELD OCTOBER 14-15 AND 21-22.

Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery is taking a break from conducting a "brick and mortar" storefront gallery, but continues as an online gallery. You may make arrangements to view specific artworks by emailing or calling us. Contact us by phone 707-875-2911 or email us at Art@BodegaBayHeritageGallery.com. We continue to host our website and Linda's site, lindasorensenpaintings.com, and publish our online newsletter every month.

Pacific Bay Gallery is Bodega Bay's newest gallery featuring the works of Noki Jones. It is located next to The Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay. You may remember it as our most recent storefront location ... easily identifiable by Bodega Bay's newest and tallest palm tree.

Bentonville, AR
Crystal Bridges
Museum of American Art