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As a child growing up in Ohio, I was often asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I’d shout, “a Californian of course.” I am not sure if this goal was due to prompting from my travel-starved Dad or the many hours of “the Beverly Hillbillies” that I watched which made me daydream about California. The California I dreamt of was not the one we experience today – it was of the California of days gone by. I’d often imagined the life of Native Americans looking over the bluff to the sea, the beauty of the old missions running up the dusty trail from Baja, the excitement of the Gold Rush and of course, surfers.

After speaking to Mark Kerckhoff today, in anticipation of his Rancho Santa Fe Art Guild painting demonstration this Sept. 19th, I learned of his love of the “Old California”. His love is the more rustic and simpler days of California.
This kind of love runs deep in the veins of those whose families have lived through and have passed down customs and traditions of the early California culture.

Mark, the Kerckhoff family history and Mark’s paintings are steeped in the tradition of California that includes Spanish Santa Barbara and the “Californios” that ranched the arid country in San Luis Obispo County. I believe you can feel that love and understanding in Mark’s landscape paintings. Look at his painting titled “Desert Windstorm” as I did recently, and you might feel transported back to a time you too have daydreamed about – a California in its early days of its nature and glory.

About Mark Kerckhoff

Mark never really questions whether he was an artist. His natural ability to draw and his love of nature brought him to art school where he was nurtured by the skilled artists of the day. Humbly, Mark describes these instructors as “great trees” under whose shadows he stands today. His natural talents, the learning of technical rules, his trained eye for design, composition, and color make it possible for him to depict the California landscape’s natural beauty. This beauty is “as is” and “in all its glory” and in “Gods random order”.

He did say he does remove the “junk” like the old couch, or the discarded refrigerator dumped in places he paints. But basically, he says he copies what he sees, and he sees so much beauty in his environment.

Mark’s Family collected early California paintings. One particular painting Mark still owns depicts a typical 1930’s Coachella Desert dune scene with Indian Wells in the background, painted by Harry Smith, an early Pasadena resident. It's a simple painting but the loose brushstrokes and color were very inspirational for Mark, and he keeps it close to his heart.

As a fine art painter with nature making up his designs, Mark thinks of himself as a landscape painter. He does paint still lifes and figurative pieces but mainly paints out of doors. He does occasionally paint from photos. He paints in both watercolor, acrylic and oils but considers himself an oil painter. Mark feels that if a painting is started outdoors, it should be completed on the spot in the natural light. He feels that to touch up the painting indoors can destroy the feel of the piece and so paints only outside to finish.

A few of Mark’s favorite painters include Peder Monsted, Emilio Sanchez Perrier Hanson Duvall Puthuff, Konrad Grob, August Wilhelm Leu, Rubens Santoro, Josef Thoma, August Zimmerman, Charles Curran. As for living artists Mark expressed his admiration for California painters Ann Lofquist, Marcia Burtt and Peter Loftus.

Full disclosure, I own a Kerckhoff still life that I bought at an “Art in the Garden” event held at Paige Perkins’s Garden. The event was in honor of my first “great tree” of an instructor, Cathe Grawin. Mark is a natural born teacher with the gift of gab especially about California, design, color, and form. He is currently teaching weekly plein air classes in the Laguna Beach area. He also offers workshops so please check his website for more information.

The Rancho Santa Fe Art Guild presents art demonstrations for members, patrons, and nonmembers. Seats are limited so call today.

You don’t want to miss this upcoming painting demonstration by Mark Kerckhoff, Southern California’s inspired landscape painter of 40 years.

Mark promises he’ll be demonstrating his painting style, techniques, and the love of the extraordinary landscapes that nature created. 

Visit Mark Kerckhoff's Website: https://kerckhoffpaintings.com/