Located near the Crab Landing restaurant, in the second space to the right immediately beyond the mall’s main entrance, the Wine Bar will offer wines primarily from Santa Cruz Mountain wineries, by the glass or bottle, and for tastings or small plates. It will also showcase art and music done primarily, but not exclusively, by local artists and musicians.
“My focus is local,” said owner Claudia Marshall.
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The music begins that evening, with Coastside singer/songwriters Mo Robinson, known for his Irish folk and original songs, and Bob Peterson, also known for his more Americana folk music and clever originals, performing from 6 to 9 p.m.
Other musicians scheduled to perform at the Wine Bar include Todd Boston on acoustic guitar from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 18, and Claire Diament-Turner, singing French torch songs from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 19.
The featured artist for December is Woodside oil painter Jim Caldwell, who will present large oil paintings on canvas in his “California series” into early January.
Besides his colorful and realistic representations of bucolic California fields, hills, barns and waterways — a sweeping seascape looking south from the San Gregorio beach is featured in the second volume of his book “The Golden Coast” — Caldwell captures not just California but landscapes and natural scenes of Africa, the American Southwest, Europe, and bright florals and moody nocturnes featuring buildings.
Originally from New York, Caldwell began his avocation of painting in high school in 1960, with a school prize for art. He went on to major in art in college, and after graduation spent a year at the Ecole des Beaux- Arts in Paris and then traveled, doing watercolors, drawings and paintings.
He returned to the United States and Yale University for a master’s degree in architecture, before embarking on a successful career in that field.
But 25 to 30 years ago, he decided that he “needed something more creative” in life and took up his brushes again. Now he calls himself “a very happy architect who is also painting every day,” rising at 7 a.m. to get to his canvases before his business phone starts ringing.
His painting is immediate and personal, he says. “I often paint what comes to my heart.” Despite the fact that many of his scenes are outdoors, he shies away from plein air painting, preferring instead to work from photographs because, he said, that allows him to “capture a moment in time” with an unchanging light.
His book, “The Golden Coast,” expanded into two volumes, with the first now out of print. The second, still in print, focuses mostly on regions on the edge of the North American continent.
He has been the subject of more than 20 one-man shows and more than 15 group shows, as well as private collections, throughout California.
For information, contact the Wine Bar a 728-0770.
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