By Cindy Blain

Los Altos artist Belinda Lima’s “Petal 2″ will be among the works on display during Silicon Valley Open Studios this weekend.

Silicon Valley Open Studios offers an opportunity to meet painters, sculptors, potters and glass artists and view their art in their own environments. Most of the artwork is for sale. Buying art directly from the artist is an easy and fun way to start your art collection.

This year’s event spans the first three weekends this month and includes nearly 500 artists.

More than 40 artists will exhibit their work in studios, homes and gardens around Los Altos 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. Studios will be open also in Mountain View, Saratoga, Palo Alto, Cupertino and Sunnyvale.

There are two types of open studios: solo and group. A solo site has one artist exhibiting at his or her home/studio and allows a focused interaction with that artist and his or her artwork. Group sites feature several artists exhibiting together. There will be yellow signs (and often yellow balloons) pointing the way to the studios.

It can be a revelation to visit studios and see how little space artists need to be creative and how ingenious they have been in carving out a private place. Children are welcome at most studios and may benefit from experiencing how people incorporate art in their lives.

While Silicon Valley Open Studios is open to all artists, a new feature this year is the opportunity to be judged by six eminent local museum directors, curators and artists.

Nearly 200 artists submitted slides for review by the judges, who selected 93 to be honored as “SVOS Stars.” Seven of the finalists are Los Altos residents.

A higher honor was conferred upon 19 artists, each of whom had a painting in the Open Studios Gala Live Auction at the San Jose Museum of Art April 22. Two of them are from Los Altos, Marjorie Law and Jane McCullough. Law, an abstract expressionist, is exhibiting at her studio at 1121 Golden Way in Los Altos. McCullough, a realist painter, is exhibiting with other artists at Allied Artists West on Lark Way in Saratoga.

For more information on Silicon Valley Open Studios, logon to www.svopenstudios.org. Artist directories are available at University Art, Accent Arts and The Pacific Art League in Palo Alto. Map guides are available in Los Altos at the Los Altos main library, Viewpoints Gallery, Gallery 9 and Hillview Community Center.