CAMARILLO : For Aviation Artist, It Runs in Family

For Steve Tack, there is nothing prettier than the sight of dawn’s light gleaming off the freshly washed wings of an FA-18 Hornet attack jet as it rolls out of a hangar.

The 28-year-old Camarillo artist and civilian motion picture photographer at Point Mugu Air Weapons Station has followed in his grandfather’s footsteps in mastering the specialized genre of aviation art--a relatively unpublicized portion of the art world requiring blueprint-like precision and complete command of the delicate interplay of light, dark and shadow.

“It seems that since I was old enough to hold a pencil, I’ve been drawing pictures of airplanes,” Tack said. “I do it because it combines my love of drawing and painting with my love of aviation.”

Tack’s passion for aviation art led to his commission to paint this year’s Point Mugu Air Show program cover. The cover shows a rear view of a foursome of FA-18A fighters--part of the Navy’s Blue Angels flight demonstration team--as they descend upon the base, with Laguna Peak in the background.

Two of Tack’s oil paintings will be presented this weekend to team leaders of the Blue Angels and the Canadian Snowbirds.

Gates will open at 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday for the 31st annual show, and flying demonstrations are slated to begin at 9:30 a.m. More information on the event is available at (805) 989-8786.

“I wanted to paint the poster from an angle that hadn’t been done before,” Tack said. “I want to stick the viewer into the painting. Some artists paint every rivet and bolt; I don’t do that. I want to involve the viewer’s mind.”

Tack says he owes his skills to the teaching of his grandfather, R. G. Smith, a nationally known painter of World War II-era aircraft and aviation scenes.

For his part, Smith said he couldn’t be prouder of his grandson’s proficiency.

“I’m very impressed with his abilities. He’s doing quite well,” the 79-year-old Smith said. “Steve has always been so anxious to learn the craft. He’s good now and he’ll only get better.”

Echoing Smith was Virginia Bader, a national dealer of aviation art based in Costa Mesa.

“What I like best about Steve’s art is the feeling behind it--it’s not just technically accurate, it’s also very painterly,” Bader said.