August and September ​Creative Spirits Gallery

Local Color is teaming up with photographer Natalie Van Schaik in the Creative Spirits Art Gallery for August and September! Local Color is a West Linn critique group of 10 painters that has been meeting monthly for four years. The group claims, "Our backgrounds are varied, but what unites us is our love of color and the challenge of painting." The artists are Amanda James, Donna Zenobia-Saffir, Ron Spears, Judy Robison, Cathy Cramer, Jean Dupre, Becky Meier, Tricia Peters, Pat (Miller) Farr, and Kathy Sandell.

Photographer  Natalie Van Schaik brings images from her original home of South Africa. She specializes in portraits, landscape, and nature photography.
The artists will have one more reception:  Saturday, August 17, 4:00-6:00 pm. 
​West Linn Lutheran Church

Local Color

​Local Color Art Critique Group is a collection of approximately 10 people who come together monthly and bring their recent painting projects. The goal is to seek input in order to improve our paintings, help through creative roadblocks, share experiences with different products, and generally enjoy our creative community. 

Amanda James: As an abstract expressionist landscape painter, I am so thankful to live here in this beautiful state.

   Donna Zenobia-Saffir: The beauty, color and infinite variety of flowers are powerful influences on my paintings.   

Ron Spears: After a career in various real estate disciplines, I needed to find a way to spend the “extra” time of retirement. The choice was easy as my wife has been an artist all her life so I picked up a brush and use it almost every day. Most of my paintings are of colorful northwest subjects and often are done plein aire.   

Judy Robison:  I love using mixed media and color to discover the edges between realistic and abstract images.   
Cathy Cramer: I paint pastoral scenes and natural landscapes, seeking to express their light, distance, and mood and hoping to share the intense feeling of a moment in time.   

Jean Dupre`: After a career in architecture and design, I realized my desire to express myself intuitively and abstractly with color and paint. I especially enjoy inspiration from nature and landscape.   

Becky Meier: After I stopped working full time as a career counselor, I’ve enjoyed painting northwest views, using a variety of techniques.   

Tricia Peters: I am a “color” enthusiast who delights in painting nature with jewel toned pigments.   

Pat (Miller) Farr: I was born and raised in West Linn.   

​Kathy Sandell: I am a lifelong learner with my art, always exploring new possibilities to express myself. Right now I am loving creating my own collage papers to add just the right punch for my paintings.

Natalie Van Schaik

Natalie Gita is the owner of Studio Nagita Photography.  She was born and raised in South Africa and has lived in the Netherlands and now currently lives in Beaverton, Oregon. Photography has always been a passion for her and once moving to the U.S. she realized that photography was a huge part of her life. 

It's her creative "visual" journal which she wants to share with others and having had the experience in Fashion Design, she has a creative flair and a great eye for detail. Bringing images to life,is a unique relationship between the camera and the client/objects/surroundings.

​She captures natural moments and strives at bringing out the personalities and the beauty of her clients/surroundings. through her photographs. There is so much beauty around us and withing us that gets overlooked.