Signed lower right, 'R. Schloss' for Richard Schloss (American, born 1953) and dated 2014; additionally signed, dated and inscribed, verso. This notable California artist received his Master of Fine Arts in Painting at UCSB in 1979 with a BA in Italian in 1981. In 1980, he spent a year painting in Europe on an award-winning scholarship. In 1992, he was chosen to paint the diorama backgrounds for the Cartwright Interactions Hall of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Schloss has received numerous commissions to create large artworks for public spaces, including Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara Historical Museum and The Palo Alto Medical Foundation. In 2015, his work was the subject of a large, one-man show at the Ventura Museum of Art. The artist's work is included in four museums in the Central California area: the Santa Barbara Historical Society, Ridley Tree Museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and the Ventura Museum of Art. Additionally, he has been a member of Santa Barbara's Oak Group since its inception in 1986. Of this work, the artist says: "That is Mt Tom in the Eastern Sierras just north of Bishop. It was in the fall of 2013 and there was no snow. Then one night a storm rolled in and when we woke up in the morning it looked like this. The dusting of snow only lasted that day but it was glorious."