Artist Jack Stuppin. (Press Democrat photo by John Burgess.)

As a pioneer of the Silicon Valley high-tech boom, who turned full-time painter decades ago, Jack Stuppin sees a fateful pattern in this bit of news:

Stuppins’ colorful, imaginative Sonoma County landscapes will be shown April 10-13 at the Silicon Valley Contemporary and Fine Art Fair at the San Jose Convention Center.

“It’s unique for me in this respect: I was one of the forefathers of Silicon Valley,” Stuppin said. “In 1966, I helped start a company called American Micro Systems.”

The company pioneered commercial manufacture of microchips and microprocessors.

In 1979, he helped start Applied Microcircuits in Silicon Valley. The company moved to San Diego, and is now back in Sunnyvale.

Raised in New York, Stuppin had moved to the Bay Area in the 1950s. After his high-tech business career, he settled in Sonoma County in the late 1980s and concentrated on his artwork.

His paintings have been widely exhibited. In 2009, the San Jose Museum of Art presented a one-man show of his paintings.

ACA Galleries of New York, which has shown Stuppins’ work and represents him, will host an “Artist Spotlight’ for Stuppin from 1:30 to 2 p.m. April 12 at the San Jose event.

For more information on the Silicon Valley Art Fair: http://siliconvalleycontemporary.com/