Andy Davis Visits the Studio

Earlier today California artist Andy Davis stopped by the studio to visit with Nowak and to take a look at the progress of the collection, Faces of Surfing.
Photo: Nowak and Davis in the La Jolla studio

Have Liz Put You on the List

Liz has been out in California helping Letty with the logistics for the project. If you would like to join the Faces of Surfing mailing list please send your snail mail and email address to Liz at the FacesofSurfing@gmail.com, for details on the upcoming exhibitions.
Photo: Liz at the 2011 Hurley Pro

Faces of Surfing Fan Page Has Debuted

Don't forget to like us on Facebook. We are shooting for over 100,000 likes! https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Letty-Nowak-Faces-of-Surfing/237406636297505

2011 Hurley Pro

Yesterday Nowak attended the 2011 Hurley Pro at iconic surf break, Lower Trestle located in San Clemente, CA. It was a beautiful afternoon at the pictureesque spot as 10th time title holder Kelly Slater beat out finalist Owen Wright in the final minutes. This was Kelly's 48th contest win.

Photo: Nowak at the 2011 Hurley Pro in San Clemente, CA

Preparing George Downing’s Canvas

Its time to start a new painting, and it's the legendary George Downing. Nowak took his picture at the 2011 Waterman's Ball, cutting the wood to the stretcher means she gets to start the painting tomorrow.
Photo: Nowak at her La Jolla, CA studio

Nowak on Hurley's Blog

Press from Hurley about the Faces of Surfing collection. Check it out! http://www.hurley.com/blog/blog.cfm/aid/47852/HURLEY-FACES

Photo: 'Aamion Goodwin' oil on canvas 68x70

Congratulations Shaney Jo Darden

At last night Eighth Annual Liquid Nation Ball, Shaney Jo was honored as the Humanitarian of the year. Darden is famously known for her amazing work with Breast Cancer awareness, and her ability to broadcast the ever so common issue across borders and more importantly generations. Congrats Shaney Jo on all you amazing work!
Photo Top:Darden Accepting SIMA’s 2011 Humanitarian of the year award
Photo Bottom:Nowak at SIMA’s Eighth Annual Liquid Nation Ball held every year at Humanitarian Fernando Aguerre’s private residence in La Jolla, CA

The Lucky La Jolla Step

Seven months in La Jolla has proven to be lucky. Not only has the community been extremely supportive, Nowak has also been privileged to attend events such as SIMA’s annual Waterman’s Ball and tonight’s Liquid Nation Ball, which happens to be steps from her studio. Nowak has immersed herself into Southern California’s surfing community which has bolstered the Faces of Surfing project.

Shout Out to Kai Costanzo

Kai Costanzo of Kai Kai Sandals has been a huge supporter. Not only did he donate space as a 2010 Montauk studio for Nowak, he also showed up sporting a Lemonade Stand T-shirt to help pack up the paintings at the Outeast Gallery to ship back to La Jolla. Thank you, Kai.

PhotoTop: Nowak and Costanzo at Outeast Gallery in Montauk, NY

Photo Bottom: Nowak painting 'Bob Hurley' at Kai Kai Sandal's Montauk studio

Finalizing the Details of The Faces of Surfing Debut at Hurley

Monday Letty traveled to Hurley's campus to finalize details for the Faces of Surfing Debut on October 28th, 2011 at TownHall Gallary and 225 Laguna on November 3, 2011. Her meeting proved to be successful with their innovating ideas and support for her project.

Hal Bromm and Donely Meris Visit the Studio

Art dealer, Hal Bromm and Donely Meris of New York City visited Letty's La Jolla studio last Thursday to see her new work and space. The trio also spent the evening at Art San Diego's opening night. Bromm has exhibited Nowak's work in his gallery at the corner of West Broadway and Chambers Street in NYC and currently has some of her work on display. Gallery is open by appointment. Call: (212) 732-6196

Photo top: Bromm and Meris at Windansea outside of the studio

Photo bottom: Bromm and Meris viewing 'Drew Kampion' oil on canvas in progress

Introducing Nowak Encaustics

A few summers ago at Golden Eagle Art Supply in East Hampton, NY, Letty noticed a posting for an encaustic workshop. She immediately signed up for a private lesson. "I was really looking for something to break me out of my comfort zone. I love working with oils, but knew the spontaneity of working with wax would be good for me and my current work. It has pushed me to learn to work faster and open myself up even more to the unknown," says Nowak, "I definitely think my encaustic work has influenced my current Faces." The new encaustics are currently on display at the Outeast Gallery in Montauk, NY.

Photo: "Ditch Plains" encaustic 9 x 11 inches 2011

Surf Collective NYC Interview

Here is an interview by the Surf Collective NYC. I think it just may be one of the most beautiful and cool blogs I have seen. Their whole site is worth checking out. -Letty http://surfcollectivenyc.com/art/letty-nowak-faces-of-surf/

Outeast Gallery Montauk ReCap

Here is just a taste of Letty's exhibition at the Outeast Gallery in Montauk, New York. The opening reception was last Saturday night and proved to be a large success drawing a crowd to see the new work. Included in this show were not only four brand new Faces of Surfing paintings (Bob Hurley, Aamion Goodwin, Rob Machado, and Bob McKnight), but also some of Nowak's new encaustic pieces which were also viewed for the first time. The exhibition is up until September 6th and a closing reception is in the works for September 3rd from 6 - 9 pm. The gallery is located at 65 Tuthill Road.

Getting Ready for Montauk

The past few weeks have been spent getting the paintings finished, photographed, and shipped for the Outeast Gallery solo exhibiton in Montauk New York. Tweleve new paintings from California will be in New York for the opening reception along with many more of Nowak's paintings. The opening reception is Saturday, August 20th from 6-9 pm and will be up through September 6th. The gallery is located at 65 Tuthill Road

Photo by W.J. Nowak

Waterman's Ball 2011

Nowak was invited to the Waterman's Ball last Friday, August 12th, 2011 at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel. "I was able to meet and photograph George Downing and Gerry Lopez for the Faces of Surfing at the event. It will be an honor painting both of them," says Letty. "It was an incredible experience to be around so many people from all walks in the industry at one beautiful event that raised over $400,000 for charity. Thank you to Paul Naude of Billabong for making this happen," she adds.

Photograph: Letty Nowak with Richard Woolcott and Cari Church

Debbie Beacham and Jan Malis Visit the Studio

Debbie Beacham, a former World Title Surfing Champion and avid surfer today visited Letty's studio with Jan Malis of La Jolla to check out the Faces of Surfing paintings. Beacham was just inducted to the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach during the Hurley US Open. Debbie is in the line up to be one of Letty's subjects and the stretcher for her piece is ready and just needs the canvas and paint.

Nowak Painting at Volcom Headquarters

Letty Nowak's painting of Richard Woolcott, founder of Volcom is now in the company's permanent collection. Pictured here is Nowak with the painting proudly displayed overhead.

La Jolla Art Scene

Nowak ventured out with Mark and Brooke McDonald to her first art opening of Summer 2011 in La Jolla Shores last Saturday for Scott Gillen's opening reception of his paintings at the La Jolla Art Association. "It was good to see work of another portrait artist," says Nowak. "Besides his figures, he had an interesting constructed painting, and a few sky and landscapes." Scott's exhibition is open to the public and will be up through this Sunday, July 24th. The La Jolla Art Association is located at 8100 Paseo Del Ocosa.

In this photo: Letty Nowak, Scott Gillen, Brooke and Mark McDonald

Faces of Key West V at Lucky Street Gallery

With a move to it's new location at 540 Greene Street in Key West, FL, the well known and established, Lucky Street Gallery has added Nowak's Faces of Key West V portraits to it's walls. Some of the subjects on these oil on linen canvases include: Mayor, Craig Cates, Marc Bungeroth, Mona Santiago, Teri Johnston, Lauren McAloon, Frank Piku, Michael Halpbern, Bill Yankee, and Denise Chelikis of the famed Camille's Restaurant. For more information or to contact the gallery call: (305) 294-3973

painting: 'Michael Halpbern,' oil on linen, 12 x 11 inches

Happy Birthday!

I just had a blast celebrating my birthday in my hometown of Gull Lake, Michigan with 2 of my closest childhood friends. Here is to a year of giving my Faces of Surfing project everything I have and to making great paintings throughout it. You know it's going to be a good one when you get to eat your birthday cake with chop sticks-

And the Studio Fills

As the days in La Jolla go by, the studio continues to fill with works in progress and new paintings. This is a partial view of the space as more works continue around the walls and are even making their way into the other rooms.

Faces of Surfing Exhibitions Announced at Hurley

Letty's Faces of Surfing series will be exhibited this Fall at Hurley's Campus in Costa Mesa, California at their Town Hall Gallery on October 28th, 2011 from 6 - 9 pm.

The exhibition will then travel to their Laguna Beach location: Hurley 225. Opening reception for 225 is November 3rd, 2011 from 6:30 - 9 pm.

Photos by Letty taken in October 2010 during her CA scouting trip to check out Hurley's Town Hall Gallery.

Cory Patterson In Studio

LA based photographer, Cory Patterson recently called me up to come down and photograph my CA studio. It was great to have another artist in the space and his work turned out incredible. You can see more of his photography on his site: www.corypphotography.com

La Jolla Mornings

One of the perks about painting in La Jolla is the some of the ways I get to start my day. The other morning my painting session started with a surf. Nothing like waking up to some cold Southern Californian water rushing over me as I paddled out or the dolphin that slowly swam by peaking up a couple times at the few of us that were out in the line up. Mornings like this are proving to make productive days in front of the canvas.

Keeping Up With the Ideas

I swept up sawdust and was able to start the process of stretching the canvases. After a few hours of canvas and a staple gun, I took an afternoon break. I took off for La Jolla Shores with my new neighbor, Andy for some sushi and beach side frozen yogurt. We had a little unplanned stop in downtown La Jolla at Warwick's where we ran into a book signing by Candace Bushnell introducing her new book Summer in the City. We heard the tail end of her talk which was about her writing process. What surprised me was how similar her process was to mine... the start of the process is slow... working through the ideas. At the end it moves extremely fast- lots of hours put into the work just trying to keep up with the ideas.

Photo by: www.aspenspin.com

Painting Preparation

This is going to be one of those weeks of making stretchers in La Jolla. Good thing the weather is so sunny and warm because my great make-shift woodshop is partly outside (thanks to Gary, the property manager). Hopefully the neighbors won't be too annoyed with a table saw buzzing for a few hours... I have some good subjects I am about to start and want to be ready with big new white canvases. Stay tuned-

Konk AM Radio Interview

Last Monday, April 25th I had the pleasure of speaking on Michael Shields Art Waves on Konk AM in Key West. It was the first time I announced current body of work, The Faces of Surfing to my Key West home and collectors who live on the island. Thank you, Michael, for the opportunity. It's always fun to catch up with you- especially on the air.

New California Studio

I have been lucky enough to take on another studio in California this past February. I have an exhibition (soon to be announced) this upcoming fall that I will be making the paintings for in this new space. Yes, I am still keeping my Key West studio and will be there monthly, but most of the month I will be painting full time in Cali. Lots of exciting new painting ideas and a big project coming up. So far I am enjoying the West Coast and it sure does seem to be conducive to living a pretty balanced life style and getting a lot of painting done. More to come- Letty