Crystal Cove Aid: Easel Does It

The overcast morning skies seemed to match Dick Kent’s mood Thursday as he painted a landscape of Crystal Cove.

“It seems like I’m capturing a ghost of the past,” the 61-year-old artist said as he filled in the white spots on his watercolor.

A ghost because residents of Crystal Cove have until July 8 to vacate their homes and nobody is quite sure what will happen to the area. That uncertainty seemed to hang over the nearly 20 artists who gathered near the beachfront cottages to paint one of their favorite scenes.

They were at the cove to kick off a statewide program to bring more visitors to state parks and to raise money for the Crystal Cove Conservancy, which hopes to revamp the cottages into an educational and artistic center.

While there are no plans to destroy the homes, painters say the area will never be the same without permanent residents. “It’s one of the last chances to paint here while there are people. . . . There’s life to this place. When you take the people away from here, it will start to lose its charm,” Jacobus Baas said as he painted an oil canvas.

The artists all said that Crystal Cove is one of Orange County’s best landscape backdrops because of its fine light and the unique appearance of the ramshackle cottages, many of which were built in the 1920s.

“Every time you come here you see something different,” said Baas, who estimates he’s painted at least 50 landscapes at the cove.

Baas and the other artists, all members of Laguna Plein Air Painters Assn., have been working for several months to try to preserve Crystal Cove. The group has stockpiled paintings, which will be entered into a contest sponsored by Joan Irvine Smith, the Irvine Ranch heiress who has fought to preserve the cottages. The works will also be available for purchase at Smith’s gallery in Laguna Beach starting Saturday.

Conservancy leaders estimate the exhibit could raise $20,000 to $30,000 to refurbish the cottages.

Thursday’s event also marked the beginning of the new state Arts in the Parks program. Officials hope the events, ranging from concerts to dramatic performances, will draw more visitors to the parks this summer.

While some have questioned whether the state should co-sponsor an event with Smith, who favors refurbishing the cottages, “this is not political at all,” insisted John McMahon, an official with the state Department of Parks and Recreation. “This is about broadening the appeal of the parks.”

But some Crystal Cove residents still have hard feelings.

“There’s such a feeling of loss. . . . It would have been better if we could have stayed until the end of the summer,” said Sheryn Scott, who has been vacationing at one of the cottages with her family for 35 years.

“I just hope our place doesn’t deteriorate,” she said as she stretched out on the sand in front of her cottage.

Deterioration might make the area an even more attractive spot for painters because “everyone loves to paint a ghost town,” Kent said.

But he’d find it difficult to come to Crystal Cove if it becomes deserted: “I’d rather paint a place that has a heart.”