Lyda Taylor
Lyda Wing Taylor grew up on the once semi-rural town of Walnut Creek. In the early 1970’s she attended U.C. Davis, obtaining her BA in Studio Art while studying under some of the legendary art teachers of Northern California.

While at Davis, Lyda began a line of handpainted quail, hen and duck eggs depicting towns she had visited as well as fanciful winter scenes. Moving to the town of Los Olivos in the mid-1970’s, she was asked to re-create her egg art style for commercial uses in nearby Solvang. As her style developed, she carried it on to canvas, having her first show in the fall of 1982. This began her quest to portray early California towns, farms, homes and life around them.

Blending elements from the late 19th century through her own childhood in the 1950’s, Lyda creates a Folk Art style that falls between stylized realism and primitive. The result is an uplifting idealized view of our rural towns and countrysides.

Lyda has exhibited in galleries in the Central Coast, Carmel, Napa Valley and the Motherlode. She was selected by Reagan Whitehouse staff to create a commemorative painting of “Easter at the White House-1986” which was then donated to the White House collection. In 1987 she was commissioned by Bob and Irma Eubanks to create a painting depicting their prestigious Peppertree Western Americana Art Show. In 2001 Lyda’s painting “Pennsylvania Gulch Homestead” was selected for the cover of Vine Times Magazine.

Lyda currently lives in the gold mining town of Murphys. She regularly travels around Northern California photographing old towns and farms, piecing together buildings and surrounding terrain to create a composition that exemplifies the heart of the area she is recreating.