Laguna Plein Air Painters Association

member login

Catherine Hillis

by

 

LPAPA Signature Artist Catherine HillisLPAPA Signature Artist Catherine Hillis
Saint Simons Island, Georgia
CatherinHillis.com

“I was always drawn to the arts.  I worked as a child model and actor and was gifted musically.  I could draw and paint without effort. Creating art makes me feel good.  I’m relaxed and healthy when I paint and if I’m working outdoors, with the sun shining, birds singing and breezes blowing, I cannot be happier.

Our daily lives are hectic.  I like to think my work can slow the pace, and make a troubled world feel better as I take a wide view of the chaos and bring focus and order to the pandemonium around me by squinting, and then positioning my pencil and brush onto paper or canvas.” — Catherine Hillis (CatherineHillis.com/about)

Michael Broshar

by

LPAPA Artist Member Michael Broshar

LPAPA Signature Artist Michael Broshar
Buckingham, Iowa
MichaelBroshar.com

“My subjects are based on the places I have visited in Iowa and throughout the United States and world.  My architectural background leads me towards painting architectural subjects, but I find interesting subjects in the landscape around me. I travel the countryside of Iowa and find the rural landscapes, small town and city structures, and the industrial areas of the rivers to be compelling.” — Michael Broshar (MichaelBroshar.com/about)

Ben M. Young

by

LPAPA Signature Artist Ben M. Young

LPAPA Signature Artist Ben M. Young
Poway, California
BenMYoung.com

Ben Young was born and raised in southern California. He started drawing when he was two years old and has always known he wanted to pursue a career in art. At nineteen he found Watts Atelier of the Arts, which taught him the fundamentals of drawing and painting. After three years as a student Ben was asked to teach there. His original goal was to be an Illustrator but soon learned that fine art was a better fit for him.

Ben paints a variety of subjects from landscapes and animals to the figure. Ben is influenced by the figurative artists of nineteenth century Europe and Russia and illustrators from the “Golden Age of American Illustration” like Howard Pyle, Dean Cornwell and Norman Rockwell.

Received LPAPA Signature Artist designation in 2019

Marc Dalessio

by

LPAPA Signature Artist Marc Dalessio

LPAPA Signature Artist Marc Dalessio
Estremoz, Portugal
MarcDalessio.com

Marc describes himself as an American naturalistic painter.

He was born in Los Angeles in 1972. From the age of 6 to 10 Marc lived in the Fiji Islands where his father was a regional director of the Peace Corps. The beauty of Fiji and his native California instilled in him a love of the natural world.

Marc’s foundation in fine art began at the University of California at Santa Cruz where he originally studied biology. The excellent art instructors Patrick Ahern and Hardy Hanson introduced him to plein air landscape painting and academic drawing, respectively.

After finishing Phi Beta Kappa in 1992 he moved to Italy and trained at Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence from 1992 to 1996. Cecil Studios is a traditional painting atelier directly descended, via R. H. Ives Gammell and William Paxton, to the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris under Jean-Léon Gérôme. Today the school maintains a rigorous drawing and painting curriculum similar to the Academies of 19th-Century Europe.

Received LPAPA Signature Artist designation in 2019

Chuck Kovacic

by

LPAPA Signature Artist Chuck KovacicLPAPA Signature Artist Chuck Kovacic
Los Angeles, California
ChuckKovacicArts.com

After acquiring a BFA in graphic design with a minor in painting from the Cleveland Institute of Art, Chuck art directed campaigns for a variety of print and media clients and detailed urban revitalization programs for communities participating in the “Main Street” program sponsored by the National Trust For Historic Preservation.

​Upon relocating to Southern California, he focused his artistic skills as a restoration expert specializing in early merchandising ephemera and related antiques. His disparate interests contributed to his creation of 221b BAKER STREET/Los Angeles, a full-scale recreation of the sitting room of the famed detective, Sherlock Holmes. As a performer/emcee, he has staged presentations for numerous Fortune 500 companies and hosted the California Art Club’s revived lecture series.

​His paintings investigate a variety of subjects rendered in the “plein air” style of the post-Impressionists.

Received LPAPA Signature Artist designation in 2019