Penny Soto
2586 Shadow Mountain Dr.
San Ramon, CA 94583
925-820-0708
pennyms@pacbell.net
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Award
winning California artist and teacher Penny
Soto lives in San Ramon, California. Her formal art training began at Chabot College
in Hayward, CA and San Francisco Academy of Art. She's since studied with prominent
portrait and figure artist's Daniel Greene, Roberta Clarke and Don Andrews, just to name a
few. Contemplation |
| I have been blessed with the gift of talent and education to paint in several mediums. I am currently pursuing watercolor and airbrushing and have had a passion to paint elite motorcycles and classic automobiles. I am currently working with the legendary Arlen Ness painting portraits of his custom built elite motorcycles. I have always loved abstract design and color teperatures used together correctly to "make the painting glow". I do not look at the elite motorcycle or automobile as a technical painting but I view it as an abstraction of color and design, a fine art piece. Chrome is just a reflection of colors and shapes around, underneath and on top of. Some of the beautiful patterns it creates are exquisite and are what captures my attention. I try to design in these patterns something personal of the owner and uniquely conceal it. There is an array of color within the chrome that attracts me also. These subjects, along with portrait are a challenge to me and very special. |
| PublicationsThe Artist's Magazine, a
nationally renowned magazine, featured Soto as the January 1996 "Featured
Artist". She authored an article on watercolor and airbrushing in "The Decorative Artist's Magazine" in May 1996. Her painting "Lost
Loves" was selected to be published in the1999
North Light Book "The Best of Florals". Lost Loves 30 x 40 Watercolor $1,200 Five Hidden "I Love You's" in the painting. |
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Exhibitions/Collections Purpleness 30 x 40 Watercolor NFS |
Soto has had many gallery and museum exhibits in her career. Recently she had a "sold out" show at the World Trade Center in San Francisco in 1998. She regularly paints mural size (4' x 9') watercolors for the Nordstrom's Art collection, which are displayed in stores throughout the United States. They currently have 26 of her works to date. Soto just finished a 100' x 6' mural (May 1998), for the Alameda County Fair Model Railroad Club depicting sky and scenery relating to the miniature trains. Her paintings and murals are in a number of public and private corporations throughout the United States. . |
| Some are; Pacific Bell, Kaiser Foundation, Nordstroms, Jamaica Plaza, Ralston Purina Corporation, and the newest "The Pepsi Motorcycle" built by the legendary Arlen Ness of which Soto is his "Official Artist". The United States Air Force Aviation Program will include Soto's "The Liberator" painting in their museum collection and presented her with a certificate and plaque in Artistic Excellence (1998). |
| She has received more than 250 awards and recently won a $10,000 scholarship
to the San Francisco Academy of Art, where she
pursued a degree in illustration in 1995. Soto has been chosen a finalist in The Artist's Magazine Competition for her portrait
"Comtemplation". The magazine selected 200 finalists from 11,000 entries
from the U.S., United Kingdom and Canada. This award has made her an associate
member in "The International Artist Society."
Soto has designed and illustrated "The Strawberry Country Festival" poster and t-shirts three years in a row. She recently won the State of California Parks and Recreation Society Award for her design on the "San Ramon Art and Wine Festival" poster in 1996, a statewide competition. |
Awards Buick Special 30 x 40 Watercolor NFS |
| Associations & Galleries |
Soto is a member of San Francisco Society of Illustrators and Los Angeles Society of Illustrators, California Watercolor Association (award signature member), Society of Western Artists (award signature member), International Artist Society, Pleasanton Art League and Danville Alamo Art Society. She is represented by Creative Impression Gallery in Sacramento, CA and Main Street Gallery in Pleasanton, CA. |