'Water colors of the country scene'
Glenn County artist Vic Kronberg claims he can't remember his age, when he retired or how long he's been a painter.
He says it doesn't matter either, he just hopes locals will support his upcoming art show which benefits county kids heading to college.
"I'm an artist and an art teacher — that's been my life," Kronberg said during an interview at this remote studio home in rural Glenn County, just west of Willows.
Kronberg, who eventually admitted he may be 87 years old, is a former art teacher at Willows High School, a post he held for 34 years before retiring in 1983.
"You have to paint what you know and love," Kronberg explained, "I love nature."
Nearly 200 of Kronberg's painting adorn the walls of the home he shares with his wife, June. Bright details and a romance with nature have inspired Kronberg's water colors for decades on subjects ranging from real buildings such as the Orland Train Depot to fictional, old snow-covered barns and antique tractors.
"When I was younger, I'd always be out riding horses, fishing and abalone diving," Kronberg explained, "then I'd come back here and paint it."
All his painting are for sale and Kronberg does his own matting, he said, to help keep prices reasonable.
"I love to sell them," he said. "You do what you can to keep the cost down and hope that people like them."
The former art teacher said his process includes painting up to four or five projects at a time and almost always begins with photography and sketching.
"I'll go out on a day trip, take 300 or so photos and then kind of mix and match the good ones into a single painting," he said.
Photos of an old barn, a defunct tractor, a flurry of snow geese and a babbling creek were recently condensed into a brightly colored farm scene of which Kronberg said he was particularly proud.
"I don't like portraits as much and the (rural west coast) has so much to offer for a guy like me that I never run out of subjects," Kronberg
said.
From the photos Kronberg assembles a few pencil sketches to organize his themes and then "I start throwing paint all around," he said.
Kronberg said that sketching is almost more important to his process than the painting.
"A teacher told me once that artists that last all know how to draw first," he explained. "And those that don't, die off real quick."
Describing his choice of paint as "more active, sparkly and quick," Kronberg said he paints almost exclusively with water colors, but said he used to dabble with all styles of painting because "it's just a lot more fun."
"I just sold my last oil painting a week ago," he said, "and it had to be at least 40 years old."
Kronberg discovered his passion for paint while attending college at the University of California, Berkeley, where, he said, he was planning to be a history teacher. An Oakland-based summer school art class that he joined on a whim changed his life forever, he said.
"Right after that, I enrolled in the California College of Art and found my true love," he said.
Though he immediately began painting country scenes, he said we went through several phases as an artist, focusing at various times on family themes, religious and spiritually inspired work and family history.
"But I've always come back to nature and the country," he said. "It's where I live and what I love."
Contact Rob Parsons at 934—6800 or rparsons@tcnpress.com.
KNOW AND GO
WHAT: Lions’ Club Art Show and Sale
WHEN: Sunday, Dec. 13 from 1–5 p.m.
WHERE: Kronberg’s studio, 6244 County Road 53
WHY: Proceeds go towards college scholarships for all Glenn County high schools.
INFO: Tickets are $1, and group packages are available. Contact Kronberg at 934–4072 for more info.
