A collection of oil paintings by local artist Riki R. Nelson opened at the Los Gatos Company, 17½ N. Santa Cruz Avenue, this past week, and All Things Los Gatos found the artist herself at the exhibit. Nelson is the Los Gatos Company’s latest “Artist in Residence.”
Los Gatos Company Artist in Residence Riki R. Nelson with some of her paintings
Riki Nelson grew up in Los Gatos, helping in her parent’s fine art and antique shop, Pearl Antiques. She has seen downtown on cold, lonely mornings, and with the sidewalks crowded on a summer’s day.
“I have so many visions of the town floating around in my head,” she says. One recent project, painting the iconic La Canada building in multiple styles, was inspired by those multiple visions. “I’ll have five versions of a painting in mind, each fighting to get out, while I’m painting,” she says. So she decided to let them all out. Her styles include classical realism, impressionism, modernism, and abstract. She considers herself a contemporary realist.
This new exhibit includes the Town Plaza fountain for the first time. Nelson says she becomes absorbed in “all the little dramas,” such as the people on her La Canada building sidewalks. One scene features an older brother fascinated by his video game, leaving his younger sister to mind the dog, who is bent on escaping.
Mother and Child at the Fountain. Oil on canvas. 7" x 12" $265 unframed
Nelson’s paintings are also on display at the Peabody Gallery (formerly of Los Gatos as well) in Menlo Park. Last year, she painted on a road trip to Las Vegas. She plans to paint San Francisco and Stanford in the near future.
Opening Night at the Theater
Tags: Los Gatos Company, Riki Nelson
Thank you for the wonderful review of my exhibit, and for taking the time to attend my reception. What a delightful Review!
I am thrilled to see an arts writer who covers Los Gatos Fine Art happenings.
If anyone would like to see the rest of the paintings in my new collection, they can do so by visiting my website riki-arts.com. Thank you again! R.R. Nelson
Loved your reviews Riki… love the paintings as well. So happy for you……..
I am a HUGE fan of this painter and think she demontrates such creativity but also sensitivity to the locations she paints. I know this area very well, Los Gatos and have never seen an artist capture the essence the way she so beautifully does. Her work really touches me!