Artist inspired by local trails Artist inspired by local trails (September 03, 2004)

Former illustrator Floy Zittin studies nature

By Katie Vaughn

Nature, science and art. Put these three elements together and you've got the latest visual arts exhibit on display at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.

"Trails, Birds and Fish: a celebration of our natural world," which runs through Oct. 18, is a series of watercolor paintings on those subjects by Cupertino artist Floy Zittin. In fact, many of her paintings depict scenes at the Rancho San Antonio County Park near her home.

"They're usually the result of being out hiking and seeing something that's an amazing moment," she said.

A former scientific illustrator, Zittin has a sharp eye for detail that is shown in her realistic depictions of animals and forest scenes.

"I still like to have part of the painting be representational," she said. "I like to have something in there that's factual."

However, her paintings are more than scientific studies of the natural world. Zittin uses a variety of techniques to add creativity to her works.

"I like how Japanese paintings combine showing something specific with a looser style," she said. "I like to not have detail in the whole thing."

"Copper Rockfish" is a good example of Zittin's style. The painting, which she created for a biological art and illustration competition in Oakland, contains two huge fish, one with an enormous eye and mouth close to the viewer. These features are the most detailed and vibrantly colorful, while the tail and the other fish fade into the blue water amid plants and a source of light in the background.

Although Zittin has worked with watercolors for 30 years, she wasn't always an artist. While earning her master's degree in marine biology at the University of the Pacific, she created illustrations for a taxonomy project on crabs, and she was hooked on drawing and painting.

"That's when I started getting in to it," she said. "I realized it was more fun than research."

After illustrating her own papers, colleagues asked her to do the same for theirs. Later, her husband's colleagues at the biology department of the University of British Columbia made the request, as did Canada's National Museum of Natural Sciences. She did illustrations for the latter for ten years, while raising her two children.

Since switching from scientific illustration to creative painting, Zittin has taken numerous workshops and taught art classes. One workshop in Yosemite last November helped her create "Yosemite Cliffs," a purple rendering of a massive cliffside with areas of green trees. Areas of the scene are painted lightly, but other sections have color built up in layers to thick purples, pinks and greens, due to the students' assignment.

"The problem of the day was building up texture, but I was taken by the scale of the cliffs," Zittin said.

Nature takes precedent in another painting, "Creek Walk," which shows two pony-tailed girls wading in a creek. A group of day campers Zittin had seen at Stevens Creek County Park was the inspiration for the painting, which is set in a green canopy of foliage. In addition to depicting a natural setting, the work doesn't include blue sky, but rather a greenish haze. The technique, one that Zittin uses often, creates the sense of viewers inhabiting a dense forest.

"I'm really trying to come up with something familiar with a little bit of a different take," she said. "And blue skies never really worked for me."

Zittin said she hopes visitors to the exhibit appreciate not only the beauty of her paintings, but also their environmental message. She wants her work to inspire others to go out and appreciate the area's natural resources.

"It kind of reinforces people's appreciation of the open spaces and birds we have around here," she said.

Information

What: Paintings by Floy Zittin

Where: Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St.

When: Now through Oct. 18

Cost: Free

Call: 903-6000 or visit www.mvcpa.com

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