Mistress of Mirage

If you’ve been to over the past month, you may have noticed the paintings of large flowers adorning the walls and, more recently, angels and nymphs whose images appear on canvases of cracked linen.

The works are by Petaluma artist Roberta Ahrens, who has made a career in bringing splashes of color and elegance to residential and commercial spaces, and whose work can be seen in murals at the Westin St. Francis and Macy’s in San Francisco as well as many homes and restaurants in the region.

The cracked linen canvas is a big departure from the mural work she did for many years, but has liberated Ahrens artistically. The recipe involves a mixture of plaster and glue stretched on fabric, dried, then rolled, which cracks it. The cracks, different every time, give all of Ahrens’ pieces an aura of antiquity, even if they were made months ago in her Eastside home.

“It’s a love of old surfaces and textures,” says Ahrens. “To be able to take new materials and create something that looks old is very enjoyable.”

In doing this, Ahrens is continuing the long tradition of trompe l'oeil, a technique employed by Baroque painters and frequently used by muralists to make a room appear larger than it is. Trompe l’oeil means “deceive the eye” in French, and that’s what some of Ahrens’ pieces do, such as a large blue canvas titled “Winter Twigs” which gives the viewer the feeling that they are looking through a window.

Ahrens, who grew up in Oregon in a family that nurtured her creativity (she was sewing by the time she was 10), says she has had a lifelong attraction to beautiful things.

“If I wasn’t an artist, I’d be a florist or growing orchids,” she said.

Ahrens began her career in 1981 when she moved to San Francisco to apprentice with her sister, Shelly Masters, who is 10 years older and already working as an instructor at the Day Studio Workshop. It was there that Ahrens learned to be a decorative artist, learning how to paint a column so that it would appear to be made of marble or an antique map.

“It was how fast can you paint it and how cheap can you do it?” Ahrens recalls. It was exhausting, but it helped the young artist, who never went to art school and had no formal training, develop a technique.

Ahrens, who has two daughters, 17 and 14, both students at Petaluma High School, says she is inspired by the world around her. “Winter Twigs,” for example, was created after a hike in Helen Putnam Park and a photo she saw of a hummingbird with a magenta crown.

“All you can do is follow the muse and see where it takes you,” she says. “My feeling is if it moves me, it will ultimately move others.”

Check out more of Roberta Ahrens’ work at robertaahrens.com. Ahrens' workcan be seen at the Ferrari Carrano Winery in Healdsburg and Sunflower Caffe in Sonoma.

Ahrens is also seeking a new venue to display her work. If you are a business owner and would like to display it, contact Ahrens directly.