There Goes the Sun
Thousand Oaks Artist David Gallup showcases sunsets from each week of 1999 in his latest exhibit

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By Josh Goldstein

From battling fierce winds near the Golden Gate Bridge to braving Thousand Oaks rainstorms, painting a year's worth of sunsets was not always as relaxing and calming as one might think, said David Gallup, a contemporary California Impressionist.

Part of being an outdoor artist and painting such scenes means putting up with all types of weather and working fast enough to capture the perfect, fleeting light of a sunset, the Thousand Oaks resident said.

"It's sometimes hard to express the tranquil mood of the sunset when I was working like a demon," the 33-year-old artist said with a laugh. "You have to be done in about 15 minutes. No questions asked."

Gallup painted more than 200 oil paintings, capturing his interpretations of sunsets from Jan. 1, 1999 to Dec. 31 as a way to document the last year of the century. He chose 52 of the paintings for an exhibit tracking California sunsets one week at a time.

The exhibit includes western facing scenes from Agoura Hills and Malibu to Camarillo, Bakersfield and Carmel. Many of his paintings were created nearby, he said, from Camarillo's agricultural fields to sites at Wildwood Park.

The exhibit, titled "52 California Sunsets, The Waning of the 20th Century: An Artists Journal" is a way for people to take time to enjoy the natural, mystical beauty of a sunset, he said. The exhibit is showing at the Wake Me When I'm Famous Fine Art Gallery in Los Angeles through July 30.

Jamie Nyez, co-owner of the gallery and fellow impressionist painter, said the variation of colors, scenes and textures gives each painting a different take on sunsets from winter to summer.

"I love the concept," Nyez said. "As you walk past each painting, you can see the changing seasons with the different colored skies."

Like Gallup's inspirations who came before him, such as artist Claude Monet and Photographer Ansel Adams, he destroyed the works that he did not use for the exhibit. Many friends jokingly wanted to know what day his trash is picked up, he said.

Gallup has painted sunsets for several years to capture the beauty of the sky and also to get more practice at painting for speed.

Gallup learned to drive, hike and sometimes just pull off to the side of the road and set up his easel and pull out his brushes to seize the moment.

The trick: speed.

"I had to get to a point where I did not even look down at my pallet," he said about the 17 colors he uses to go from fall's golds to winter's blues.

The task of creating a sunset scene in just a few minutes is tricky, Gallup said. Outdoor artists typically don't mind putting up with cold weather or rain, but the wind is the most challenging. It takes just one gust to topple the work, he said.

Through the year's work also came some good memories, when the experience was just as memorable as the painting.

On Thanksgiving, Gallup's house guests had to agree they would eat about 20 minutes after sunset so he could capture the image of the day's end.

"There I was sitting at the Thanksgiving table with smudges of paint under my fingernails," he said. "My wife, Rosalind put up with a lot for this."

Gallup was about 20 minutes late to a reception held in his honor at the gallery last week. The reason: a quick stop off at Skirball Center to watch the sunset.