PAINTER BRUSHES THE WEST INTO ART SUN-BLEACHED COLORS IN SHOW.

Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Local artist Sal Vasquez' cowboys, Indians and western landscapes are on display in the Palmdale Playhouse gallery in a exhibit titled ``California Impressionism.''

Many of the 18 oil paintings feature scenes from Valyermo, Big Rock Creek and Acton. Others feature Indians and rodeo cowboys from Hawaii. All are painted in muted colors.

``Artists develop a technique or a way to present their work and mine; I can't get away from it. I want to get more vibrant, brighter colors (into paintings), but I can't. It's just not me. When I paint this way it feels more comfortable.''

The exhibit will run through April 6. A reception to meet Vasquez will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on March 19.

Vasquez graduated from the Art Center School in Los Angeles, now known as the Art School Center of Design and located in Pasadena.

Until he retired two years ago, he was a cartoonist for Farmers Insurance Group, putting together training modules for insurance claims adjusters.

``The way to get across boring subject matter is to put a little humor in the cartoons,'' explained Vasquez, who also did a series of videos and slide presentations for the trainers.

A few years after graduating from the Art Center School, Vasquez began painting less and less frequently - just sporadically for 35 years before his retirement. After his first wife died in 1984, he quit painting entirely for a time. He spent any spare time skiing and traveling.

Since retirement, he has been painting up to 15 hours a day - on location or from photographs. Many of his scenes depict a landscape he has visited - with horses, cowboys or Indians added from photographs or his imagination.

One painting features his 15-year-old son painted as an Indian, leading a horse.

``I try to fit the subject matter into the environment that they belong in ... and you have to have the right background for the right personality - the right person, the dress, the type of horse that they use,'' Vasquez said.

Vasquez likes to paint horses, and local horse owners keep him busy painting pictures of theirs.

``It's fun. It's something I enjoy doing. It's good therapy for me,'' Vasquez said. ``The only one that doesn't like it is my son - because he's 15 1/2 and I'm home all day.''

Vasquez has enjoyed traveling, sketching and taking photographs in Hawaii, Wyoming, New Mexico and Arizona. He often paints from his photos and sketches.

``I'm starting to incorporate my memory, my drawings and my photography into my paintings. My landscapes are recent, but my horse paintings and my ... characters are all things that I've accumulated throughout the years.''

Vasquez will next show his artwork in September or October at the Grand National Rodeo in San Francisco.

``It's fun to paint and ... the reward's somebody likes something and buys it. Then it pays for the paints that I buy. I'm never going to be wealthy painting. It's just fun to be able to say somebody liked my work enough to buy it,'' said Vasquez.

The Palmdale Playhouse gallery, 38834 10th St. E., is open from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursdays. For more information call [phone].

Peggy Hager, [phone]

peggy.grimm-hager(at)dailynews.com

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(1 -- 2) Artist Sal Vasquez, shown with one of his cowboy paintings and a Valyermo landscape, is displaying some of his work at the Palmdale Playhouse.