Fifteen years ago a handful of friends met to paint at a coastal California Bluff. When they found the area was scheduled to be developed and the verdant eucalyptus and cypress-covered fields fenced off and cut up, the group decided to publicize the disappearance of another piece of precious open space by holding an exhibition of their paintings.
				They did not foresee the tremendous impact of their cumulative efforts. Fifty-four exhibitions later, the Oak Group is now 24 strong and has helped preserve in fact, as well as on canvas, numerous tracts of land in Santa Barbara and Marin Counties. Painting sales have totaled nearly $1.5 million, half of which has been donated to groups as varied as The Nature Conservancy, The Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, and The Marin Agricultural Land trust. A number of other plein air groups have patterned themselves on the Oak Group in recent years as both landscape art and the conservation movements have inspired popular interest.
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