If there is a list of visual artists recognized as "California Artists," Wayne Thiebaud (pronounced "TEE-boh") would be somewhere at the top.  This Pop artist contemporary of Andy Warhol is famous for his still life images of food, especially sweets, painted in bright pastels with thick strokes.  A 2001 issue of Time dedicated to the Western states called Thiebaud "The Poet of Pastry," saying that "Wayne Thiebaud offers deep pleasures in the everyday, from pies and cakes to slices of landscapes."
 
Thiebaud, while born in Arizona, moved to California at a young age and is often considered California's artistic native son.  He started as a commercial artist after attending Long Beach Polytechnic High School, working briefly at Walt Disney Studios, studying commercial art at the Frank Wiggins School in Los Angeles, and working as a cartoonist in Long Beach in the 1930s.  After World War II he attended San Jose State College and Cal State Sacramento for an advanced degree in art, and then gained national recognition in the 1960s with his still-life images of food.  He has taught in numerous California institutions, especially a long stint at University of California at Davis where he is currently a professor emeritus.