Fedorchak, Ragland win firsts at county fair's Fine Art Show

The San Diego County Fair includes a Fine Art Show, and this year the artists who won first place in their class included Fallbrook's Ray Fedorchak and Rainbow's Jack Ragland.

Fedorchak won two first-place awards. The highest award in the Pastel, People and Animals competition was for "Ginger" while "Pond and Pines" took first place in the Pastel, Land/Cityscapes, Still Life and Florals category. Ragland's "Autumn Ambrosia" won first place in the Acrylic, Representational, Still Life and Florals class.

"It's always a wonderful experience to do it. There's always a lot of competition, but I felt it was a spectacular painting that I did. It was one of my best still lifes," Ragland said.

"I really am pleased to have gotten those two first places," Fedorchak said. "It was very exciting. I've won awards at the fair before but never a first and never two in one show."

Fedorchak, who has lived in Fallbrook since 1976, has entered the fair's Fine Art Show for approximately 30 years and never previously had a painting which placed higher than second in its category.

Ginger is another word for redhead, and Fedorchak's painting featured the back of a redheaded model who was unaware that her photograph was taken let alone turned into a painting.

"It was a really fun painting to do," Fedorchak said.

The subject's red hair contrasts with her light green dress and the light green background.

"It was just something that really caught my attention," Fedorchak said. "The hair was the outstanding thing."

Fedorchak used the photograph while he was painting "Ginger". "I use photo reference for all my pictures. That's my starting point," he said.

He took the photo on one of his trips. "I was out looking for subjects," Fedorchak said. "I was interested in the late afternoon light."

The ginger happened to be in that afternoon light. "It just worked out very well," Fedorchak said.

Fedorchak spent about a month, on a part-time basis, turning the photograph into a painting.

He took the reference photo for "Pond and Pines", which also includes other shore vegetation, in southwest Oregon. "It was quite a beautiful Oregon shade. It was something that you could look at and immediately recognize it as Oregon," he said.

Fedorchak started turning "Pond and Pines" into a painting shortly after he completed "Ginger". "Pond and Pines" also took approximately a month of part-time commitment to paint.

Fewer than half of the art pieces submitted for the fair exhibit were accepted for display, and Fedorchak had three paintings accepted. "Mischief in Her Eyes" was entered in the Pastel, People and Animals category, but the painting of the belly dancer did not place.

Fedorchak began painting on a serious basis approximately 35 years ago. "I've always liked to draw, even from grammar school days," Fedorchak said. "I've been blessed with the ability to do it."

"Autumn Ambrosia" features pomegranates, grapes, cheese, wine, and vases on a table. "There's a checkered tablecloth I put in to kind of create a little more depth," Ragland said.

"I used a spotlight on it to get shades," Ragland said. "It was difficult to find the main focal point, so I dimmed one side down."

That turned the color of the vase on the right side from white to bluish.

"It wasn't a painting that I just dished out," Ragland said. "That was one I worked on for a very long time." Ragland started painting "Autumn Ambrosia" in August 2014 and finished it in September 2014. The painting also won first place in the Temecula Valley Art League show and also won the People's Choice award at that show. "I was energized," he said. "I felt particularly appreciated."

Ragland added an honorable mention award in the Fair Theme: "A Fair to Remember" category. The theme commemorated the 100th anniversary of the 1915 World's Fair in San Diego which took place at Balboa Park, and Ragland's "Panama-California Expo 1915" (the 1915 fair was intended in part to promote San Diego as a port of call for ships crossing the newly-completed Panama Canal) features the California Tower built for the 1915 fair along with cars and pedestrians on the pathway.

"It had some of those neat old cars," Ragland said.

"Panama-California Expo 1915" utilizes sepia tones. "I think the still life was particularly good because of the dramatic lighting," he said.

Four of Ragland's paintings were accepted for the county fair, although "Sunflowers with Vineyard Shadows" did not place in the Acrylic, Representational, Landscapes competition and "La Gelateria" did not win any Acrylic, Representational, Cityscapes awards.

"You never know what the judges are going to think," Ragland said. "Just to get four of them in, that's cool in itself," Ragland said. "It's one of the highest attended art shows in the state."

Ragland has lived in Rainbow since 1976 and first entered the county fair's Fine Art Show in 1984. He has lived in his current home, which includes a studio, since 1978, although he spent two years building his house in Rainbow. "I didn't do any painting during that time," Ragland said.

Neither Fedorchak nor Ragland were the only members of their family to win awards at the Fine Art Show. Penny Fedorchak, who is Ray Fedorchak's sister-in-law, was given third place in the Watercolor, Representative, Still Life and Floral class for "Artists' Brushes", which features brushes, fruit, and containers, and that painting also won a donated award from the North County Society of Fine Art.

Ragland is the father of Natasha Ragland and the husband of Marilee Ragland. Natasha received honorable mention recognition in the Acrylic, Representational, Animals class for "The Days of Swine and Roses", which features a pig playing the piano outdoors with six other pigs surrounding the instrument and musician. She had three entries accepted; her two which did not win awards were the "Canine Band at the Fair" painting she entered in the Fair Theme category and her "Fiesta de la Hacienda" entry in the Acrylic, Representational, People competition.

Marilee created "Butterfly Composite", which was comprised of four separate butterfly frames and was accepted for the show but did not place in the Mixed Media class.

Carol Zaleski of Bonsall had two entries in the Collage class and won awards for both of them. "Feathered Friends" featuring a woman with two birds won second place. Zaleski received an honorable mention award for her "Illuminated Figs" creation of 8 1/2 figs of different colors.

Debbie Forbes of Fallbrook had three paintings accepted. One of those, "Happy Hour at the Harbor", placed third in the Acrylic, Representational, Cityscapes class and features an early evening scene with a boat moored in a pier and occupied buildings and streetlights on the shore.

The Recycled Art class requires recycled material to be used in at least 80 percent of the work. Julia Rasor of Fallbrook entered "Industrial Plummet", a sculpture of a humanoid which utilized wire and various former connector parts, in that category and took third place. Rasor had a total of four entries accepted for the show.

Third place in the Ceramics class was bestowed upon Huitzilin, an avian image created by Fallbrook's J. Denise Gillen.

Skip Newton of Fallbrook entered a disassembled flute on a pole in the Recycled Art category, and "Music in the Cloud" received an honorable mention award.

Fallbrook's Karen Langer-Baker displayed "Persian Delights" which features avocados overshadowing various personal interactions. Although it did not place in the Mixed Media category, "Persian Delights" won a donated award from the Carlsbad Ocean Art League.

Betty Herrington of Fallbrook also had an entry which did not place in its category but won a donated award. "In the Garden" did not place in the Other 3-D Not Listed class, but the plant holder with painted scenes of Asian women received a donated award from the Spanish Village Art Center. Herrington had one Other 3-D Not Listed entry, but her elongated vase called "The Ming Thing" did not receive an award.

The Fallbrook residents who joined Marilee Ragland in having works accepted but not winning awards were Brian Bateman, Jim Bates, Shirley Calvert, Patricia Hartman, Jim Helms, Peg Klinger, Jan Lumkin, and Kimberly Roehm.