MARTA CHAFFEE (now Marta Chaffee Stang) was represented by Thomas Reynolds for, I think, just one show. We really like this piece. Maybe it's the subject, flowers growing in The Lompoc Valley, this piece is No. 16 in a series of paintings done between 1994 and 1999, or perhaps it's the perspective in that it's 8x24 and so gives a panoramic view. Then again, perhaps its just the colors.* In any case, we've placed this oil on canvas work on the far wall of our galley style kitchen and it acts almost as a window, a window to a wonderful view of the countryside.

I don't know what's happened to Ms. Chaffee Stang. I know her work is for sale online, but I don't see her listed on the site of her old gallery, Sylvia White, nor does she appear to have a site of her own. Guild.com has a few of her larger works, 3x-4x this size for many thousands of dollars, much more than this piece cost us. Perhaps she has set painting aside in recent years. I'd love to see her work in person again.

*And this brings up a bit of musing. I have not been a huge fan of abstract art, but looking at this piece again with a wider perspective is interesting to me. I never would have been one to purchase abstract art at the time we bought this (1999 or 2000 I think) but it's quite abstract I think, in fact, only the mountains in the background keep it from being truly abstract in my mind. I wonder if the title had been simply "No. 16" rather than "Lompoc Valley Series No. 16, Yellow-Orange with Blue and Burgundy" and I had seen it by itself, rather than in a show of other "landscapes" if I would have purchased it at the time. Hmmm.