Columbia River Gallery

Read artist’s bio.

Click on photo to enlarge.

(Gallery of Cindy’s art – coming soon)

Cindy McGonagle

I was fascinated with plants and flowers from early childhood. A move to Hawaii gave me a chance to take care of the tropical garden surrounding our home. Growing up in a military family allowed many opportunities to visit exotic foreign countries like Brazil and the Philippines where I experienced new cultural traditions and explored many tropical botanic gardens.

After graduating from the University of California Santa Barbara, I went to work for the Denver Museum of Natural History as a foreground preparator. I learned the art of reproducing botanical specimens for diorama exhibits.

After eight years I created my own company Botanic Reproductions. For the fifteen years that followed I worked as a private exhibit contractor reproducing three-dimensional plants and scale models for various museum and government clients.

I returned to college to study ornamental horticulture in San Francisco. This knowledge led to lobby design opportunities working with live plants in the hotels of San Francisco.

A move to the Pacific Northwest offered me opportunities to grow flowers and plants I had only read about. My intuitive creative urges pulled me into the realm of the mystical. I began to receive information on how to garden in ways that are in harmony with the seasonal rhythms of a year. My notes of these experiences became my books. Garden Notes (’93) is a journal for working with the Nature Devas and Nature Spirits of your garden. Queen D’s Fairy Recipe Book (’94) a collection of teas, bath formulas, perfumes and oils given to me by a Fairy Queen. Sacred Places Sacred Plants of the Columbia River Gorge (’04) is based on my work for the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center.

Painting has always been an integral part of my museum career requiring watercolor sketches and field notes on each plant that I reproduced. I began painting with oils after a friend suggested I take up fine art painting. I love to paint miniatures, which allow me to capture a fleeting moment in a garden or that of a wild natural place.

Return to top of page.

Read artist’s bio.

Click on photo to enlarge.

[View with PicLens]

Born in Long Beach, California I showed an applitude for drawing at a very early age. By age 8 my parents started me with private lessons from Athena Hall, a respected art teacher in the community. I drew with pencils and crayons until age 11, and then the world of oil painting became my passion.  At age 12, I sold my first oil painting and I was the youngest member of the Long Beach Art Association. Oil painting has remained with me until this very day.

In 1973 I attained a BS degree in Art with a minor in business from Woodbury College.  In college I also learned advertising and concept development.

After college my art career flourished.  I worked for the largest billboard company in L.A. California, Foster and Kleiser, for 16 years. I became one of the three master pictorial painters in the industry.  While working for Foster and Kleiser, I also had intense lessons with Theodore Lukits Academy of Fine Art, Mario Rueda, and Bernardo Sepulveda.  All of them were accomplished artists in fine art.  My gift and study in art was reaching the potential I had long desired to have. After reaching this new level, my interests turned to the private mural and fine art field.

In this new stage of my career, I strive to share the passion I have for life in my canvases.  The subjects I choose touch the viewer with intensity true to life.

Return to top of page.

Read artist’s bio.

Click on photo to enlarge.

[View with PicLens]

Gina Comelli Locke

Gina Comelli Locke, a member of the Watercolor Society of Oregon, is a young emerging watercolorist who lives in Portland with her husband and two young children. Her work has been commended for its bold style and its evidence of her flair for color.

Locke has studied watercolors for over 15 years, including undergraduate work at both University of Oregon and Oregon State University. She has studied under Martha Manns NWS, Tom Allen NWS, Jan Kunz and Susan McKinnon NWS.

Locke’s work includes commissioned painting of Beringer Wine Estates’ four chateaus and commissioned work for Finca Dos Marias, a Guatemalan coffee company. She has won many awards in the Watercolor Society spring and fall art shows.

Return to top of page.