Apple Orchard II

Original Oil by Calvin Close Framed Size:  14.5” x 16.5” Artist Statement: I am from Camarillo, California currently living in Salt Lake City, Utah for the past several years. I grew up in a very creative family. My father, Donald Close was a double major in education/art while he attended college in San Bernardino, California. I was first exposed to art in high school, but never thought I could make a living as an artist. It wasn’t until I was married, that my wife and I would stroll through art galleries, and I would think to myself, “I could paint that.” It wasn’t until much later in my art career, that I learned it wasn’t that easy! One day while waiting in the dentist office, I came across a National Geographic magazine with the cover story entitled, “The Copyist” which dramatically changed my desire to become an artist. Inside there was an article describing how artists would go to the Louvre in Paris, set up their easels and copy the masters. Their aim was to improve their paint