PAVEL GAZUR | CALIFORNIA COASTAL PAINTER & AUTHOR
Big Sur in Paint and Words
I have spent years exploring and painting this rugged coastline, drawn to its cliffs, crashing waves, fog, and constantly changing light. Along the way, I discovered stories that eventually became two historical novels.
Original oil paintings of Big Sur and the California coast.
Why I paint, why I wrote the novels.
I paint the California coast on location. I have to stand in front of it, see it, feel the wind and the cold, hear the waves crash against the rocks, before I can paint it. Big Sur is the coast that keeps pulling me back: the cliffs, the fog, the waves below the bluffs, and the light that never holds still. I have returned to this coast with an easel for years. My wife and I were married at Garrapata Beach.
Out there with the easel, I started learning what had happened on this coast. In 1935 the USS Macon went down a few miles off Point Sur, and almost no one remembers it. That became The Light at Point Sur: A Historical Novel. Further south, the coves at Partington and Jade had their own history, and that became Partington Cove: A Novel of Big Sur.
The paintings and the novels were both shaped by Big Sur, one of California’s great treasures, and most beautiful coasts.
SELECTED WORK
Big Sur Paintings
Original Paintings of Point Sur, Garrapata, Kirk Creek, Plaskett Creek, Pfeiffer Beach, Partington Cove, Jade Cove and rugged California shoreline
Kirk Creek, Big Sur, California | Painting by Pavel Gazur
Garrapata, Big Sur, California | Painting by Pavel Gazur
Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur, California | Painting by Pavel Gazur
Plaskett Creek, Big Sur, California | Painting by Pavel Gazur
Prewitt Creek, Big Sur, California | Painting by Pavel Gazur
Big Sur, California | Painting by Pavel Gazur
BEYOND THE PAINTINGS
Two Novels of Big Sur
The same coast I paint runs through two historical novels. The Light at Point Sur grew from the 1935 crash of the USS Macon off the lighthouse. Partington Cove begins in 1928 at Jade Cove and Partington Cove.
The Light at Point Sur:
A Historical Novel
A historical novel inspired by the 1935 crash of the USS Macon off Point Sur. and an imagined love story that begins in its aftermath.
Partington Cove:
A Novel of Big Sur
Set in 1928, a discovery of jade along the Big Sur coast draws a family into secrets that reach from Jade Cove to Monterey.
FROM THE JOURNAL
Big Sur Travel Guide
Big Sur is more than a place I paint. It is a coast I have explored for years.
I have put together a personal travel guide to some of my favorite beaches, scenic stops, hikes, and places to visit, along with advice from years spent painting and exploring this remarkable part of California.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COASTLINE
San Diego and Laguna Beach
I live in North San Diego County, so a lot of my painting days are near home: La Jolla, Encinitas, Torrey Pines, Del Mar, Cardiff, Point Loma and up the coast to Laguna Beach.
