Three acclaimed artists including the Best in Show winner at the 74th Annual Santa Paula Art & Photography Show are the Featured Artists of the Month at Blanchard Community Library.
Displayed on the Douglas Shively Memorial Wall through August are the works of Ruben Yadao, Dulci Adams and Dick Heimbold. The library is located at 119 N. 8th Street.
Born and raised in the Philippines, “Best of Show” winner Yadao graduated with a BS degree in Agriculture with honors from Wesleyan University. He immigrated to Hawaii in 1979, obtained a certificate in accounting, and while working full-time received his BA in Professional Studies with emphasis in Business Administration from the university.
A Los Angeles resident since 1991, Ruben has continued to advance his professional career while working fulltime, even receiving a Masters in Business Administration in less than two years. Despite burgeoning career obligations, Ruben found time to dedicate his energies to his passion for art - interest and enthusiasm that has been with him since an early age.
Though always possessing a natural gift, Ruben’s desire to create great art spurred him to eventually take some private lessons, which motivated him to express his talents in hitherto unexplored ways. His favorite is watercolors on sheer silk or pineapple fabrics, stretched and spaced over a similarly painted background done on paper or board. Each art piece is uniquely crafted and results in an illusion of unusual transparency.
He is an active member of various art clubs including the Glendale Art Association, where Ruben has been named Artist of the Year several times. An active art show competitor throughout the Los Angeles area, Ruben has garnered numerous “Best of Show” awards.
An avid supporter of the annual Glendale Open Art Studio Tour, since 1994 Ruben has also participated in the bi-annual famous City of Beverly Hills Affaire in the Gardens. His paintings are mostly in private collections in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Inspiration for art came to Dulcie Adams when she began sketching at the early age of 3. When she was 9, she received her first award in her native Australia.
Her art education crosses two continents. In Brisbane, she attended Central Tech College studying fine art, figure drawing, and commercial art. She then moved with her family to the United States.
During a national high school competition in the U. S., Dulcie won an award and was selected to have her painting exhibited at the prestigious Carnegie Art Institute for a month. After high school, Dulcie studied commercial art at Los Angeles Trade Tech College.
While married and raising a family Dulcie worked in various art positions, which included silkscreen printing, fashion design, embroidery, fabric painting, portraits, and illustration. She later completed a credential at UCLA to teach Commercial Art in the community colleges while holding a position in the advertising department at May Company and Robinson’s.
During her retirement Dulcie has enjoyed teaching painting, and now has the freedom to paint the subjects that inspire her, which include her love of painting animals.
Over her lifetime Dulcie has sold many paintings here and abroad, won numerous artistic awards in Southern California, received several commissions to paint portraits and other subjects, taught sculpture, painting and bas relief at the Braille Institute of Los Angles, and did airbrush work in retouching photography for TV Guide programs.
“When I paint, I feel the spirit or soul of the subject, whether it is a landscape, still life, portrait, or animal, to the point that I talk to my canvas and,” she noted, “it talks back to me. By this I mean that if I look and listen, the painting tells me what it needs and how to paint it. It is similar to an actor getting into a role he has to play. I become one with the canvas until it is completed, regardless of the style or technique.”
Dulcie said she usually has a mental image of the painting “before I even start. And after I have been working for several hours, I see everything around me as a painting with oils and brush strokes of color. It is wonderful!”
Dick Heimbold began painting as a teenager in New Jersey - studying under Hungarian Master Geza du Vegh. Later he studied at Leyton School of Art in Milwaukee while completing a degree at Marquette University.
At this time Dick began competing in art shows and selling his work, and the 1980s found him studying at noted colorist Sergei Bongart’s Art School in Los Angeles, focusing on oil painting. Two years there forged the color-driven palette for which Dick is known today.
His figurative, still life, and plein air works have earned Dick numerous awards in regional competitions, and he has had successful exhibits in San Miguel de Allende and Panama City. Dick’s paintings appear on Our Lady of the Angels cathedral wine label and the set of the NCIS-LA television series. He is in the California Contemporary Art Collection in the state capitol in Sacramento. An accomplished portrait painter, Dick has clients in the US, Mexico and Europe.
He is the president of the Glendale Art Association, an artist member of the California Art Club, and board member of the Allied Artists of the Santa Monica Mountains and Seashore. Dick is represented by Segil Fine Arts, Monrovia and Whites Art Framing and Restoration in Montrose, as well as a galleries in Mexico and Panama City.
Blachard Community Library is open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, noon to 8 p.m., Wednesday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The library is closed Friday, Sundays and holidays.
