International artist opens his local studio to the public

To see a work of professional art in person, most art lovers visit a museum or a gallery. But landscape artist John Modesitt is offering another option through July 20: He's inviting the public to come to his Solana Beach studio and home to view his latest impressionistic paintings.

What makes this a rare opportunity is the caliber of the artist. Modesitt is an international painter whose works are in the New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut and the Butler Museum of Art in Ohio, as well as private collections around the world. His work has also been auctioned at Christie's in L.A., London and Paris.

Last year, he invited friends and neighbors to his home to view a series of oil paintings depicting scenes of California (this time the work is of his months in Amboise, France, on the Loire River). He was surprised by the enthusiastic response.

"These were people we just invited, but the house filled up," he recalled. "It felt like the whole neighborhood was there. It was a good experience."

Modesitt feels firmly rooted in Solana Beach. It's been his home base for several decades and where he and his wife raised their daughter. So while he travels extensively for his painting, he always returns to Solana Beach. He likes to enjoy his works before shipping them off to be sold. An event like this allows him that time before they are dispersed.

It also allows people the opportunity to ask him questions about the work and it's the only time he can show his collection together as a group before its broken up and sold by the piece at auction (his Loire series will be sent to Paris and London next month for Christie's Impressionist auction).

"I open my studio and I find that people are always curious about my process," he said. "I have a large variety of paintings in the studio plus works hung in two or three of the rooms inside the house. I set up the interior like a museum. Having the works in a house is nice because it gives people a place to sit, not just a hard bench."

The event is quite informal. People can come and go at most daytime hours. They can call ahead to let him know they're coming as well.

"We had one person who stayed for three hours," he remembered. "My wife and I talked to him and he wanted to know what I do. This kind of thing is the public side of what I do. I can't talk to people when I'm painting. Both sides ---- the public side and the painting side ---- are ingredients in my career."

Visitors tend to ask about his inspiration, the area that he was painting, why he paints in oil and how he decided on the palette. They often end up telling him stories about their lives. Modesitt loves the reaction.

"They often say they want to be in my paintings, and I agree with them," he said. "That's how I feel as well. Sometimes people are shy to come over, but that's the point of doing this ---- to invite people in. That's why we make it so welcoming."