This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  The following, submitted November 2005, is courtesy of William Klein.
Keeping the Faith: Painting in Santa Catalina 1935-1985
by Roy C. Rose
"Bud" Upton was the first of these three to arrive on the Catalina
scene. Born in Massachusetts, he moved with his family to
Pasadena, California as a baby. He went to Catalina for the first
time with his parents in 1902, and was never far away after that, often
spending his summers there. From his earliest childhood, Upton
was interested in art. He liked to draw and at one time wanted to
be a cartoonist. In his early twenties he became a sign painter,
working for Foster & Kleiser. It was during this time that he
met Hanson Puthuff (1875-1972) and Paul Lauritz (1889-1975), both
well-established and well-known California plein-air painters who would
become his lifelong friends. These two, among others, encouraged
Upton's creative talent.
In 1932, Upton and his wife, Betty, whom he had met in Catalina in
1923, moved to Avalon, where they were to spend the rest of their
lives. As was the fate of many artists during those Great
Depression years, Upton was unable to make a living exclusively as an
easel painter, so he went into the sign business. He also painted
murals, created decorations for tour buses, designed menus, and served
as the all-around design and artistic consultant for many projects
around Avalon and Catalina. He and his wife opened a gift shop, where
Upton's paintings were sold along with every kind of Catalina curio and
gift imaginable, all handmade by Upton and his family.
Upton painted in Avalon longer than any other artist to date.
Through his paintings, he recorded the buildings and landmarks of his
time, as well as the landscape, weather, and everyday life of
Catalina. Through his entire career, in spite of the early
friendship and influence of Lauritz and Puthuff and other plein-air
painters, Upton chose to paint in his studio rather than out-of-doors.
He used photographs, carefully transferring them to his canvas by
laying a graph over both canvas and photo and transcribing one to the
other. He also painted from memory. Upton is especially
well known for his depiction of Catalina's eucalyptus trees.
Upton bragged that he had never had any formal art training but was
largely self-taught. Yet, he was a great teacher and loved to share his
talent. He gave instruction from his studio and, at one time, from the
back end of the family-owned Catalina Hardware Store.
In 1958 Upton and a group of other Catalina artists formed the Catalina
Art Association. Upton served as the organization's first
president. In that first year, the group started an annual
Catalina Festival of Art, which has been held each September since
1959. Upton was honored during his lifetime with a number of one-man
shows, and his paintings appear in many private collections in Avalon
and across the country.
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