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John Comer has painted since he was a boy.
His dedication to painting and surfing
has been the driving passion of his life. A true waterman, he
also spent many years sailing & fishing commercially.
Comer's professional career began in 1968 with
his first solo gallery exhibition and has been intermingled with
sailing and painting voyages to the Caribbean, Central America,
Islands of the Pacific and Africa.
As a sailor he came to appreciate the importance of the atmosphere
in a painting.
“The weather is the important thing... it affects what you
see and don’t see - colors, values and shapes.”
In the tradition of plein-aire painters
who have celebrated early California.
John's work is distinguished by a level of craft rarely seen
in contemporary painting. His landscapes are both skillful renditions
of familiar and unfamiliar scenes, and subtle meditations on
time, space, and light.
For many years Comer shared a Santa Barbara
studio with Ray Strong, the legendary landscape painter who was
a contemporary of Maynard Dixon and co-founded the Oak Group
in Santa Barbara.
Comer credits Strong with helping him master
the interrelation of color and value in his paintings, as well
as the importance of drawing. Time spent painting in the field
with Ray, Michael Drury and
Hank Pitcher provided inspiration and a lifelong bond.
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In recent years Comer has painted primarily
in Baja California Sur producing work that deeply reflects his
enduring relationship to the land and sea.
John painting 'En Plein Air"
"Painting is primarily putting
yourself into motion.
If it is the sea that moves you, go to it,
Live with it, like Winslow Homer.
Today, surf it, and with it flow.
If it is the hills and mountains, hike them, climb their ridges.
Wet feet, hip-deep fish their canyons and roam their valleys."
Ray Strong 1905 - 2006
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