There’s something quintessentially Californian about Holly Beals’ mixed media paintings. In Dive In Everyone, a row of longboards is lined up along a beach boardwalk. Their bottoms are made of text and advertisements from magazine clippings.
Beals is a resident artist at Studios on the Park, and her work is currently featured in the gallery’s front window through April 27.
The artist lives on the Central Coast with her husband and two boys. She graduated from Chico State with a BA in communications, worked as a graphic designer for six years, then moved to Tibet to teach conversational English to college students.
“One day, in her tiny teacher’s apartment, Holly grabbed some scrap paper, acrylic paint, and magazine clippings, then went to work,” her bio explained. “An afternoon spent creating was the perfect soul therapy in the midst of a challenging time. So began Holly’s love for mixed media painting.”
She’s in the process of writing her first book, and “some things Holly will never stop believing: Life has meaning, each person is significant, and the One who made all things is beautiful beyond comprehension.”
Studios on the Park is located at 1130 Pine St., Paso Robles. Contact the gallery by emailing info@studiosonthepark.org or calling (805) 238-9800. The gallery is open Sunday through Thursday from noon to 4 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. Visit its webpage at studiosonthepark.org. ∆
This article appears in April 23-30, 2026.