Artist's Calm Skies Benefit Roundhouse

The opportunity to donate one of her paintings to raise funds for the Roundhouse was something Manhattan Beach resident Tricia Strickfaden couldn't pass up.

So when her husband forwarded an e-mail about a Roundhouse benefit auction, Strickfaden acted quickly, "literally that minute," she told Manhattan Beach Patch, contacting the benefit's parent organization, LA25, which was putting together Art90266 to offer a selection from her work.

"It's a pretty amazing event," said Strickfaden about Art90266, taking place Thursday, Oct. 20 at the classy Shade Hotel in downtown Manhattan Beach from 6-9 p.m. Noticing that the event e-mail her husband had forwarded "was heavy in photography," she was pumped to get a painting on the auction block.

And so she did. Her Calm Skies II, an oil on a 36- by 48-inch canvas, will be auctioned live with other works during what LA25 describes as a "beach chic" event with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. The Calm Sky series, which has not yet made its public debut, will be on exhibit in November at Artlife Galleries in El Segundo's El Segundo Plaza.

Other Art90266 works up for auction are by painter Rob Waxman, photographers , Al Satterwhite, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Anthony Friedkin and Lucian Capellaro, and drawer/sketcher Brian Kingston.

For Strickfaden, who is "trying to get my name out there," the Art90266 event connects philanthropy with a Manhattan Beach landmark she has enjoyed taking her two kids to over the years.

"I get very inspired from our coastline," said the abstract expressionist painter who enjoys the MB fall and winter seasons the most and loves nothing more than to take a pizza and bottle of wine down to the beach with her husband to hunker under a blanket and watch the sun set.

"Cloudy, grey days, the fog rolling in and out, the sky and water, colors, the way the light hits the water, the sand." The words spill from her as she paints a picture of the elements and visuals that birth her creations.

The Calm Sky series of paintings "reflect the sky just after a storm on the coastline, when the clouds are clearing away," according to Strickfaden.

The series is inspired by the Manhattan Beach coastline so its connection to the Roundhouse's marine life exhibits and studies is certainly a natural tie in for Strickfaden and her family.

"My kids love going there, seeing our local sea life, getting to touch a sea cucumber and other creatures, and learning about our local beach environment," she said. "It's such a great learning experience for our kids, and it's wonderful that it is so close! 

"I am happy to donate a painting to help our Roundhouse Aquarium to continue doing all the wonderful things they do for our community."

Strickfaden rediscovered her art roots in 1999 when her first child was born, taking her commercial and residential interior design career and morphing it so that she could spend more time with her growing young family. Now, she's tallied 13 years of "serious painting with oils."

"I had an itch to get back to my creative roots," she said. She'd always explored and enjoyed art as a child. "I did a little water color but I always came back to oil. I love the medium. It's more forgiving because it takes longer for it to dry [than watercolor and acrylics], and allows for great texture."

She works by photographing the ocean, beach, scenery... whatever her subject might be and paints a study on a small 12- x 12-inch canvas before evolving the work to a larger canvas. She sells these smaller works and said they are great for grouping in twos or fours on a wall.

On Tuesday, when MB Patch talked with her, Strickfaden had just spent the morning as a Young at Art docent at Grand View Elementary, working with students on an art project.

Last year, she had the distinction of her work, called The Abstract Landscape, being selected as one of the six Young at Art projects to be taught in schools. Her art piece was selected from among at least 60 submissions.

The work was finished with heavy acrylic and used a palette knife, something youngsters aren't typically exposed to, and she was very pleased to have had her piece selected. 

She taught about 300 Young at Art docents how to make the piece and those docents instructed about 6,000 schoolchildren in their creation of The Abstract Landscape.

In recent years, she has consciously spent more time on her artwork and incorporated a large studio attached to the garage into their newly built property in 2009. "It's a wonderful space," she said. "I teach kids in my studio. It has good lighting and lots of room."

She has donated pieces for fundraising to the schools her kids attend: Manhattan Beach Middle and Grand View Elementary.

With the holidays approaching, she is offering 25 percent off any custom piece and up to 30 percent off her inventory. Many customers will ask her to recreate one of her works or point out in one work what they'd like to see in theirs.

Strickfaden's art can be seen on her blog and at the Manhattan Country Club.

Art90266 has a limited number of tickets, costing $125 each or $100 when you input LA25 into the Discount Code field.