Angel Espoy was born in Villa Nueva, Spain in 1879 and traveled to San Francisco, California in 1914, and later to Southern California in 1922. In California Espoy like many artists was taken by the natural beauty. There he became an accomplished painter of California’s rolling hills of poppies and lupine as evidenced "Patch of Color",  one of the artists premier paintings. The endless brightly colored poppy fields featured prominently in the artist's body of work.

Espoy led an interesting life with a burning desire to travel and to paint. At the age of 18 Espoy left home to work as a first mate in the Spanish merchant marines. It was at that time that he became familiar with every detail of the clipper ships he later painted. But his desire to paint was strong, so he left the merchant marines to go to Barcelona, Spain and study with the Spanish master Joaquin Sorolla (1863-1923).

Following his study with Sorolla, Espoy went to the Philippines and Havana, Cuba where his father had tobacco interests. It was in Havana that he began to earn his living as an artist by painting designs on furniture. By 1904 he made his way to New York City. In 1912, Espoy went home to Spain where he exhibited in the Madrid International Exposition. Moving to San Francisco in 1914, he spent seven years making cartoons for movies and painting with fellow artists Manuel Valencia, Carl Jonnevold, and John Califano. Espoy moved to Southern California in 1922 and from that time became a full-time painter.  Espoy was a member of the Los Angeles Art Association and had a solo exhibition at Barker Brothers Galleries in 1934. His works are held at Los Angeles City Hall, The Oakland Museum; Loyola University as well as many private collections.

Anna Althea Hills trained at the prestigious Art Institute of Chicago along with many of the premier artists of American Impressionism and went on to study at the Julian Academy in Paris and then spent four years traveling and painting in the south of England, in Holland and in France. Upon her return from Europe in 1912, she settled in Laguna Beach and became a prominent figure in the arts and in the artistic history of Southern California, working tirelessly painting, lecturing, teaching and fund raising until her untimely death in 1930. Her contributions are noteworthy as is her magnificent body of work.

As one of the artists who was dedicated to painting nature as they found it, her paintings offer the viewer a splendiferous view of the untouched and magnificent beauty of early California. Along with Edgar Payne, Anna Althea Hills was an integral part of the formation and continued success of the Laguna Beach Art Association, serving as its president for six years. This association led to the development of the Laguna Art Museum.

Hills lived a life devoted to the arts, capturing the very special beauty of southern California on her canvases. "Santa Ana Canyon" is one of those very special paintings, atmospheric and rich where moisture laden clouds intensify the magnificent colors of the hills and brightly colored wildflowers and succulents bring glorious bursts of color to the foreground.