Peter Adams admits to being somewhat of a rapscallion in his early years. When he was a junior, the military school he was attending instituted an art program. Unimpressed with the artwork created by the teacher and students and displayed in the cafeteria, he took action.

“I took it all down, stole some paints and put my paintings up under the nom deplume Von Seitz,” he says. “I put my paintings up all over campus. About five years later, I was back at the school for some event, and there was a sign that said, ‘Von Seitz, come back; we need you!”

That, in essence, was the start of Adams’ career as an artist. He went on to student at Cal Western in San Diego, California; at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, California, and at the Instituto de Bellas Artes in Mexico, before he found what he was looking for. “I wanted to paint like the Old Masters,” he says. “Then I found a teacher who admired Theodore Lukits, and I studied with him for seven years at the Lukits Fine Art Academy.”

Peter Adams

Autumn Glare Through the Eucalyptus Forest
Oil
30″ x 40″
“This painting was created from a plein air study I did of one of California’s oldest eucalyptus forests, located by Batiquitos Lagoon on the south side of Carlsbad. I have painted this area my entire career. Over the years, I have witnessed constant changes to the land and recall when there were hundreds of acres of magnificent eucalyptus trees, where now only a small fraction remains. Yet each time I return, I am struck by the magical light that emphasizes the sinuous silhouettes of the eucalyptus and the freedom of open space. As a landscape artist, I am particularly sensitive to our ever-changing natural environment and am moved to bring this awareness to others.”

Peter Adams

Dragon Rocks Fire; Crescent City
Oil
24″ x 48″
“The Dragon Rocks of St. George Reef are in Northern California, just 20 miles form the Oregon border and near the town of Crescent City. This menacing collection of giant, jagged rocks and submerged ledges was discovered in 1579 by Sir Francis Drake. I came upon this spectacular scene in the late afternoon and spent three days there, sketching in oil and pastel. I was most intrigued by the glare of the setting sun and how it diffused the appearance of these threatening rocks.”