Orland Art Gallery: Turnbull puts on one-man show

Local artist George Turnbull celebrates the Christmas season with a one-man show at the Orland Art Center in December.

"One Artist's Gift" runs through Dec. 22 and features a wide variety of his talents.

Watercolors, oils and prints await visitors to the gallery at 732 Fourth St.

Turnbull is well known for Western artwork and this show is no exception.

Cowboys, cattle, horses and riding tack are featured in the event that displays 37 pieces of his work for the first time in one gallery.

The Englishman came to the United States years ago and became a citizen who served in both World War II and the Korean War.

He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University from its College of Fine Arts and later earned a master's degree in fine art painting from the University of Southern California.

Turnbull lives in the Capay district near Orland and serves on the Orland Art Commission.

He designed the gazebo in Library Park and the welcome sign at Centennial Park on Walker Street among other city monuments.

A favorite painting in the show is of his son-in-law, Weaver, according to Turnbull's wife, Rae.

"I feel I really captured the essence of the man and his comfort with the work he does," Turnbull said.

Most of the art looks at buckaroo life in the Great Basin area of the Western U.S., where cowboys work cattle and live their lives on the range.

"Most people know George for his Western work," Rae Turnbull said. "But he does fantastic skies and beautiful still lifes as well. Essentially, George is a fine art painter and no matter what the subject matter is his main concern is that it be a good painting."

There are some still life paintings in the show that reflect a different side of Turnbull. Elegant floral arrangements in vases are a big contrast to the western scenes that dominate the gallery.

He also has portraits of "buckaroos" close up and on horseback and some building scenes as well.

Mares and foals also figure prominently in the show with at least one large painting and a couple of smaller ones.

His paintings and prints hang in many prestigious art galleries and public places like the George H. Bush Presidential Museum in Texas where a print of his watercolor painting "9-11-01" is part of its permanent collection.

The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 1-6 p.m.

For more information, check the gallery's website at www.orlandartgallery.com