Stephen McCombs

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep!…… I love that!

Of course, what is true in art seems to be equally true in real life. And, mine has been a life of wonderful, and many times painful explorations of that creative concept.

I had the amazing luck to grow up exploring the beaches, mountains and deserts of the American West and Baja Mexico. Born and raised the Southern California, I left and spent my college years in Northern Arizona where I was surrounded by the natural beauty, the art and culture of the Anasazi and their decendants. This introduction left me with a life-long attraction to indigenous art, desert landscapes, and the longing for outdoor adventure. As life demands, time was spent in adult activities, but always to feed the next adventure, always just around the corner.

Early, my first interest was music… cello, saxophone, but then I settled on guitar. What a gift. Music has been a love, and at times a job, my whole life.

I came to painting through study and freelance work in graphic design, and finally through a generous and ongoing mentorship with JE Knauf, a gifted southwestern artist and a longtime partner in crime, surfing and other adventures best not mentioned here.

Painting was a natural progression, a therapy more accurately, brought forth out of a difficult battle with cancer, now, a ways in the rearview mirror luckily, Today, images that capture my interest are drawn from this life life of uncertainty, of miscues and happy accidents, and of unexpected revelations. My style is Contemporary Western in the broadest sense, and I paint for the most part, in oils on wood panel, but there are no hard fast rules.

So, right now, I’m painting waves, specifically ‘shorebreak’ waves because they are unpredictable. I’m also painting Agaves, from my front yard, and from in front of the Santo Domingo Cathedral in Oaxaca, and Cardon cactus from around my home because I love the shapes at sunrise and sunset. You will also see some Vaqueros. These were some incredible horsemen that I met on a ranch in South Dakota. And, I’m planning to paint my neighbor who runs her horse on the beach and…. who knows what, or who else is next. What fun, right?

Thanks for your interest. You can contact me directly to see current work, or stop by Mango’s Gallery in Todos Santos (directly behind Ezra Katz Gallery) where there are many pieces available.

I live with my wife Judy, overlooking Cerralvo Island and the Sea of Cortez in La Ventana, Baja California Sur, near La Paz.