A double life: Art and architecture give Jim Caldwell entry into the best of both worlds. A double life: Art and architecture give Jim Caldwell entry into the best of both worlds. (March 26, 2003)

By Jane Knoerle
Almanac Lifestyles Editor

Jim Caldwell of Woodside, successful artist and architect, is no starving artist painting in a garret. His studio, nestled in the redwoods, is only a few yards from the handsome home he designed 30 years ago. His morning commute is a path along Bear Gulch Creek.

Mr. Caldwell's studio serves both his art and architecture. He arrives early in the morning to spend two hours painting beautiful landscapes. At 8 a.m. he puts down his brushes to spend the rest of the day at his drafting table.

Sixty-one of his paintings now appear in a handsome new "coffee table" book, "The Golden Coast: From Big Sur to the Russian River." The book is filled with images familiar to local readers, from "Lake Lagunita with Fog" to "Near Page Mill."

The drama of Big Sur is also represented in oils, such as "Big Sur Looking South" and "Big Sur Above Clouds." The paintings progress from San Simeon in the south to "Napa from the Silverado Trail."

"The Golden Coast" was in the works for about a year, arriving in the bookstores in late 2002. "It was quite an odyssey to get the book printed," says Mr. Caldwell, who chose to have it printed in Verona, Italy, because of the high quality of work available there. "My wife and I spent a week there doing the press check."

The book is dedicated to his wife, Philipa, who came up with the book's title. Its arrival, timed to appeal to holiday shoppers, was delayed by the labor dispute between dock workers and shipping industry. Copies were "off-loaded" and languished in Panama for several weeks. When the books finally arrived in the United States, sales were brisk, with one-third of the printing sold in a few weeks.

"I did the marketing myself and it's not much fun," says Mr. Caldwell. "I loaded my car and visited 30 bookstores." "The Golden Coast" ($65) is available at Kepler's in Menlo Park; Books Inc. in the Stanford Shopping Center; Borders in Palo Alto; and the Cantor Art Center bookstore.

"The book is a stepping stone for me," says Mr. Caldwell. "The next step is a museum show." He is also looking forward to teaching a beginning class in acrylics in Stanford's continuing education program next fall.

Mr. Caldwell outlines basic images in acrylic, then fills in with oil. "The reason I like oil is the texture and richness," he says. "Before I built the studio, I worked in a little room in the house. Now I have room to make large paintings," he says. Most of his 36-by-60-inch landscapes sell in the $5,500 range.

He has done a painting of his wife and a self-portrait, but landscapes are his love. In his artist's statement, Mr. Caldwell says, "We have traveled often, and my subjects have included such far-flung destinations as Machu Picchu, Glacier Bay and the Alhambra in Spain ... but I will always come back to the beloved and beautiful landscapes which bless us in California."

Mr. Caldwell left his job as a project manager in a large architectural firm 14 years ago to go into business for himself. Now he divides his time between painting and designing private residences. "I would never give up architecture. It's a total thrill," he says, displaying a model of a "farmhouse" he was designing for a Woodside couple.

Born in New York City in 1942, Jim Caldwell moved to California when he was 8 years old. His father, Emott Caldwell, owned Caldwell's General Store in Woodside from 1950 to 1960, when it was sold to the Roberts family, the current proprietors.

Mr. Caldwell's introduction to painting came when he was 4 years old and his mother commissioned a portrait of her children. The artist, B.A. Hillibranth, showed him how to draw a face and his was hooked.

As a senior at the Cate School in Carpinteria, California, Mr. Caldwell won the student art prize. He went on to Williams College, where he majored in art history. "Art history gave me a basic foundation and exposure to all artists," he says. "My favorite artists are Monet, Sargent and Van Gogh, and two current artists I really admire are Wayne Thiebaud and Mark Adams."

After graduation from college, Mr. Caldwell spent a year painting in Europe and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He then returned to study architecture at Yale. After receiving his master's degree in 1969, he got his start as an architect by designing and building a beach house for his in-laws in Santa Cruz, which now belongs to Mr. Caldwell and his wife.

"Twenty years ago I needed to start painting again," says Mr. Caldwell. He took several semesters of classes from Richard Heidsiek at Canada College in Woodside. "Finally he said, 'Jim you don't need me anymore.' "

Contrary to the stereotype, Mr. Caldwell doesn't cart his easel to a hillside and paint what he sees. Instead he carries a camera everywhere so he can shoot photos of scenes that might become future paintings. "When you're a full-time architect, you have to be extremely efficient with your time," he says. "You can't spend three days photographing Big Sur."

He uses a Pentax camera and a 28-200mm zoom lens. "I use Kodachrome 64 slide film. I have a whole freezer full of Kodachrome film because they are going to stop making it."

He prefers slides to painting outdoors, where "ants are crawling up your leg and the sky is changing every moment. How the masters painted the sky (outdoors) is beyond me."

Back in the studio he works from slides taken at the site and views the image through an illuminated viewer.

California is a continual source of inspiration to Jim Caldwell. "I'll always be doing the Stanford hills and the San Mateo coast. Tunitas Creek is something I will be painting all my life."