Steve Santmyer Biography
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Steve Santmyer (Born 1939) Steve Santmyer has been an active artist for over 50 years, since he was a teenager. He is the great grandson of the Thurston family, who were one of the original founding families of Laguna Beach, and the grandson of J. S. Thurston who wrote “Early Days in Laguna Beach” which was published in 1947.As a young boy living in the Laguna Beach artists colony, Steve’s grandparents and his mother Virginia and Aunt Doris were close friends with artists Edgar and Elsie Palmer Payne, Peterpaul Ott, Anna Hills, William Wendt and many more. All of these artists by this time had become well known not only in California but also nationally.
His greatest influence was Peterpaul Ott (1895-1992), who took the young man under his artistic wing and taught him the finer points of sculpture. He then studied with many of the other Laguna painters to perfect his works on canvas and paper.
Steve has painted extensively in Spain, Mexico, Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest, and of course up and down California. He has taught many aspiring artists and has participated in numerous art shows.
His work can be found in private and corporate art collections around the world.
California Watercolor