H is for Heritage Gallery West

I thought I'd discovered all the art showplaces in downtown Paso Robles, but I discovered this week I have had one under my nose for two years and not known it. I stumbled across it Wednesday on my walk downtown - right on 13th Street. Unless you are on foot, it's easy to miss  Heritage Gallery West as you drive past on your way somewhere else.

I was not only excited to find a gallery I had not known about, but I also discovered a new artist who painted on a surface I'd never seen used before -- rock. Here is a wall devoted to the work of Susan von Borstel.

The gallery was displaying a lot of her work. You can click any photo to enlarge it to see more detail. My favorite piece was this one with the fish. No photo does it justice. That's probably why it's already sold. I have isolated it to show it the details up closer here.

No photos in the art galleries fare very well in photos taken by hobby photographers like me. Lighting in our local galleries is not ideal, and flash often creates white spots or reflections when work is framed under glass.

The only ideal way to see art is to go to the galleries and see it up close with your eyes. So next time you are downtown, stop by Heritage Gallery West. You can see more of their artists' work and a bit about them on the website I just linked to. Some of the artists whose work was in the gallery were familiar to me, but many were new discoveries.

Although much of the work I saw displayed was painting, I also found sculpture. Vel Miller had a sculpture on display the day I was there, and I saw several others. Since work that is sold is replaced quickly with new offerings, you never know quite what surprises will be there when you come in. That's why you should visit often.

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