News Subscribe to Our Newsletter Sign up for Email Updates CGF In the News Press Inquiries Past Articles Calendar			The Mercury News October 28, 2004 Painter's work  receives award By Kimra McPherson Jim Caldwell started his career as an artist by looking abroad, capturing scenes from the French countryside with oil paint on canvas. But he soon recognized the natural beauty surrounding his Woodside home. "I have painted Venice, Rome, Florence, Paris," he  said. "But we are surrounded by this beautiful landscape." Saturday, Caldwell will be honored for his paintings, which span Bay Area environments from Crystal Springs Park to the Stanford foothills to the San Mateo coastline. The architect, who has been painting seriously for the past 20 years, is the first recipient of the Jane Gallagher Award from the Committee for Green Foothills. Until her death in January at 73, Gallagher was an active board member of the Palo Alto-based organization, which is devoted to preserving open space on the Peninsula. She also was a painter who used her art to study the area's landscape, said Velma Gentzsch, the organization's associate director of development.  "After Jane passed, we felt a great need to honor  her in some way,'' Gentzsch said." More than 40 Bay Area landscape artists competed  for the award. A panel of art experts selected a dozen to appear in Saturday's  exhibit, "Nature's Inspirations." Among them, Caldwell took  top honors.  Caldwell, 62, was born in New York and moved to California with his family at age 8. He has lived in Woodside for 40 years, with a few detours -- to Williams College, Paris and the Yale School of Architecture.  After finishing graduate school, he returned to  Woodside and started his residential architecture firm, which he still  operates. Caldwell still paints scenes from his travels abroad.  But just as often, he is struck by what he sees at Stanford University,  where he is teaching a painting class, or along Interstate 280. In 2003,  he released "The Golden Coast: From Big Sur to the Russian River,"  a book with reproductions of 61 of his California paintings. If you're interested "Nature's Inspirations'' will be on display 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday.  Tickets cost $75, and those interested in attending should call (650)  968-7243 to find out if space is available. Assemblyman Joe Simitian will host a live auction  of several of the paintings, with proceeds going to the Committee for  Green Foothills. To see some of the work selected for the exhibit,  visit www.greenfoothills.org/art. Page last updated October 28, 2004 .