Bob Justice

San Anselmo, CA

It stood solidly silhouetted against the sky! The twisted, wind shaped branches, like arms reaching with fingers of tiny green needles for the clouds. The gnarled burly trunk of crusty, reddish-brown bark descending to its massive, brawny roots digging into the earth at its base, as well as into the minute cracks and rocks of the escarpment that it called home. Here was a true "Sonora Pass Sentinel" that watched over the surrounding peaks, valleys and cascading streams that had helped shape its environment. This mighty Cedar just seemed to blare--"PAINT ME"! This is a description of the feelings that I had the first time I viewed the subject of one of my watercolors. It also describes some of the emotions that I attempt to implant into my work. Life is change. We, and everything around us, are in a constant state of transition. It immensely satisfying to capture subjects, both natural and fabricated by man, that have endured environmental deterioration and yet still cling to existence. I find that as I paint I empathize with my subject and its past, both real and imagined, and the transformation it has endured to survive to its present state. I frequently seem to transport my self dreamily into the landscape that I am creating on paper, and here-- I feel quite at home! Since most of my subjects are landscapes I tend to use primarily earth tone colors (raw umber, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, and sepia in my work. When developing a seascape I turn to a cooler palette, using cobalt blue, ultra-marine blue, hooker's green, aurillion yellow and viridian to capture the cool blue-green of the ocean.

I have been painting watercolors for over 40 years. Landscapes and seascapes seem to be my favorite subjects, although old, deteriorated structures frequently attract me.
I was born on farm in Indiana, graduated from Marion, Iowa High School and attended the University of Iowa. After serving 2 years in Germany with the U. S. Army I transplanted to California, working as Associate Physical Director at the YMCA in San Jose. Completing the requirements for an M. A. degree at San Jose State University in 1963 I taught at Thousand Oaks High School for one year , then accepted a position at the College of Marin in 1964, retiring as an Associate Professor in 1997. I began doing watercolors in the early 1960's and since retiring I have been devoting much more time to developing my painting skills. After 18 years I vacated my studio at Marin Museum of Contemporary Art at Hamilton Field in Novato, California and am presently working out of my home.