Sutter’s landing

Sean K. Sutter started painting en plein air in 2011 while studying art at Humboldt State university. Since moving to the Sacramento Valley from California's north coast, the Davis-based artist and illustrator has found plenty of reason to continue this practice, reveling in the hidden textures and shades of Yolo County rice paddies and the hills of Napa County.

Indeed, Sutter introduced himself to his new home with hikes and watercolor sketches in his Moleskine notebook, taking the time to soak in the evening light. He says he took special care to capture the subtle changes in hue as the afternoon sun sets, bringing out the gold and pink in wild grasses going to seed, the minty blue in the shadow of an oak, and ocher earth tones underneath it all.

Now, Sutter's new solo show With Eyes to See… , which opens on Saturday, August 9, with an artist's reception at the Ficklin-Wilcox wine shop, shows off those experiences with more than a dozen colorful acrylic-on-wood landscape paintings depicting these scenes of nature, such as “Cold Water” (pictured).

The art opening will give also visitors a chance to slow down and enjoy the finer side of California: Portuguese varietal grapes grown in Madera County and aged tawny port and tempranillo. But, warning: It might be near-impossible to experience Northern California any other way once you've paired Sutter's meditation on local beauty with a nice glass of red. 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, August 9; at Ficklin-Wilcox, 920 20th Street; www.ficklinwilcox.com; www.seanksutter.com.