Ray Roberts is one of California's most respected Plein Air artists. He has recently won the Gold Medal for "Best Painting" at the California Art Club and the Artists' Choice Award, the highest accolade from fellow artists, at three major Southwest art events.

He is best known for his seascapes, figurative work, and majestic views of California and the Southwest.

 Artistic style and influences

 Ray's vibrant use of color, bold textures, and sensitivity to shifting patterns of light give life and movement to his paintings. They are to be experienced, not merely observed.

 Inspired by such early California impressionists as Hanson Puthuff, William Wendt, and William Ritschel, Ray seeks to capture the luminous, golden light and the magnificent, vanishing landscapes of his native state. Like his other great hero, Maynard Dixon, Ray shares a reverence for the land and a marked spirituality in his work.

 Ray believes in the importance of artistic legacy. "There's a brotherhood of painters who came before me and who will come after. We speak in the past, present, and future. We talk about our experience and personality, our torments and exhilarations; we talk about the beauty of the fleeting light, time and of our family, friends and acquaintances."

 Biographical details

 Born in 1954, Ray grew up in an Orange County with orange groves, before the days of freeways and sprawling housing developments. It has given him an enduring affection for the untamed, undeveloped California of his youth.

 One boyhood neighbor was painter Evelyn Nunn Miller, who would let Ray into her studio to retrieve the balls he'd hit over her fence. Later, after the early death of his father and mother's ill-health, Ray was sent to Orme School, a beautiful, ranch-style boarding school in the Arizona desert. Its strong fine arts program helped Ray to discover his artistic talent.

 He then attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where he studied under John Asaro. He has also studied under Dan McCaw, Len Chmiel, Ned Jacob, and Mark Daily, among others.

 Art Center is where Ray also met his wife, impressionist painter Peggi Kroll. While dating, the two of them would go out nightclubbing, to sketch rather than dance! It has been a successful partnership ever since.

 Like many successful artists before him, Ray first pursued a career as an illustrator, establishing a studio in Los Angeles and then Scottsdale, Arizona. He got up the courage to switch to fine art in 1992 and has never looked back.

 Ray and Peggi now live with their three children and assorted animals on a 20 acre ranch in Angelâs Camp, an old California gold rush town, surrounded by the oak-studded hills which he frequently paints.

 The great outdoors is Ray's studio. A bit of an adventurer, he's been known to backpack for several days into the wilderness, set up his easel on a cliff edge, or in the surf, for just the right setting.

 Ray on Ray

 "Over the years I've become my own artist. I'm constantly searching and evolving. When I go out to paint, whether it's on the coast, the mountains or the desert, I look for something that speaks to me emotionally, and try to get that communication across. I hope that people can share my vision through the canvas. My paintings are my footprints."

 Awards and Affiliations

 Signature Member - Plein Air Painters of America (PAPA)

Signature Member - California Art Club (CAC)

Signature Member - Laguna Plein Air Painters Association (LPAPA)

Signature Member - Northwest Rendezvous

 2007- Heritage Award, Irvine Heritage Show, San Juan Capistrano, California

2006- Best of Show-First Place Oil, Irvine Heritage Show, San Juan Capistrano, California

2006- Artists’ Choice Award, Laguna Plein Air Invitational, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California   

2005- Friends of OPA Award, Oil Painters of America, Chicago, Illinois

2004- Gold Medal for "Best Painting" at the California Art Club's 94th Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, California     

2004- Artists' Choice Award- Laguna Plein Air Invitational Laguna  Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California

2004- Artists' Choice Award- Maynard Dixon Country Invitational Mount Carmel, Utah

2003- Artists' Choice, Laguna Plein Air Invitational, Laguna, California

2003- Artists' Choice Award, Carmel Plein Air Festival, Carmel, California

2003- Honorable Mention, Carmel Plein Air Festival, Carmel, California

2003- Maynard Dixon Award, Sonoran Desert Invitational, Tucson, Arizona

2002- Honorable Mention, Laguna Plein Air Invitational, Laguna, California

2001- Honorable Mention, Scene on the Straight, Vallejo, California

2001- American Artist Magazine Award for Excellence, Oil Painters of America National Juried Show, Palm Desert, California

2000- Best of Show, American Impressionist Society, Cincinnati, Ohio

1999- Honorable Mention, Laguna Plein Air Invitational, Laguna, California

1999- Best Seascape, Ebell Club Annual Art Show, Los Angeles, California

1999- Artists' Choice Award, Carmel Plein Air Festival, Carmel, California

1995- Best of Show, Phippen Memorial Art Show, Prescott, Arizona

1995- First Place Oil, Phippen Memorial Art Show, Prescott, Arizona

1995- Best of Show, Beaver Creek Art Festival, Beaver Creek, Colorado

1994 Best Portrait, Oil Painters of America, Chicago, Illinois

1994 Tara Fredeicks Award, Oil Painters of America, Chicago, Illinois

1994- Best of Show, Beaver Creek Art Festival, Beaver Creek, Colorado

1993- Best of Show, Beaver Creek Art Festival, Beaver Creek, Colorado

2008-1998- Laguna Art Museum Plein Air Invitational, Laguna, California

2008- One Man Show, Michael Hollis Gallery, Pasadena, California

2008- 2004- Maynard Dixon Country Invitational, Thunderbird Foundation, Mt Carmel, Utah

2008- California Art Club Gold Medal Exhibition, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, California

2008- Plein Air Painters of America Exhibition, Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland

2008- Plein Air Painters of America Exhibition, Bennington Center for the Arts, Vermont

2008-2001 Exhibitor NorthWest Rendezvous Annual Exhibition, Helena, Montana

2007- Plein Air Painters of America, From the Heart Exhibition, Haggin Museum, Stockton, California

2007- Torrey Pines Plein Air Invitational, La Jolla, California

2007- Group Show, Michael Hollis Gallery, Pasadena, California

2007- Figure in the Landscape, Knowlton Gallery, Lodi, California

2007- Quartet, Master Painters of the Foothills, Knowlton Gallery, Lodi, California

2007-2003- Group Show, Santa Lucia Preserve/Medicine Man Gallery, Carmel California

2006- Santa Cruz Plein Air Invitational, Santa Cruz, California

2006- California Art Club, On Location in Malibu, Frederick Weisman Museum, Malibu, California

2006- Stockton on Canvas, Haggin Museum, Stockton, California

2006- Autumn and Winter Show, Haggin Museum, Stockton, California

2006- Best of the Best, Phippen Museum, Prescott, Arizona

2005- Three Person Show, William Lester Gallery, Pt Reyes, California

2005-2002- Exhibitor, Plein Air Painters of America Annual Exhibition, Catalina, California

2004- California Art Club Gold Medal Exhibition, Pasadena, California

2003- Exhibitor Sea-to-Shining-Sea Exhibition, Haggin Museum, Stockton, California

2003- Exhibitor, Desert Landscapes Show, California Art Club, Pasadena, California

2003- Exhibitor, On Location in Malibu, Frederick Weisman Museum, Malibu, California

2002- Two Person Show, Edenhurst Gallery, Los Angeles, California

2002- Exhibitor, Museum of the Rockies Invitational Show, Denver, Colorado

2002-1- Exhibitor, American Impressionist Society Show, California

2001- Two Person Show, Third Canyon Gallery, Denver, Colorado

2001- Two Person Show, Medicine Man Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

2001- Two Person Show, Angels Camp, California

2001- Exhibitor, California Art Club Gold Medal Exhibition, Pasadena, California

2000- Exhibitor, American Impressionist Society Show, Cincinnati, Ohio

2000- Two Person Show, Thomas Reynolds Gallery, San Francisco, California

1999- One Person Show, Taos Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona

1999- One Person Show, K Nathan Gallery, La Jolla, California

1998- One Person Show, Medicine Man Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

1998- One Person Show, K Nathan Gallery, La Jolla, California

1996- One Person Show, K Nathan Gallery, La Jolla, California

1996-1992- Beaver Creek Arts Festival, Beaver Creek, Colorado

1996-1992- Phippen Show, Prescott, Arizona