Sailor and artist combine

Although she said Lake Michigan is beautiful and she enjoyed its scenery while living in Chicago, nothing entranced artist Carole Boller more than the ocean.

So six years ago, Boller moved from the Windy City to Newport Beach to open her studio and art gallery just steps away from where the Balboa ferry lands on the peninsula.

Boller tries to sail once a week — although she hesitated last week to call herself a sailor — so when Newport Ocean Sailing Assn. Commodore David Garcia approached her about painting the official work for the 60th Annual Lexus Newport to Ensenada Race, she was more than delighted.

Today, Boller and Garcia will unveil the painting they collaborated on — it was Garcia’s initial vision and sketches coupled with Boller’s artistic talent that they said made it happen — at a party scheduled at Boller’s gallery.

But before she agreed to the commission, she had one condition: She wanted to be part of a crew during the race.

“Just in discussions with her and looking at her other paintings she had in there, I could tell she understood the feeling of sailing, you know, so she was able to put into it more realism,” Garcia said.

Garcia was happy to oblige in order to commission an artist who had intimate knowledge of the sport and of the ocean.

“I was like a person with two hats — I jumped up and down with my sailor hat on, and I jumped up and down with my artist hat on,” Boller said, sitting in her bay-front studio Wednesday.

Not all of the artists commissioned in past years were familiar with sailing and so artistic license was taken with the paintings, which made for beautiful artwork but didn’t always end in a realistic view of sailing or the Newport to Ensenada Race, Garcia said. The association has commissioned a painter only in the past five years, and the art has served as the focus of mailers sent out to potential racers, as well as cards, posters, cover art for an annual magazine, T-shirts, invitations and other Newport to Ensenada memorabilia.

Because of this year’s 60-year milestone, Garcia wanted to approach the painting differently from in the past.

“Past paintings I have seen depicted sailing themes … it was just basically boats and ocean and that kind of thing; they never really told the story of what it was all about,” Garcia said. “So my vision was — I’d sure like to have something that shows the story of the race.”

The race goes as fast as the wind will carry the boats, and Garcia wanted the painting to reflect its beginning, middle and end as well as the uncertainty that comes with sailing.

That uncertainty is one thing Boller said she loves about sailing and why she’s excited to be put to work next year.

“There’s freedom, there’s inspiration, there’s the challenge of the sea and the wind and the beauty of the sky and ocean,” Boller said.

The unveiling will be the first of its kind. In past years, the painting was set up almost two months before the race at an exhibit at the Newport Nautical Museum, but because of the museum’s impending move, Garcia said he’s unsure if the exhibit will happen this year.

Boller originally scheduled the party to say bon voyage to her Balboa Peninsula studio. She’ll pack up all her things at the end of the year, and she plans to move her studio and classroom to a 50-foot sailboat moored in the harbor. She’ll offer discounted prices on her other paintings at the unveiling party, as well as sales till the end of the year.

Boller has fallen in love with her adopted city, which provides her a wealth of inspiration.

Newport Beach “is a rich environment with a wealth of fascinating subjects that allow me to produce work that people simply fall in love with,” Boller said.

For more information about the unveiling or Boller’s studio, call (949) 433-1400 or visit www.bollerart.com.

The race is scheduled for April 27 through 29 and takes off from Newport Beach.