SF plein air painter brings California landscapes together in ‘Vibrant Earth’  

From Point Reyes to Mount Diablo, California’s scenic destinations are often hours apart. San Francisco artist Claire Lau bridges the distance in “Vibrant Earth,” her show of plein air paintings on view through June 14 at Inclusions Gallery. 

“For the past two years, I’ve been really trying to chase the wildflowers and capture the beauty of springtime in California,” says Lau, who appears in an artist’s talk at the Bernal Heights gallery on Sunday afternoon.  

Lau’s oil paintings feature striking views from San Francisco’s Ina Coolbrith Park and Kite Hill, the East Bay’s Las Trampas Wilderness Regional Preserve, and beyond the Bay Area, including the Carrizo Plain and Caliente Mountain in San Luis Obispo County. 

“She has a very strong color palette that’s almost hyper-realistic. It really captures how a site feels, how a place feels,” says Lisa Moro, owner of Inclusions Gallery. 

Lau, 37, a painter for more than 20 years, has worked en plein air — French for “in the open air,” or painting landscapes outdoors — for the past 15. 

An excursion for a landscape painting class during her undergraduate fine arts studies at Hampshire College in Massachusetts was the start of her plein air journey. On a weekend field trip to Pennsylvania, she and her peers were assigned to complete five paintings over a couple of days. For some, it was a challenge; for Lau, it was eye-opening in the most literal sense. 

“A lot of my classmates struggled, but I found it so invigorating being out there in nature, directly responding to the changing of light, feeling the moisture in the air, and just being out there and really connecting to nature,” she says.  

The joy she felt lingered: “Ever since then, I was like, ‘I love this experience—it gives so much more life to my paintings when I’m out there and it’s making the process so much more exciting, so I’m just going to keep doing this.’” 

After moving to San Francisco, she started bringing her easel, canvas, paints and other supplies to overlooks, parks and coastal trails across town.  

“One of the things I love about San Francisco is that it’s so beautiful, and there are many spots that I feel like I go back to a lot,” she says. Lands End, Corona Heights and the Presidio are among her favorites. 

Depending on the scene and size of the canvas, her painting sessions range from several hours to multiple days. She’s learned to wear layers to accommodate shifting microclimates and wind, and to pack snacks like granola bars.  

“Vibrant Earth” — Lau’s third exhibition at Inclusions Gallery, following “Urban Nature” in 2021 and “Land in Light” in 2024 — expands beyond San Francisco’s parks, peaks and bays. 

“She’s really made a concerted effort to get outside of the city and paint some beautiful natural sites like the mountain plains during the super bloom,” Moro says. 

Lau planned her trips to Carrizo Plain National Monument carefully, researching bloom updates to ensure she would see wildflowers at their peak. She went twice, in early February and mid-March. 

“The colors looked very different already,” Lau recalls, describing the contrast between the visits. 

Vivid and softly layered in greens, yellows and blues, her paintings “Carrizo Plain Superbloom” and “Carrizo Plain Caliente Mountain” — now on the gallery walls — depict a quintessential Golden State scene. 

“She’s captured California brilliantly, and there’s been a really great response to the work—people really feel it when they walk in the room,” Moro says. 

Claire Lau speaks about “Vibrant Earth” at 4 p.m. May 31 at Inclusions Gallery, 627 Cortland Ave., San Francisco. Visit inclusionsgallery.com.