Art with personality
| Wednesday, Jan 27 2010 04:26 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Jan 28 2010 10:41 AM
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Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Alison Beitzel is a young local artist that paints and also creates handbags
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Artist Alison Beitzel with a HObag, left, and vintage hatbox, which she paints on.
Versatile is a good way of describing Alison Beitzel's approach to art. Most of the charcoal portraits she has on display at two local restaurants, Amestoy's and Narducci's are realistic.
Yet some of her other creations, such as HOBags -- the painted vintage purses she sells locally and on the Internet -- are downright funky.
Beitzel first came to my attention because of the painting she did for Claire Putney's visual narrative about a cockroach named Weston and a hawk called Emmaline. She is one of the 27 artists who contributed to the project recently at the Surface Gallery. I was impressed with the humor Beitzel incorporated into her piece as well as the abstract style she employed. After all, how often do you see someone who has an insect for a pet.
"I wanted to bring a human into it," she explained. "So I painted a portrait of a man in one corner and as part of his childhood memory, he's got a cockroach on a leash."
Her off-beat humor also spills over into HOBags, the name she's registered as a trademark for her purse business. Her website is www.myspace.com/HOBags.
"The first part of it is a slang word for a floozy girl," she said. "And my slogan is 'Don't be one, carry one.'"
Beitzel also describes her bags as the ultimate in coolness.
In addition to painting custom designs on the purses, which she buys at local antique stores, customers can also choose from designs provided by the artist.
These range from pin-up girls of the 1950s to portraits of Elvis and Audrey Hepburn, and "old-school tattoos," such as eagles, tigers, hearts and arrows, designs that have been reproduced over and over. By the way, some of her purses can be seen at Pretty in Ink, a local tattoo shop. She uses acrylic paints for the designs, which are finished with what she calls her secret sealer to make the painting permanent.
Beitzel is a Bakersfield native who left her hometown when she was 8 years old. She spent most of her growing-up years in Orange County and studied in "every art class I could find" in high school and at Saddleback Community College.
She returned here several years ago thanks to her marriage to Jeffrey Beitzel, a dental technician who is known as "Four Eyes" in his side business, where he does pin-striping on cars, motorcycles and helmets.
Several members of Alison's extended family have always lived here and she met Jeffrey on one of her visits. Now her parents, Margie and Gary Pritchard, have returned to the fold.
"My parents are my biggest supporters," Alison said. "When I got pregnant, they left their beautiful beach home in San Clemente and moved back here. We're real tight as a family -- it just shows how important family is."
The Beitzels now have a 6-year-old son and a daughter, age 4. The artist is happy to be able to work at home because she gets to share what she does with her children.
"They love to sit with me and paint," she said. "I put a few different color paints out for them and they go at it wild and crazy."
