Art is a beautiful thing; it can be expressed in so many different and creative ways. Mr. Gleason creates his art through imagination, love, or observation. I will cover four of Mr. Gleason’s most special pieces and explain why they are important to him.

This piece was painted out of his imagination. This place does exist, but it’s a combination of different sceneries along the path into one painting. In order to see this beautiful view, you’ll have to hike over to Mission Canyon. When Mr. Gleason was creating this piece, he wanted to give people an idea of how the water from the canyon beautifully spills down into the ocean. He loves the spotlights from the trees which create illuminating patches of light on the ground.

This next piece is the San Marcos open preserve that was recently protected from construction for new housing. Mr. Gleason is a part of two groups, Southern California Artists Painting Environment (SCAPE), and the Oak Group. In these groups, they focus on coming together as a community of artists and placing their work for shows. At the shows, they sell their work and use the money to protect wild lands.

This piece of the base of Ellwood is one of the most important art pieces to Mr. Gleason, because this is where he got engaged to his wife.

“This place is really special to me, it’s a place where I feel safe and happy,” he said.

This last piece of art was painted at the Mesa. While a photographical reference provides just one moment, the outdoors gives the painter many moments to select from. His favorite part of this painting is the little patch of light peeking through the canyon by the shore. When he was out there painting for a few hours, he noticed that the sun slowly started to line up with the canyon walls.

A word from Kevin Gleason

“One thing I would like to say to all those young artists out there, is that just keep drawing and keep on painting, and don’t be too judgmental or hard on yourselves. Art is a journey and just like how I tell my students, art is a very special thing because there are not many things in this world that you keep doing your whole life and keep improving your whole life. The way to do it is by making lots of drawings, so if you keep a sketchbook, draw in there everyday. I recommend working both with observation and your imagination. They are both skills that you want to exercise.

Drawing from observation is really helpful because it helps you understand how color…light…and shadows work, also with perspective and form. Drawing from imagination is also important because it’s important for an artist to remember you’re not a camera. Cameras exist, but you’re having to color the world and express an idea, an unusual idea about how you see things. But overall just draw as much as you can in your free time.”