Another Repainting

Soon after my last post, I discovered that the example I gave for the approximate time period of the original version of Mountain Meadow was actually repainted also.

Here is Sonoma Mountain:

And here is Bays from 1984:

Repainting Mountain Meadow

I have always known that Ruth Dicker would sometimes touch-up or repaint some of her works. I once heard of her borrowing one of our paintings and giving it back to us modified. In her slides, I found a few examples with subtle changes between different slides, but nothing as drastic as this example. I hadn't even noticed after looking at these pictures multiple times what happened. So starting with the newest version, here is Mountain Meadow from 1998:

Now the next picture looks extremely similar, and you might think the lighting and angle are different. But then you look at the yellow foreground leaves and you see that there are far fewer than that version above.

It was when I saw this picture that I started to put it all together. The three main trees have lost most of their branches and have been reduced to three simple shapes and the background is much shallower. There is no sky and the colors are very dark.

The final picture includes Ruth herself and a very minimal piece. A blank board with three tree shapes. The same three main trees as in all of these pieces. I don't think this was considered a work-in-progress at the time because I believe I have pictures of a show with this version. Another interesting thing to note is that this picture is older than 1998. The date listed on the painting changes with the modifications. Maybe the name changed as well, I will have to do more looking. If I had to guess, I would say this version is from around 1984 as I think it was made at around the same time as Bays.

The Mountain Meadow postcard is the first version above.

Update 1: The first version was called Three Oaks and was painted in 1983.

Yosemite Bank

Before it was the Yosemite Art and Education Center, the building was a bank. I think it was both a Bank of America and a Wells Fargo Bank. It was one of the banks that actually commissioned the mural. I found this old photo and scanned it. Sorry for the low quality.

Another Fan

The same day I noticed the paintings for sale on ebay, I received an email with these pictures and a nice story to go along with them. Keep those pictures coming!

Woods at Yonalassee from 1970:

Recent Ebay Activity

Two Ruth Dicker paintings sold on ebay today. I considered bidding on them, but am running low on wall space. I still thought about buying and storing them, but instead I told some of my friends. One of them managed to be a winning bidder!

Here is Winter Woods:

and here is Birch Grove from 1961:

The Artist's Studio

The memories I have of Ruth Dicker's house are like a museum. It was filled to the brim with her art, the art of her friend's, and everything that inspired her. It was full, but everything had a place. Her studio in particular was good representation of her creative process. The plywood floor of the studio was covered in thousands of drops of paint. The shelves were packed with sketches, photos, and magazine clippings; mostly of trees. I wish I had more pictures to share, but I do have some pictures that show what I am talking about.

Here is the desk in her studio:

Her kitchen. Note the glass bottles on the shelf were a mix of colored glass and clear glass with colored water:

There was even art hanging from the trees in the backyard:

Empire College in Santa Rosa

I thought Ruth Dicker had sold some paintings to Empire College, but I didn't know exactly where it was. I happened to be in the Santa Rosa today and stopped in to see if I could find any. They had one as soon as you walk in the front door and one up the stairwell from the main lobby. Here they are:

Almond Orchard, 1974

Fog in the Valley, 1983