PainterErnesto Gomez

Ernesto grew up in the Caribbean in Cuba and Puerto Rico. He loved the beach and ocean. His dad taught him to sail before he was ten. Ernesto’s parents were both architects and he grew up in a house filled with art.

Even so, he fell in love with astronomy, and went to college in the U.S. to study it and physics. Upon returning to Puerto Rico, he met the love of his life and married her. At that time, he followed a career as a teacher and freelance computer programmer. He and his wife moved back to the U.S.; He decided he wanted to go back to teaching, so he got his doctorate in computer science. This led him to California as a professor at Cal State San Bernardino from where he has recently retired.

All his life Ernesto continued to be surrounded by art which he loved, but he had no idea he could actually do art. Then his wife gave him a watercolor class at Redlands Art Association for his birthday. He loved it and took more classes there. Art has opened up areas of his mind he didn’t know were there when he was only doing science and math – and it brings him enormous joy and satisfaction.

Ernesto paints from memory and imagination. He sometimes refreshes his memory from photos he has taken and often he paints something he sees only in his mind. He draws on memories of beaches, the sea, sailing, and the city of San Juan where he finished growing up. He loves cities and loves to paint them – particularly Redlands where he lives, and New York where his grandchildren live, as well as other places he has visited.

Ernesto doesn’t always know what he is going to paint; his most satisfying work takes him in unexpected directions while he is painting it, and he deeply enjoys the dialog between himself and his work. He doesn’t aim for realism – he wants to give his impression and feelings, and he uses bright colors to express his joy in being able to create art.