Photo courtesy of Nicole D'Amore "I started taking pictures in and around town, people at a cafe, pleasant, happy times," Bob Engel said.

Although he had an early interest in art, for many years Bob Engel's creativity went toward inventing toys. It wasn't until he retired from Mattel Inc. that he got back to his first love of oil painting.

"I was an inventor-artist; now I'm an artist-inventor," Engel said.

"About four years ago I started doing art on a regular basis," he said. "I started immersing myself in workshops. I wanted to make up for lost time in the fine art area. I guess I was ready; I felt like a sponge."

Engel, a Thousand Oaks resident and current president of the Westlake Village Art Guild, is participating in the Five Artists Painting exhibit through Dec. 30 at the Thousand Oaks Community Gallery. The other four in this Working Artists' Holiday Show and Exhibition are Craig Morton, digital art; Ron McKee, oil; and Irv Morgan and Pong Apinyavat, watercolor. This exhibition is different in that the artists will be painting and answering questions instead of just showing their work.

"Five Artists for me is a dream come true," Engel said. "Craig had the idea of getting five artists in there actually painting. The key thing was how can we make this gallery more noticeable," he said. "We think if we keep more regular hours, give more reasons to use the gallery, we will get more people to come. There will always be a minimum of one of us working and there will probably often be two or three of us," he said.

Engel's love of art started when he was a child growing up in New Jersey. He would often study a large oil painting that hung on a wall at his grandfather's house.

"It was a little boy on a log blowing bubbles," he said. "That fascinated me." He took a John Nagy course when he was 10 or 12 years old.

"Norman Rockwell became my inspiration," he said.

Engel went to the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art, majoring in pictorial illustration. He got a job doing labels for the Childhood Interests toy company in New Jersey, learning the business from the ground up, eventually becoming packaging director. From there he went to Western Publishing Company and headed a group of 22 people, starting the research and development department.

When he was 21, Engel sold his first toy invention.

"It was a three-dimensional picture for kids to make," he said. "Hasbro marketed it as a Disney item," he said. "It's interesting that it would be an art invention; getting a three dimensional effect into art has always been important to me."

He led the paint-by-number division at Craft Master in Toledo, Ohio, working with artist Adam Grant for five years.

After eight years of inventions were stolen from his car, Engel hit a rough patch, but then he got a call from Mattel.

"I worked for them for 10 years, the last seven as principal designer of infant and preschool toys, crafts and games," he said. His inventions included the Hot Wheels Sight 'n See Booster and the Disney Call Back Phone. He came to California in 1985 and ended his corporate employment in 1995 as principal designer at Mattel, although he continues to design toys on a freelance basis.

He took workshops whenever he could, with artists like Howard Rees, Donald Puttman and Ted Goerschner, started participating in shows and winning awards.

"About two and a half years ago I decided I needed to get involved locally," he said. He went to a workshop given by local artist Ron McKee and, with McKee's urging joined the Westlake Village Art Guild, quickly becoming active in the organization. It wasn't long before he was tapped to become president, but he still makes painting a priority.

His subjects have included landscapes, still life and portraits, but recently Engel started something new: a series called In and Around Town.

"Everybody has something they do for a look or a thing that is theirs," he said. "I started taking pictures in and around town, people at a cafe, pleasant, happy times. It's real life, it's happening now, like (Georges) Seurat in the park, Renoir."

The settings will be parks and shopping areas, Ventura Harbor, places people recognize. Engel changes the likenesses or clothing to make the subjects more generic.

"It's real life rather than posed, real things that are happening in our lives," he said. "I like the idea of telling a story."

A reception for Five Artists Painting is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at 2331 Borchard Road, Newbury Park. The gallery will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day. For more information, call 498-4390.

— To recommend an artist to be profiled in this section, contact Nicole D'Amore at ArtProfiles@roadrunner.com or 405-0364.