Save the Date - Holiday Show - Dec 4, 2021

 

Cherry Creek Art Gallery Fall Invitational

 Hope y'all can come! 

Please join us for this Special One Night Art Show of Colorado 

representational and abstract artists at the B-Spot in RiNo Art District,

2750 Blake Street, Denver Colorado, 80205

Friday, October 8^th

5:00 – 9:00

PARKING

Free parking at the B-Spot and on the street.  

$5 parking lot available 1/2 block north of B-Spot on Blake.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT!

Visit “Events” on our website to find 

a list of nearby restaurants:  www.cherrycreekartgallery.com /events

PLEASE RSVP  

http://evite.me/X6EvVdNYtE

or

art@cherrycreekartgallery.com

Basset in the Sun

 

The Basset in the Sun, 18x24, oil, available

 

The photo reference for this painting was taken a number of years ago. I loved the sienna tone to the whole image. As often happens with my reference photos, is I see something in them when I take them, but then once I get home, it just doesn't speak to me right away. Then when revisiting my photos at a later date, the reawakening of what drew me to take it in the first place comes back. This is an old rescued dame, who once her owner died, no one in the family wanted it. The cousin, who loves all animals, drove a few states away to go pick her up and give her a few good years with the rest of their menagerie. She seemed to have settled in just fine and found this perfect place to sit in the sun. Her name is Clio.

I enjoy doing pet portraits and though this is not a commissioned portrait, I felt compelled to honor this solid basset hound. She seems so regal in her bearing. I started with an old painting as I often do. My intent on this was to record the progress from start to finish and make it into a video. I did all the work to do this but the resulting video is not as good as I would have liked. The program seems to have made all the images darker than they were already. It hasn't been easy to photograph due to the fact I painted over a varnished painting. The glare from the varnish comes through, and painting on varnish also absorbs so much of the paint to make the new layer darker than what is applied. You would think I would learn and remove the varnish before starting a new painting, but I am lazy. So instead, I constantly fight this fact and then it is really hard to photograph on top of it. When will I ever learn??

For the longest time, I wanted to leave some of the sunflowers coming through the dog but ultimately I decided they were just a distraction.

Sunset over the Mesa

 

Sunset Over the Mesa, 18x24, oil available

 

On the last evening of my visit to Arizona in April, my friend Debbie and I took our gear to the high school parking lot in Cottonwood to paint the sunset. Instead of painting, as it took its own sweet time to show up, we sat and talked and watched the sky. Never did set up to paint. But the sunset did not disappoint once it came on. I was content with taking photos. If we had tried to get our paint mixed to be ready, I would not have come up with this color scheme based on what came before it. Nature works on its own time and in its own way. Stunning in its variety!

I took a road trip to Arizona staying mostly in Cottonwood. We did go out and paint most days, and it was good to get out in a totally new environment. I did do one painting of the red rocks that surround this area (just south of Sedona) as much as I didn't want to paint red rocks. It is the best of the paintings I did, in my opinion. Of course it fell face down as I was trying to balance everything not having a carrying case with me. None of the paintings are anything to write home about which is why I haven't posted them. Nevertheless, I enjoyed being outside painting, something I don't do enough of anymore.

Reflecting

 

Reflecting, 24x24, oil available

 

Here is another fresh off the easel. As often happens when I am working on so many simultaneously, a few come to completion about the same time. This one I relate to in that I can sit and watch water for ages, be it the gulf, a brook, a lake or the ocean. Yet it seems like a short time only has passed. Even though I am more likely to walk a beach, I am often pulled to just sit still in silence, watching and listening. I saw this man doing just that one evening and the skimmers flying by just added to the story.

Cherry Creek Art Gallery partners with Project Angel Heart for online show

 

In case you are not on my mailing or newsletter list, I wanted to post the information on our partnership with Project Angel Heart for the month of June Fresh Art for the Heart online show. We have been off to a good start with sales so I do hope you will check out the link to view the show. There are 12 artists participating and we will donate 20% of all sales to Project Angel Heart. 

CCAG did a similar partnership for our Small Gems show back in December. Metrocaring was grateful for the $5500 we donated from our sales. I was blessed to make a sale from the day the "Fresh Art for the Heart" show opened on June 1. The happy owner sent me a photo today of where they have hung it. She said not only does it change the feel of the room for the better but the room feels lighter and brighter too! What a gracious thing to say to an artist!

Here it is: 

For those of you who would like to see a short video promoting the show:

Where I want to be right now

 

Sunset Over the Gulf, oil, 18x36 available

Jimminy Cricket! I thought I had posted this painting 2 months ago. Who'd have thought I would be this far behind...there really are no excuses except to say I have had a pinched nerve in my neck that makes my whole arm tingle and feel asleep ever since the 24" snow dump the end of March. That repetitive motion of a snow shovel is what did me in. It is better, but it is now settled into my fingers and thumb on my dominant hand. Gardening is not helping this situation. Nor is being at my easel or computer. 

Back to the place I would like to be right now. It is hot and dry once again in Denver after a most plentiful moisture filled Spring. For which I am very grateful. Still, I would much rather be on a beach with a gentle wind in my hair as where I was on the Gulf of Florida a number of years ago. I can almost get myself there by looking at this painting. There is something so magical about sunrises and sunsets. No two are alike and they are just so fleeting. A transient light show. I love them! And why I like them over the ocean or a body of water is that they are just out there with nothing to impede them. Full of Glory.

It took me a year to finish, which is not that unusual. I get excited by the initial block in and then I freeze up. I must wait patiently until my heart moves me back to the place I need to be to finish it up. Which is again, why I have so many paintings going at once. 

This is only one of many sunsets or sunrises I have been motivated to paint lately. I posted this sunrise in March and I sat down today to write two posts on recently completed sunsets discovering I have been negligent in getting this one posted. I have one more of the Gulf, totally different from this one and another from my trip to AZ this past Spring. 

Stay tuned! I will be doing my best to stay on schedule of posting every week.