Her Art Lives On

The art community of Cambria, on California's Central Coast, was the place that Shirley Pittman spent the last very productive years of her life. Her gift was converting real life into beautiful watercolors. Shirley passed away in early December. Her brushes are now stilled, but hundreds of her paintings remain as the evidence of her artist ability.

The Cambria Center for the Arts is having a month long exhibit of Shirley's work and the work of "The Wednesday Irregulars", a group of artists she painted with, January 9 to February 9, 2014. The show is "Dedicated to the life and works of Shirley Pittman."

We met Shirley last July 22nd in her home when we were invited there by our friend, Eric Pittman, who is the youngest of Shirley's four children.

Walking into her home and up the stairs to the livingroom, dining room, and kitchen area put us into her working gallery with canvas paintings hanging throughout the rooms from stretched fishing line. We were dazzled by the beauty of the watercolors she had created and the view north through her plate glass windows that revealed the Central Coast as it sprawls beyond San Simeon to the southern end of the Big Sur Coast.

I looked through her artist bin of unframed finished canvas paintings and "ooohed and awwwwed" at the loveliness and especially of the places she had painted that I recognized. She talked about each one with me. It was treasured time for us in her home.

Today, stopping into the Art Center was also treasured time. Thank you Shirley for the beauty you added to our world. Thank you Eric for sharing your mom with us.

Good night from California's Central Coast,
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol