Charlotte White paints an homage to Depot Museum

On Saturday, local artist Charlotte White was putting the finishing touches on a piece featuring museum curator Stan Wilson standing outside the Shafter Depot Museum, with the museum's sign proudly displayed out front.

White has painted several local landmarks, as well as art piece featuring workers in the fields and paintings of local landscapes.

She also finished a series of works based on iconic landmarks in Bakersfield, including the historic Luigi's Restaurant.

"I really enjoy painting people in motion, as well as famous local landmarks, capturing their magic on canvas,: said White.

White has spent the better part of the last 50 years creating works of art and teaching the different mediums to local aspiring artists.

She has had a display of three paintings at Tin Cup featuring local almond groves and landscapes. White said that it was time to switch out the pieces, giving people the chance to see a different collection.

When she started painting she realized that she had a knack for capturing scenery and people at work, giving the pieces life with strokes of a brush. White began teaching locally, and has continued to teach to this day. She teaches at the Bakersfield Art Institute in downtown Bakersfield and had a large exhibit at the Gallery in October. White named the collection "History of Bakersfield" and included people at work, as well as several landmarks in Bakersfield captured in a variety of mediums. White uses oils, watercolors, acrylic, and also sketches. White said that she had started the painting of the museum back in December and "lived with it for a while." She said that she often does this with her work, living with the pieces until she gets the inner intuition to complete the work, or sometimes, to just say, "No, I don't like it.'

White has works displayed all around Shafter, including at City Hall and several businesses around town. You can tell her work by the local flavor that they create, capturing scenes of Shafter throughout the years. She also had several of her works depicted in a blanket that was created for Shafter's Centennial Celebration a few years ago.

White said that a local school where she had been teaching has outsourced her position, so she is going to put more time into her painting, as well as maybe do some traveling.

For those wanting to see a large collection of White's work, she will be displaying several pieces at the Shafter Colours Festival this weekend. You can also see her in action as she will be working on a piece during the festival, giving people a chance to witness the process of creating a work of art.