Teresa Onoda is a California-based, plein air painter whose work is noted for its vibrant color and powerful, painterly applications of oils. The term "plein air" refers to the requirement that the work be done on site, rather than in a studio.
Most of Teresa's work captures the "endangered landscapes" of Northern California. The beautiful rural areas rapidly being developed to provide housing for the states burgeoning population. As farms, forests and meadows of wild flowers are destroyed to make way for housing, Teresa is one of a small band of plein air painters trying to put on canvas the beauty that, ironically, attracts so many to live in one of the most attractive regions in the world.
Plein air painting has strong historical roots in California where the year-round temperate climate and generous amounts of sunshine encourage artists who seek to capture the beauty so abundant in the state. Teresa Onoda paints primarily among the rolling hills of the East Bay and the vineyards of the Wine Country. She occasionally paints in Nevada and Colorado, as well.
Teresa's work-- and paint palette-- are inspired primarily by the French impressionists of the early 20th Century, and also by a lesser-known group called the Fauvists, noted for using the most vibrant colors found in nature. More directly, Teresa acknowledges an artistic indebtedness to a group of impressionists called "The Society of Six"
This group of plein air painters became a creative force of historic note upon viewing French works at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. Given the climatic and geologic similarities between southern France and the California coastline, there were strong, natural affinities between the work of the French and American artists.
However, according to one of the books about the Six, they "rejected the tonalists" preference for a muted, almost shrouded landscape, which depicted California's foggy days but not its predominantly sunny reality: "They sought instead to capture the visual impression of the sunshine and the color of the land and sky, and to evoke the quality of light and weather, the yellow hills, the Manzanitas and scrub oaks, lupine and poppies, tile roofs and Monterey pines."
Several members of the Society of Six passed on their craft to young local painters, including Pam Glover, who painted one of the group's founders, Louis Siegrist, and his son, Lundy, who also followed in his father's artistic footsteps. Mrs.Glover has taught plein air techniques to many accomplished artists, including Teresa Onoda, who is now teaching outdoor impressionist painting herself. Given the strong hold of the arts in California and the striking natural beauty of the region's farmland, vineyards, coastline and mountains, this generation-spanning school of painting is certain to continue.
Teresa Onoda earned a Fine Arts degree from Creighton University. She was a fine arts instructor at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, and has also taught art in Houston and in the Bay Area. She is married and has two children.

Teresa Onoda's aggressive brush strokes and bolder-than-life colors have caught the eye of many Baby Boomer art collectors frequenting galleries in the booming Northern California communities.
After earning a fine arts degree at Creighton University, then teaching art in Omaha, Houston and Memphis, Teresa studies plein air painting with well-known artist Pam Glover. In just a few years, Teresa's work began to gain attention for its powerful painting technique and use of pure color. Many began to appreciate the sense of movement and life she imbued in the landscapes captured on canvas.
Teresa favors treks to out-of-the way rural settings, vineyards and farms with in a day's drive of San Francisco; although she has made painting excursions to Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado.




October workshop in Carmel  2010



October 18 we arrive in Carmel. We have a evening party at Nancy Dodds
Gallery. Tuesday we paint the ocean across the street from our Hacienda. Wednesday we paint Ocean Beach in Carmel by the Sea. Thursday we paint Point Lobos. Every night we will have a critic on the patio. There has to be at least eight people and no more then 16. This will be a wonderful art experience to live and breath art and beauty. Email for more information.

More on Oct in Carmel The way we will work meals is an easy and inexpensive way. There is a kitchen at the hacienda and a grill on the patio. Every night two artist will be responsible for one meal. Simple is great, we are not chefs. We will fix our own breakfast and pack a lunch. All of the bedrooms open out to the patio that faces the mountain. The front faces the ocean. The ocean is across the street. We will be immersed in art, nature, and beauty just how I like it.