Nita Skaggs at the 2008 Sawdust Art Festival
Ocean-Inspired, Laguna Beach Oil Paintings by Local Artist
Jul 17, 2008
The Sawdust Art Festival in Laguna Beach should be a part of any summer visit to Southern California, especially if you are in the market for a piece of ocean-inspired art. The festival is a unique experience owing to the fact that the artists—like Nita Skaggs, who is the subject of this article—are local and consider education an important part of their participation in the festival. The result is a relaxed and friendly atmosphere in which the visitor can really get to know the artists and even watch them work. On-site food, beverages and live music add to the magic of Sawdust, making it the perfect place to spend an afternoon or evening.
Nita Skaggs’ Mentor
As an artist, Nita’s father is her mentor. While her father was a machine designer by trade, he was always, according to Nita, “an artist first and foremost.” Having studied art at the Art Institute in Chicago, he was always working on some form of art in the basement, recalls Nita. In particular, she remembers a carved nativity scene, a sculpted bookend, and cartoons that included Nita and her seven siblings. “He was teaching me to draw in perspective at seven years old,” says Nita, who treasures a hand-carved Tibetan warrior on a horse that her father carved from a block of oak when he was in his 70s. She calls it “his legacy.”
First Ocean View
“I first saw the ocean when I moved [to California] from Illinois,” Nita recalls. “The difference in the landscape from where I grew up was startling.” It was while taking watercolor classes from a local artist that she began painting the ocean. “Painting the sea is just a joy to me. I love painting water and exploring its depths with color.”
Living in Laguna Beach for the past decade has provided Nita with plenty of opportunities to paint the sea. “Laguna is a painter's paradise,” she says. “It's just a beautiful place to live and paint, with its ocean and canyons. The semi-tropical weather makes the light conducive to painting. I feel blessed to live here.”
Sawdust Art Festival Exhibitor
Nita’s booth at the 2008 festival is dominated by oil paintings of local scenes, including cottages, canyon views and, of course, seascapes. Inspired by the works of the impressionists—she cites van Gogh, Monet, Cézanne, Degas, and Gauguin—her work is often a study in light. “My painting style is expressionistic,” she muses. “I think my paintings convey emotion via light and color, and I can only paint subjects that move me in that way.”
“Winter in Laguna”
One particular seascape stands out amongst the others she has on display in her booth. It is titled “Winter in Laguna” and is a view of where she lives. She has painted the same scene at least six times. “The light and color is always different,” Nita says, “depending on the time of day and the season, so each painting looks totally different.”
Most of Nita’s seascapes are priced in the $350 to $450 range for canvases ranging from 12x16 inches to 14x18 inches. She also does offer matted laser prints of many of her paintings for $35 each.
When Sawdust ends in August, Nita maintains a studio in her home where people can see her work during the winter months.
Family Affair
Art appears to run in Nita’s family, not only was she inspired by her father, but both her husband and son are also artists. Her son is a photographer based in Huntington Beach, while her husband is a local sculptor who creates water wall sculptures and exhibits at the Festival of the Arts, also in Laguna Beach.
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