Palos Verdes Art Center is pleased to present Mike Ishikawa: Pastels & Ink. This solo exhibition features new works in pastels dwelling on our local landscape along with stirring marine scenes. The accompanying ink drawings demonstrate the artist’s dexterity with line, presenting local landmarks along with masterful renderings of buildings that recall Ishikawa’s past career as an architect. “Painting with pastels has been a fabulous journey, and over the years I have taken as many workshops and classes as time would allow. I like to use bright colors, dark shadows and varied textures and marks. I try to create a painterly,bold quality in my art, painting boats, landscapes, seascapes, and urban scenes,” the artist recalls. Born in 1937 on Terminal Island in San Pedro, Mike Ishikawa graduated USC in 1964. Becoming an architect, he says, was one of the best decisions of his life. One of the last group in his profession who actually drew their plans by pencil; presenting his ideas to clients by sketching was one of his favorite phases of the job. Now, Mike paints for the love and joy that painting gives him. He sketches while on trips and has filled 20 sketchbooks with pen and inkdrawings. Mike has won awards in many competitions, local and national, and has earned Master Circle status in the International Pastel Society. He is a member of the Laguna Plien Air Painters, Pacific Art Guild of PV, and the Pastel Society of Southern California and is a Signature member of the Pastel Society of the West Coast.