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lings stationed at Fort Ord, he fell in love with the landscape here and decided to make the Monterey Peninsula his home. "Although I was trained in abstract expressionism, I became intrigued with the Early California landscape artists who lived and worked here in the early 20th century," he says. He saw an opportunity to carry on and add to the rich tradition started by those pioneers. "In those days, landscape painting was kind of third tier," he recalls. By combining his abstract impressionist training with plein air sensibilities, the painter came up with an entirely new genre. "In an artistic sense, I think of abstract impressionism as my father and landscape painting as my moth- er," he muses. "My paintings are their children." Apodaca became the latest in a long line of painters who made the pil- grimage to Monterey. "At the turn of the 20th centur y, the Monterey Peninsula was con- sidered ver y impor tant. You weren't an ar tist if you didn't come to paint here," he says. "There was a romantic mood. It was foggier then, the adobes were run down and cows grazed among the ruins A young Johnny Apodaca paints plein aire at Point Lobos. "Painting is not a simple thing. It has to be taken seriously," he says. Photo: Peter McArthur 154 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 1 7 (left to right) "Umbrian Abstract," "Storm Clearing," "Blue Lago" A prolific and perfectionist painter, Apodaca produces around 100 canvases each year. "Not all make the cut," he says. "Some get put away and reworked later."