California Artists in China

 If you ever visited Ruth Dicker's studio, there was a distinctive poster on the wall with small lettering "CALIFORNIA ARTISTS IN" and then in big bold red letters "CHINA."  In the small text it describes a group of artists led by Earl Thollandar and including Ruth Dicker and Don Birrell (of The Nut Tree) among others.  I don't know if I still have a copy of this anywhere, but I recently came across an Earl Thollander website where not only is there a reproduction of the poster, but also many sketches and even a picture of Ruth Dicker on the journey.  You can scroll through it all here.  Below is a single page with Ruth Dicker Pictured.

Poplars and Haystacks from 1961

This painting really caught my eye, when I first saw it in scanned slides.  I included it in a set of cropped iPhone Wallpapers, now much too small for current iPhone.  Well, a fan wrote in to say that she found it at a consignment shop in Palo Alto, CA.  What a great discovery!

Also, SFGate just ran a story on The Nut Tree, that includes a picture of at least one Ruth Dicker painting. When I first saw the link, I was hoping that they uncovered some photos that I hadn't seen, but I don't think that was the case.

Multiple Updates

A fan wrote in to say they found Thistles from 1962 at a consignment shop in Mountain View.  Good find.  Keep your eyes peeled.  I'll have to check the slide archive for any record of it.

Another painting from a similar vintage seen on the blog here: http://ruthdickerpaintings.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-nice-piece-from-1960s.html is semi-actively looking for a good home.  Reach out if interested.

It looks like somebody snapped up a very fine piece at Auction last fall: https://finesf.com/lot/ruth-dicker-the-forest-der-wald-1982-4047462.

Finally, Les Arbres dans L'Hiver continues to be for say on ebay, but the price might be too high.  We'll have to keep watching that one.