In the Zoe

Claudia Figueroa

Zoe Hadley wishes she lived in the French countryside. But instead,

she creates portraits of the area and brings a little bit of the

Mediterranean to Balboa Island.

Art lovers will have the opportunity to view Hadley’s spectacular

images in the upcoming exhibit “Personal Reflections” at Graphics Gallery

on Balboa Island.

The exhibit, which begins May 12, will feature a collection of 35

paintings that Hadley -- a 38-year Newport Beach resident -- created last

year.

Hadley, who attended the Art Center School of Design in Pasadena

several years ago, has been a resident artist at the the gallery for two

years.

Graphics Gallery owner Michael Zschoche said this show is Hadley’s

first one-woman exhibition at the gallery. Zschoche said the show also

features a plethora of figurative and landscape paintings that show

Hadley’s impressionistic instincts.

One painting that will be on display is “Clean Sheets,” an oil

painting on panel inspired by a woman hanging her laundry on a

clothesline on a spring afternoon in Taos, N.M. In it, Hadley uses

bright shades of green as a backdrop, demonstrating her unique awareness

of one’s surroundings. Her work is simple, yet it tells a story.

“I paint people doing what they do,” said Hadley.

Zschoche said some of the paintings are based on a series of studies

Hadley created last year as she traveled through Europe.

“Mas in Provence” is a landscape painting of the French countryside in

which Hadley uses a mixture of green, eggplant, burnt sienna and other

earth tones to paint European terrain. All of this is a setting for a set

of Mediterranean-style villas with terra cotta roof tops.

“My paintings are not just pretty landscapes,” Hadley explained.

“They are moments in time that moved me. Sometimes it’s late in the day

when the sun is setting behind a building or the way the clouds are

reflected on water. What’s important for me is knowing that my work

speaks to others as well as it speaks to me.”

WHAT: Zoe Hadley’s “Personal Reflections”

WHERE: Graphics Gallery, 219 Marine Ave., Balboa Island

WHEN: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. May 12

HOW MUCH: Free.

PHONE: (949) 673-2220