My World
Bonnie Gangelhoff; Photos by Mark Compton
A visit with Jeanette Le Grue at her studio in Tomales, CA
Why did you move to Tomales? I used to live in Santa Rosa and would always go out to West Marin and Sonoma to paint. I’m from Alaska originally, and the rugged landscape in Marin and Sonoma inspired me. Every time I came over the hill north of Tomales and drove down to the village, I felt like I was going home. My husband, Scott, and I weren’t thinking of moving, but seven years ago this property—four buildings—came up for sale. We bought the property and moved here in 2002.What else appealed to you about the property? Well, it was a fixer-upper, but it is surrounded by 360 degrees of open space that will never be developed. It is close to San Francisco—about an hour away, but also a world away. We are in a little nugget in the middle of California. Our house is a former bakery, one of the original buildings from the 1860s. I’ve opened up a gallery, Tomales Fine Art, in the front of the house. I have paintings by Randall Sexton, Timothy Horn, Bryan Mark Taylor, John Poon, Nancy MacDonald, Christin Coy, and myself.
Describe your studio. It’s in a converted tin barn about 30 feet from the house. I store my paintings on racks made from old doors I found at the salvage yard. The paned windows are from an old church. I have a stool that is part of an old tractor seat. And I have a taboret [a portable storage cabinet] that came from an old ocean liner that belonged to my parents. After a 1964 earthquake, my family lost everything in a tidal wave—our home in Kodiak and my parents’ bar and restaurant. My mom made a joke that next time she opened a business it would be on a boat that floats. So that’s exactly what my parents did. They bought an ocean liner and opened their restaurant on it in 1965, a year later.How do you describe your style of work? I am a colorist. I’m a representational artist, but everyone sees abstract qualities in my work, too.
What are you working on currently? I’ve been doing paintings of oysters. We live a couple of minutes from the bay, and I go down and buy oysters from the deli. I just did a series of six paintings, kind of Georgia O’Keeffe-ish. This morning I was out on the bay painting old buildings on pilings. I love painting out there. The light is phenomenal. We get interesting weather patterns and moods.
What impresses you about other artists? I really like luminous paint and those indescribable grays in other people’s works.
What do you do when you’re not painting? I garden. It’s my therapy. And I babysit my grandson one morning a week.
What is the one place people will never find you? At a local political meeting.
Where do you take people when they visit? We are right on the edge of wine country, so we may go to a wine tasting. I like champagne, so we also might visit the Korbel Winery on the Russian River. Another place to go is Point Reyes National Seashore.
Bonnie Gangelhoff is the senior editor at Southwest Art.
Dossier
Representation
Lee Youngman Galleries, Calistoga, CA; Debra Huse Gallery, Balboa Island, CA; Tomales Fine Art, Tomales, CA; Portico Gallery & Frame, Montecito, CA; www.legrue.com.
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