PAINTINGS BRING HOME TO THE OFFICE; WATERCOLORS DECK THE HALLS OF GOVERNMENT.

Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer

The homey watercolor paintings of a Conejo Valley artist have found a temporary home in the office of Ventura County Supervisor Frank Schillo.

People are typically absent from Tish Brennan's pictures, but their depictions of whitewashed wooden homes, surrounded by flowers and flags and greenery, seem to invite viewers in to enjoy a lemonade or just relax. Other pictures show seascapes, some with flotillas of stacked boats in Crayola-box colors.

The pictures evoke ``a warm feeling of home and hearth,'' said Julian Macdonald, a senior aide in Schillo's office, where Brennan's works will be displayed through the end of the month.

Brennan said she likes to paint pictures of windows and show the view outside the glass, as well as reflections on the glass of what is inside.

``You see things that you don't see at first,'' she said. ``There's so much going on in such a small area.''

Six years ago, Brennan taught cultural enrichment programs after school and worked as an art consultant to schools in the Conejo Valley.

Now she works as the creative arts teacher for the Braille Institute in Santa Barbara, where blind people learn living skills ranging from cooking to typing or sewing. Brennan travels to different sites in Ventura County five days a week to instruct legally blind people how to weave baskets and craft objects from clay.

``It's very exciting because they find out how much they can do and what they're capable of doing,'' Brennan said. ``They just blossom.''

The average age of her students is 79, Brennan said. Used to teaching children, she was initially wary of making such a big change.

``I was kind of hesitant because I had never worked with blind people before, and I had never worked with elderly people before,'' she said.

Brennan tells her students that they should not be afraid of small mistakes or imperfections in their finished products, because these give the object style and individuality.

``It shows your thought process and how you did it,'' she said.

Brennan also encourages each student to visualize objects and shapes in the mind before crafting them.

``You feel your way, but in your mind you see where you are going,'' she said. ``The hardest part is trusting what you feel.''

Brennan sometimes dons a blindfold to put herself into her students' shoes.

``When you're not looking at it, what you visualize is totally different sometimes,'' she said. ``They're always more surprised at the outcome than I am because I know they can do it.''

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Photo: Artist Tish Brennan stands by one of her paintings on display in county Supervisor Frank Schillo's office in Thousand Oaks.

Evan Yee/Daily News