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My eyes can barely stay focused on the narrow road as I meander up Del Mar’s Seaview Road.  The fabulous view of thewindswept sea catches my eye at every turn. Today the Pacific has been whipped into two layers of blue: Prussian blue at the horizon and an aquamarine mix below.  I maneuver the car very slowly up the hill as I approach the newly-constructed home of Doctors Ruth and Ed Evans.  

Ruth Evans, a retired Internist and geriatric physician, is also an Impressionist artist and a children’s book author and illustrator.  Dr. Ruth is presently a Rancho Santa Fe Art Guild member and has also served on the Guild’s board as co-president and co-secretary.  Several years ago, she and husband Ed left their award-winning Rancho Santa Fe home “Clos de Lavande” for the cliffs of Del Mar.   As I enter this engineering marvel of a home, I am greeted by Ruth and “Marshall.”  Marshall is the Evans’ 8-year-old Shih Tzu Maltese mix guard dog and my new BFF.  His middle name is Priceless – and he is priceless.  As we walk into the main room the views and light through the windows are awe-inspiring – the ocean on my left, the lagoon and mountains to the right and now Marshall on my lap. I am in heaven.

Ruth was born in Washington, DC and met her husband, retired cardiologist Dr. Ed Evans, at a college pre-med fellowship.  The Evans moved to Rancho Santa Fe in 1981 and raised their three children.  After retiring from her private medical practice, Ruth decided to pursue her love of the arts.  She began drawing classes with San Diego’s botanic artist Irina Gronborg and studied book illustration with UCSD’s Kathi McCord.  In early 2000, a friend suggested she study with Sebastian Capella – she did for 14 years.  Ruth was not only a student of his but also a collector of Capella’s art and a dear friend.  Ruth and Ed traveled to Sebastian’s Spanish home in Valencia on several occasions.  Cappella and his family spent time there each year in their family’s ancestral home.  Ruth and Ed would stay at a hotel across the way.  In the morning, when Sebastian opened his draperies, the art adventures began.

The friends traveled by train and car to many parts of Spain.  In Madrid, Sebastian guided them through the Museo Nacional del Prado as well as the Sorolla Museum.  In Valencia they toured the new museums, Sorolla’s beach and Sebastian’s art school.  These memories are a joy for Ruth as she reminisces about her beloved teacher and friend, Sebastian Capella.

Sebastian taught Ruth to see values and the importance of color in a painting.  To this day she strives to “nail the exact color” she sees in her subjects.  The perfect harmony between the colors on her pallet allows “the artist to talk through color.”  Ruth loves the Impressionist painters, and she strives for the freedom of the brush stroke and the use of light to form the mood.  One Capella painting in the Evans’ collection depicts Sebastian’s granddaughters at Lake Arrowhead with two dogs – a stunning piece that allows brush strokes to do all the work in evoking the light.

Ruth’s own paintings depict the beauty in which she surrounds herself: “art is in every aspect of one’s life.”   When she painted in her lovely Rancho Santa Fe gardens, she produced numerous botanical and idyllic garden paintings winning many awards and mentions.  Since the move to Del Mar, the ocean and its seascapes have occupied her canvases.  She’s painted numerous commissions of her friend’s children playing at the beach. She also wrote a new children’s book, The Panda Who Would Not Eat and illustrated another children’s book, Too Big to Lose. Both books are available at the gift shop of the San Diego Botanical Garden.  

Today Ruth’s creative mind is captivated by the stunning views outside her windows and the views from her daily walks on the beach.  As I mentioned her new home has the most inspiring dramatic views of our coastline and mountains: “you can see the snow at times on the mountains” she tells me with a smile.  She speaks to me of the stunning “Mackerel” sky, a phenomenon of clouds made up of rows of altocumulus and cirrocumulus clouds creating a pattern like fish scales, all predicting the type of weather on the way.  Ruth and husband Ed have photographed the continually-changing scenes outside their picture windows.  Ed even created a book of photographs that shows the sunrises in the east and the sunsets in the west. Ruth’s abundant photos lie waiting on her phone, churning her mind daily as she plans her next series of paintings.  She has been plotting in her head where to start, comparing compositions, value and color – I think she considers the plotting half the fun.  The series is coming together with several projects ready for the canvas.  I know she will nail the exact color of her subject since Mother Nature will provide it. 

Look for Ruth’s new work on the Rancho Santa Fe Art Guild’s Member Gallery or one of our Pop-Up displays planned for near future.  “The Rancho Santa Art Guild is a very important part of our community and provides a way for artists and supporting members of the community to form friendships and study together.”

Join Ruth and the Rancho Santa Fe Art Guild in supporting and encouraging the visual arts in our community.

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Become an artist member or art patron:   Rancho Santa Fe Art Guild Membership

This Months "Name the Artist" is Ukrainian painter Kasimir Malevich, Carpenter, 1929