This April, I won’t be open for Ojai Studio Artists’ Second Saturday.

After months of living in between, our belongings are finally being returned following the fire just before Thanksgiving. The timing overlaps with Second Saturday, and I need to be present as everything comes back into our home—unpacked, checked, and, piece by piece, put back into place.

The construction is mostly complete, and this marks a long-awaited shift: we’re moving home. I’m also looking forward to getting my studio back in order—over the past months it’s become a kind of “command central” for the construction process, with all sorts of things finding their way in that don’t normally belong there. It will be good to return it to a space for making.

It feels significant in a quiet way. Not just returning to a space, but rebuilding a sense of order and familiarity after a period that has asked for a lot of flexibility and patience.

I’ll be taking a break from unpacking to participate in Cross Pollination: The Intersection of Art and Nature—a plein air paint out at the Ventura Botanical Gardens on Friday, April 10 from 9–4. Admission is free that day, so if you’re in the area, come by and say hello.

While I won’t be open for Second Saturday, I do plan to step out and visit some of my fellow neighborhood artists—many whose studios I rarely get to see since we’re usually all showing at the same time. Later, I may head back to the gardens as the paint out continues through the weekend.

And just a few days earlier, I’m excited to be part of something new:

I’m included in a group of artists from Studio Channel Islands Art Center now showing on Artsy, with an in-person exhibition opening April 4 from 4–6 pm. This show marks the launch of that program and brings the work into a physical space.

If you’re not able to make it out in person this month, I invite you to visit my website. Any work purchased directly there supports something close to home—10% is donated to the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy. As a landscape painter, I’m deeply grateful for the places they’ve helped preserve. La Cañada Larga Road, in particular, is one I hold close—it’s hard to imagine it ever having been at risk of development. Supporting OVLC feels like a way of giving back to the land that continues to give so much.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support—I look forward to welcoming you back soon, once things have settled.

—Christine