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Natasha Ragland wins People's Choice Award at fair's Exhibition of Fine Art

Rainbow artist Natasha Ragland won the June 23 People's Choice Award at the San Diego County Fair's Exhibition of Fine Art.

That day's viewers deemed the preferred artwork to be Ragland's "Gypsy Flamenco," which includes two dancers, a guitar player, a drum player, spectators, and a horse and wagon.

"I've always been kind of fascinated with gypsies," Ragland said.

Ragland's first-hand observation of gypsies while on a visit to Europe tempered that fascination.

"I got kind of disenchanted with gypsies when we were in Europe and they were just standing around begging," she said.

Artists are allowed to create the ideal rather than the real, and when a gypsy caravan came to Myrtle Creek Nursery in Fallbrook the positive aspects returned for Ragland.

"It kind of jogged my memory," she said. "I just wanted to create a scene of a gypsy encampment."

Ragland, who is professionally a piano and voice instructor, has also studied Franz Liszt, and since Liszt based many of his Hungarian rhapsodies on gypsy music Ragland had some knowledge of gypsy music.

"It just sounded so romantic," she said.

One of Ragland's cousins lives in Trabuco Canyon and is a belly dancing teacher, and during a Christmas party at the Ragland family house that cousin wore a dancer's costume.

"We've had a lot of that type of influence," Ragland said.

Ragland based one of the dancers in her painting on her cousin, although the flamenco dancing required some learning for Ragland.

"I'm not really used to flamenco," she said. "I went online and looked at some flamenco dancing."

The music itself was more familiar to Ragland.

"I like flamenco. I love the music," she said.

Ragland's boyfriend was the model for the painting's guitar player. One of Ragland's other cousins was turned into the drum player. Ragland's now-deceased friend Jeff Nelson and Nelson's horse are also represented in "Gypsy Flamenco."

Ragland painted "Gypsy Flamenco" during the summer of 2015 and spent about three weeks creating the scene.

"It had to take a while to incubate, just getting my whole concept," she said.

"Gypsy Flamenco" was entered in the Acrylic-Representational, People category but did not place. Ragland received an honorable mention award for her other accepted painting; "Birds of Paradise" was in the Acrylic-Representational, Still Life and Florals competition and features the flowers in a vase, pomegranates in a bowl, other fruit on the table, and a tablecloth.

"Birds of Paradise" was inspired by the Ragland family's pomegranates.

"We had a bumper crop this year, Ragland said. "The birds of paradise were also in season, so I just set it up."

Ragland added a spotlight on the table for shadowing advantages. The painting was drawn in early fall and took about three weeks.

Approximately 1,500 total paintings were submitted and approximately 600 were accepted for the show. Ragland entered six paintings.

Ragland began entering the fair competition twelve years ago. She took up painting after her dog passed away.

"I wanted to paint a memorial of him and then I just got more deeply into the painting," she said.

Ragland's father had three accepted entries, and two of Jack Ragland's paintings took third-place awards. "Porto Fino Reflections" was in the Acrylic-Representational, Cityscapes competition and portrays boats with buildings on the shore. "Sumptuous Fare" was in the Acrylic-Representational, Still Life and Florals class and features fruit, a wine glass, a beverage pitcher, and roses in a vase all on a wood table. Jack Ragland did not place in the Acrylic-Representational, Landscapes category with "Vineyard Vibrations," which is a vineyard with trees and buildings in the background.

Jack Ragland also won two awards for artwork painted on site. "Mission Tower" depicts the tower of the building which during the fair houses the gems, minerals, and jewelry exhibit and the Design in Wood exhibit, and that painting took third place in the Oil/Acrylic category of the June 9 Small Image Contest. "Tater Twister" was the third-place Plein Air Contest painting from the June 23 opportunity and features a food stand at a fair.

Three Fallbrook artists received donated awards, although none of those works placed in their category. Jim Bates was given the San Diego Watercolor Society award for "Dragon Lady," Julia Rasor took home the California Center for the Arts, Escondido donated award for "Idle Hands of Industry," and Christine Wichers received the San Dieguito Art Guild donated award for "Wolfgang."

"Dragon Lady" was entered in the Watercolor-Representational, People category and features a dragon on the arm, leg, and body of a woman on a motorcycle. "Idle Hands of Industry" was a Recycled Art-80 Percent Recycled Materials entry and is a non-contiguous sculpture of five hands with bases. "Wolfgang" is a painting of a small dog which was entered in the Oil-Representational, Animals competition.

Four of Rasor's sculptures were accepted for the fair. She received first place in the Ceramics category for "Tribute to Vogue," which is a statue of a woman. Her other two accepted pieces did not receive awards. Rasor submitted "Fract Alien Skull," a metal head on a wood post and metal pedestal, in the Ceramics class. "At the Apex" was in the Recycled Art-80 Percent Recycled Materials category and is a wire humanoid on a stand holding its hand up.

Bates' "This is the Part I Like" did not place in the Watercolor-Representational, Animals competition. A girl is reading a book called "OranguTales" while being held by an orangutan.

Noreen Ring of Fallbrook was given second place in the Collage category for "Legends Keepers," which has patterns along with two people in a less prominent position. Ring also entered "October Air" in the Collage class, but the animaloids with a sphere in the background did not place.

The fair exhibit accepted two Other 3-D Not Listed entries from Fallbrook's Linda Williams. She received third place in that class for the decorated horizontally wide vase she called "Lady Slipper Orchid." "Plum Blossoms at Our Ranch," which is a small decorated holder, did not place.

Jeffrey Comulada of Fallbrook took third in the Recycled Art-80 Percent Recycled Materials competition for "Radio Wonderland Alice" which utilized the fair's Alice and Wonderland theme and is a 1930s radio with a steampunk wheel on the top attached to a chain with an Alice figure outside the radio at the bottom end of the chain, a tea party with Alice and the hatter inside the radio, the queen in the back area of the radio, and the Cheshire cat in the front area of the radio.

Both artworks by Carol Zaleski of Bonsall received awards. "She Knows" is the face and neck of a woman and received third place in the Collage class. "Morning Commute" was given an honorable mention ribbon by the Mixed Media judges; two men are riding with one reading a newspaper.

Three works by Fallbrook artist Peg Klinger were accepted. "Southwest Vision" is intended to portray a ground and horizon and was given an honorable mention award in the Non-Representational, All Media category. Klinger's non-placing accepted entries were "Favorite Trees" in the Drawing-Color and Printmaking competition, which depicts the middles of six trees, and "Local Avos" in the Mixed Media class, which features six avocados on top of a container marked "Local Avocados."

Debbie Forbes of Fallbrook was given an honorable mention ribbon in the Acrylic - Representational, Animals category for "Lion Around," which is of a maneless lion with its legs on the ground.

Jerub Perry of Fallbrook created "Halley's Comet" and earned an honorable mention ribbon in the Recycled Art-80 Percent Recycled Materials class for his metal creation with a head and seven appendages, five of which are directly from the head.

Four other Fallbrook artists had accepted entries which did not place. Karen Langer Baker entered "Mandarin Mountain Grove," which has balls in the air and Asian life, in the Mixed Media category. Penny Fedorchak had her "Forest Mist" painting of two visible trees displayed in the Watercolor-Representational, Landscapes competition. Patricia Hartman submitted "Tree Row at Sunset" with water in front, grass in the middle, and trees in the back in the Other 2-D Not Listed and Digital Art category. Skip Newton utilized the Recycled Art-80 Percent Recycled Materials class for "Go Ask Alice," which is a plastic female body standing on a steampunk wheel with metal arms, rope earrings, a wire belt, one hand holding a rabbit, and the other hand holding a bird.

 

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