Kate Browning and Lisa Baldwin each transport viewers to another state of mind with their paintings. Presenting the first solo show in Topanga Canyon Gallery’s North Gallery, “Kate Browning Now (little things matter),� embeds her concerns regarding nature and current social issues in her new work, saying, “My intention is constructing works that are interpretive metaphors of what initially inspires me.� This present work was stimulated by a commentary about Mussolini's metaphor on the achievement of absolute power, that of slowly plucking a chicken, one feather at a time, so that each is undetected by the other until the end. She explains that she “riffed on this idea and expanded it into my concerns of an outcome both positive and negative.� Browning notes that often a viewer can go beyond the surface of the image itself and find something intangible beyond. “I am fascinated how materials can unexpectedly move across a surface both in abstract and representational images dripping and creating multilayered and unpredictable strokes.� Browning received a Bachelor of fine arts from Otis College of Fine Arts in 1993 and has since created a consistently evolving body of work which is shown in galleries throughout Los Angeles. “Resonance� is Lisa Baldwin’s first solo exhibition in the South Gallery and her first as Creative Director. She is a contemporary plein air oil painter who creates work that weaves conceptual themes into a framework that celebrates the diverse beauty of the natural world. Focused on the awareness of perception, Baldwin presents a body of work that enlarges plein air oil sketches into large scale paintings of moving water. Her intention is to filter reality through her senses and convey that moment of consciousness onto her canvas. She seeks through the gesture of her brush strokes to capture the essential character of this moving subject into its most distilled form like a visual haiku. “Plein air painting encourages speed in execution, loose brushwork, and inspires colors beyond your imagining while confined to a studio setting,� she explains. “My goal is to never lose site of the energy and spontaneity that painting outside inspires.� Baldwin is a Canadian artist from South Eastern Quebec who moved to the Los Angeles area about six years ago. She has always been an outdoors woman and her work is influenced by the work of Tom Thomson and the Canadian Group of Seven. Like them, she paints smaller oil sketches en plein air and reinterprets them on a much larger scale at her home studio. The opening reception for both shows is November 13, 4– 7 p.m. and run through November 28. Topanga Canyon Gallery is located at 137 S. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga CA 90290. Hours are Friday 2–7 p.m., Saturday and Sunday Noon–5 p.m. For more information: info@topangacanyongallery.com; (310) 455-7909; topangacanyongallery.com