Marie Gabrielle captures the vivid beauty of the Central Coast
I have a few favorites among the brilliantly hued watercolors painted by Marie Gabrielle. I’m sure everybody does. I especially love her buoyant portrayals of our rugged cliffs, ocean waves of lavish blue washing onto golden hillsides, redwoods, and meadows. But then again, I can’t resist the fields of crimson poppies and undulant rows of purple lavender from excursions in her native France. The tireless watercolor painter has produced images that are practically synonymous with how we see our beautiful slice of California, thanks to her prolific greeting cards and the star power of her large-scale original paintings.
“My grandfather was an actor,” says the tall graceful painter with a lilting French accent. “So I first wanted to be an actor, too. But I always loved drawing.” Drawing won out, and now forms the basis of her impeccable plein air compositions. “Eighty percent of my work is done outdoors,” Gabrielle says. She often finishes large pieces in a studio at her Westside home a block from the ocean. “I think perhaps being from another country gave me a fresh appreciation for the beautiful landscape here,” she says.
Gabrielle grew up in Lyon, France, long the world center of the silk trade. There, she employed her skilled hand and sharp eye as a colorist for the high-fashion textile house of Bianchini-Férier. She “met a man in Spain” who was from California, and arrived in Santa Cruz 33 years ago. Gabrielle’s first job here was “doing the windows at JCPenney’s,” she recalls with a laugh. Through Santa Cruz Parks & Rec she took her first watercolor class. “That inspired me, and while I was raising my children I took more classes off and on,” she says. Soon she needed more challenges, and she took more classes. The rest is history.
Looking around her present studio, we both agree that her career is vibrant. “My goal is always to make at least two paintings a week. I don’t always meet that goal,” she says with a smile. “But sometimes I make more. I love to paint. It’s my passion.”
Gabrielle, like other watercolorists, has some of her most popular images reproduced in giclée prints, making her appealing work more widely available. “I’m not a commercial artist,” she maintains. “I’ve got to please myself. People who only know the reproduced images don’t get the full measure of my work, or how it is evolving.”
While she does show at a few galleries, she credits Open Studios with providing a lot of visibility. “And the Internet has helped print sales,” she says. “Prints and cards are my bread and butter.” Gabrielle is in the enviable position of making a living from her painting and reproduction sales. “The checks come each month,” she says.
Checking out one of her works-in-progress—on thick watercolor paper that has been stapled to a thick wooden board—I can’t resist asking a few technical questions, and Gabrielle is happy to respond. “I’m fairly consistent about my paints. Usually Winsor & Newton, sometimes Holbein. Winsor & Newton colors are more subtle than others, such as Daniel Smith,” she contends. Arches is her paper of choice, although she experiments with others. “This is a new French paper,” she says, pointing to an unfinished landscape on her work table. “Usually I soak the paper first and then staple it. That way it won’t warp as it dries.” Her cards are printed by Community Printers, and her framer—Picture Appeal—does her giclées as well. Showing off her field kit—a small backpack with a lightweight easel—she reveals that she keeps her plein air work small. “I usually try to paint on 18 x 24-inch paper on location. If I go to the trouble of bringing it all out there, I want it to be worth it,” she says.
Lined with drawers and shelves for original work as well as an inventory of her cards, Gabrielle’s studio is private, idyllic and just across the patio from her home. “This is my base when I’m here,” she smiles. “But we travel a lot now.” Hawaii beckons next. See Mary Gabrielle’s work at mariegabrielle.com.
BRUSHING UP Watercolor artist Marie Gabrielle in her studio on the Westside. PHOTO: CHIP SCHEUER
