Taste of Creede- Memorial Day Fun

Sunday in Creede was made for Artists and Spectators. A (no snow) beautiful day and crowds gathered before noon to watch preparations for the 1 o'clock Quick Draw where artists create a painting in 1 hour.
There is always a lot of good energy and high spirits as artists work and spectators wander in and around the action to hone in on pieces that they will want to bid on at the auction immediately following.
I was able to finish a painting in the morning before the quick draw and a second during the Quick Draw - BOTH sold to the same buyer. Thanks so much to these great folks who came to the Taste of Creede, all the way from Lawrence, Kansas.

Creede is such a fun, beautiful and quirky town, - one of Colorado's best.  Artists who come to this Quick Draw do it for the sheer fun of camaraderie,  and in support of the town that supports ARTS all year around.
Creede is also home to the Quiller Gallery that features the work of Stephen Quiller, the Creede Repertory Theatre, and the National Small Prints Show.
Stephen Quiller, David Montgomery, Peggy Morgan Stenmark, Charles Ewing, Tracy Miller, Kris Gosar,  Morris Sowards, Sharon McCoy, Jesse Crock, Gail Fraiser, and Jan Thompson and myself, were just a few of the artists who painted on Sunday.

Creede Quick Draw on Sunday at 1pm

It is Memorial Day weekend and if you are looking for a day out  - look no further than Creede, Colorado, a town known for throwing a great party- no matter what the holiday.
Located in the beautiful San Juan Mountains, Creede is a destination town and the site of one of Colorado’s most famous high-country mines. They love tourists and artists in Creede, support several galleries, have the Creede Repertory Theatre and also host the National Small Print Show that opens there this weekend.

I will be in Creede on Sunday for the Artists Quick Draw on Main Street at 1pm.
The Quick Draw Event draws artists from all over Colorado and several surrounding states, and also attracts collectors who come for a chance to bid on paintings done by top artists.  Some of the artists participating : Stephen Quiller, Kris Gosar, David Montgomery, Jesse Crock, Charlie Ewing, Jan Thompson, Peggy Morgan Stenmark Morgan, Tracy Miller, and myself - to name a few.
We will have one hour to create a painting and then there will be a live auction immediately following.

Saturday, May 27th  at 2pm is the Silver Chef Competition and at 4pm the National Small Print Show opens in the lobby of the Creede Repertory Theatre.
Sunday, May 28th - the Artists Quick Draw on Main Street starts at 1pm- in front of the Quiller Gallery. A live auction will follow.
Come for the weekend or come for the day, but don’t miss the Quick Draw at 1pm on Sunday.

Success in Creede

Beautiful weather in Creede and
artists gathered in the street Sunday morning with high hopes - myself included.
By 2 pm the Quick Draw was over and the auction begun. These folks from Nebraska purchased my painting of North Clear Creek Falls for their mountain home.

It is always a pleasure.

Thanks to Steve and Marta Quiller, and the good people of Creede, Colorado who do so much to make this a really great party - for artists and buyers.

Taste of Creede Memorial Day Sunday

In Colorado we live for the summer,  and it all starts this weekend with
Taste of Creede.

Historic and iconic - Creede is one of Colorado's most colorful high country destinations and the Taste of Creede  on Memorial Day weekend features Silver Chef Competition, live music, vendors, and the  National Small Print Show opening and reception at Creede Repertory Theatre on Saturday at 4pm.  All well worth the beautiful drive into the mountains.

On Sunday,   Stephen Quiller (internationally known artist and writer) hosts the main attraction - Artist's Quick Draw- Sunday at 1 pm where top artists from several states gather to paint fast and furious - for 1 hour.  Sharing the space with models and on lookers, there is always a lot of jostling, elbow throwing and general good fun - for artists, as well as viewers.
The auction immediately following,  gives viewers the chance to bid on work done by top artists.

Have a great holiday - hope to see you in the mountains.

Taste of Creede - Creede, COLORADO

Taste of Creede Quick Draw looked to be a slow starter this year. Memorial Day Sunday brought intermittent snow as artists set up   -  but in true Creede fashion, once we started painting people came out of the - well, I don't know where they came from  - but they came and they purchased art.
It never ceases to amaze me - the buyers who come to this event - from as far away as Santa Fe and Denver - very often in bad weather - come wanting to buy work at THIS show and support artists and the town of Creede.

I love Creede and the Taste of Creede Quick Draw is one of the most fun events I do all year;
really, more like a gathering of good friends - all invited by Stephen Quiller.
 - And the people that come - are tenacious buyers,

hardy as the painters themselves. I have garnered several dedicated collectors over the years, and was very excited to send my piece home with new friends who drove all the way from Westminster, Colorado to be in Creede for the Quick Draw.
Hidden in the beautiful San Juan Mountains, Creede is one of Colorado's best high country destinations and loves tourists and artists. The Taste of Creede is dedicated to Food, Culinary Arts, and Fine Art;  Sunday's 1 hour Artist's Quick Draw attracts some of the best artists from all over the country including: Steve Quiller, Susan McCullough, Peggy Stenmark Morgan, Kris Gosar, David Montgomery, Karen Bonnie, Charles Ewing, Jan Thompson, Tracy Miller, Laura Reilly, and myself - to name a few.
Creede also hosts the National Small Prints Show currently hanging at the Creede Repertory Theatre. Another good reason to visit Creede.
Thank You to Stephen & Marta Quiller and the Creede Chamber of Commerce for putting together a great event.

Taste of Creede Quick Draw

 Memorial Day weekend in southern Colorado can only mean
"The Taste of Creede".
Tucked away in the San Juan Mountains, this is one of Colorado's most colorful and classic high country mining towns and Creede loves tourists and artists. The Memorial weekend party is dedicated to Food, Culinary Arts, and Fine Art.  Sunday's 1 hour Artist's Quick Draw attracts some of the best artists,  and buyers come from all over the country.
This is my 5th year attending and it is one of the most fun events I do all year. Artists gather on Main Street in front of the Stephen Quiller gallery and paint from models, sketches, memory or the view. And tho' this year we painted in less than perfect conditions, everyone had a good time and all the work sold. Colorado painters are hardy and their buyers - very determined.
In the photos Steve Quiller paints away calmly while Sue McCullough finishes her piece, and Karen Bonnie and Kris Gosar ignore the rain.
At the bottom is my piece, painted from a sketch done on a small pond in the Conejos area of Colorado.   8"x10 " is my standard QuickDraw size and very doable in the 1 hour time frame.

Some of the artists attending: Steve Quiller, Susan McCullough, Peggy Stenmark Morgan, Kris Gosar, David Montgomery, Karen Bonnie, Charles Ewing, Jan Thompson, Frankie Will, Gail Frasier, Jessie Crock, and myself - to name a few.

Known for holiday partying, Creede also hosts the National Small Prints Show currently hanging at the Creede Repertory Theatre. Another good reason to visit Creede.
Thank You to Stephen & Marta Quiller and the Creede Chamber of Commerce for putting together a great event.

Taste of Creede Quick Draw

Memorial Day Sunday can only mean "The Taste of Creede"  that kicks off the summer season in one of Colorado's most colorful and classic high country mining towns. Tucked away in the San Juan Mountains, Creede loves tourists and artists.
Known for holiday partying, Creede also hosts the National Small Prints Show currently hanging at the Creede Repertory Theatre, but "Taste of Creede" is the big Memorial weekend party dedicated to Food, Culinary Arts, and Fine Art.  Sunday's 1 hour Artist's Quick Draw attracts some of the best artists from several states including Stephen Quiller,  and buyers come from all over the country.  This is my 4th year attending and it is one of the most fun events I do all year. Artists gather on Main Street in front of the Stephen Quiller gallery  and paint from models, sketches, memory or the view. This year a "mountain man" with burro and trusty dog companion came out of the canyon in the morning and stood as a model in the afternoon.  We reimbursed him for gas - I guess that went to the burro.

Some of the artists attending:
Steve Quiller, Kris Gosar, David Montgomery,  Frank Francese, Peggy Stenmark Morgan, Charles Ewing, Jan Thompson, Frankie Will, Gail Frasier, Sam Keith, Tracy Miller,  and myself - to name a few.
This year, Tracy Miller was my partner in crime, shown here with her 1 hour Raven. Tracy is known for her wild and wonderful acrylic animals paintings. She runs the TracyMiller Gallery in Manitou and represents my work there. 
We had a great time and our buyers did pretty well too.

To the right is my 1 hour painting - the view up the street and into the dramatic Willow Creek canyon that Creede is so famous for.
It is only an 10"x 8" which is my standard quick draw size, but the elements were challenging. This summer I am going to try to do more street views.

Thank You to Stephen & Marta Quiller and the Creede Chamber of Commerce for putting together a great event.

Class Notes: Compositional Motifs

The dictionary defines  Motif (noun) as "a distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary composition".

Most artists use them as something developed within the sphere of their own work. A motif can be idiomatic, coming about as an artist's work evolves and becomes more specific to the artist; an expression of their own creative "voice".
I started thinking about this while preparing for the Creede Quick Draw. Unlike most of the plein air quick draw events that I participate in which are about an hour and a half and require the artist to paint from the view, the Creede Quick Draw is only an hour but allows artists to paint from a sketch, or recreate something that they had painted previously.  It is a good opportunity to do a painting that is memorable and distinctly "me".
This got me looking for themes in my own work and compositional ideas that I have used over and over: aspens in the woods, cotton wood trees, deep forest scenes; these are compositional ideas, or motifs that I like and return to.
For our class sessions I came up with 4 compositional motifs taken from my sketches, and we used them as a starting place for small 6"x 6" paintings. The great thing about these is that once the shapes are established, all kinds of things can be changed to create distinctly different paintings: a high or low horizon, light direction and value variation, color or season change, the addition of other elements.

With the two bottom sketches I have shown paintings that were created from them. The Aspen and Pine piece is my 10"x 8" Quick Draw painting from Creede using the Aspen sketch.  The idea of a small stand of aspens together with pine trees is something I see all the time and creates a naturally strong value sketch. The other 2 paintings are based on the Cottonwood Grove motif. One painting is vertical, one horizontal and they use very different color and levels of stylization, but both reflect the same compositional motif. Cottonwood trees grow in groups like this all over the San Luis Valley and I use them as a theme in my work with a compositional motif that is very adaptable.  I look for these compositional motifs in the landscape. It is one way I have used composition and regional elements to develop a more distinctive painting voice.

Taste of Creede Quick Draw

Sunday of Memorial Day in Creede turned out beautiful and though the whole weekend is dedicated to Food, Culinary Arts, Fine Art, and good fun, the 1 hour Quick Draw is a highlight and attracts artists and buyers from all over.  In the top photo, from left to right you can see Kris Gosar painting the model, Lana Woodruff, Charlie Ewing (also painting the model) and Stephen Quiller.
The auction drew a crowd willing to bid and happy to buy. Everyone had a great time, even the artists who would as soon donate a painting and run for cover as sit through a nail biting auction. Work sold at a good clip tho' and I don't think anyone went home disappointed. I sure didn't. The good folks from the Denver area (6 hours away) who came last year and purchased my painting, were there again this year and purchased my piece. YIPPEE!
The center photo is my 10"x8" Quick Draw piece, painted from a compositional idea of Aspen and Pines that we see everywhere here.  It is a "Motif"- or reoccurring theme in my work. More about that in the next post.

TASTE of CREEDE

Memorial Day Weekend is coming up and for me that means
"The Taste of Creede".  A kick off for the summer season in one of Colorado's most colorful and classic high country mining towns. Tucked away in the San Juan Mountains, Creede is a town that loves tourists and a holiday up there is always memorable.
The main event for me will be the Artist's Quick Draw on Sunday at 1 pm right on Main Street in downtown.
Stephen Quiller (internationally known artist and writer) hosts this party and it attracts some of the best artists from several states including Kris Gosar, David Montgomery,  Peggy Stenmark Morgan, Charles Ewing, Jan Thompson, Frankie Will, Sue McCullough and myself - to name a few. We all paint together under a tent, usually sharing the space with a couple of models. There is always a lot of jostling, elbow throwing and general good fun as artists put on a show for the crowd.
Quick Draw fun starts at 1 pm and there will be an auction immediately following. This is a chance to bid on work that you watched being done by top artists.
Creede will be the site of a lot of holiday partying - live music, vendors, Silver Chef Competition, stuff for kids and the National small Prints Show at the Creede Repertory Theatre;
all well worth the beautiful drive into the mountains.
Have a great holiday.

NEW WEBSITE

I am still struggling with this "NEW" and supposedly improved Blogger and lost a few posts here and there. OUT THERE somewhere is a post that lets you know that I have a new Website, one I am very excited to share.  That post is refusing to show up so I am adding it here.
Check out my new Website at ConiGrant.com.
A whole new look and  some new work as well. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

A big Weekend in LaVeta and Creede

LaVeta was hopping on Memorial Weekend - Saturday night with art openings all over town. In the photo I am standing in front of a display of several of my paintings featured in LaVeta Fine Art Gallery.
Spanish Peaks Art Council Gallery opened a photography show and Pinion Hill Pottery, featured the fabulous and amazing work of Sharon McCoy. Great food everywhere and a beautiful, mild evening - perfect for art and good company in the very charming mountain town of LaVeta.










The Taste of Creede Quick Draw drew artists from all over, and this year, I think the largest group of spectators and bidders that I have ever seen there.
In the bottom photo Stephen Quiller holds my 8"x 10" painting done in the hour - which I am grateful to say, sold quite handily.

Good Times in Creede, CO

Memorial Day Weekend in Creede was not only great fun but also smiled down with fabulous weather over a holiday notorious for cold, rain and
even snow.
Here are Cindy Cutts, Charlie Ewing, Steve Quiller, myself,
Sue McCullough and Rita Roberts, posing for the camera before the Sunday Quick Draw.
Beautiful weather in the High Country brought art lover-tourists to shop, eat, bid in the auction, and buy art in Creede.
The Quick Draw lasts an hour and is a little unconventional in that the artists do not paint from a "view" per se but from some form of reference material - usually a sketch, and everyone paints together under one tent so viewers can easily walk around and see them work; close proximity allows painters to converse, distract each other or, on occasion- throw a few elbows.
It was great fun and after the works were quickly framed and put on display the auction got rolling.
The bottom shot shows Steve Quiller introducing my painting -
a 10"x 8" piece done from a sketch I did at O'Haver Lake last Fall during the Colorado Mountain Plein Air Fest. I am happy to say that it sold to a couple from Littleton. They were happy too.

Sunday, Taste of Creede

Memorial Day weekend always means "The Taste of Creede" which kicks off the Summer Season for one of Colorado's most colorful and classic mining towns. High in the San Juan Mountains it is a treat to be there over the holiday.
The main event for me will be the Artist's Quick Draw on Sunday at 1 pm.
This party attracts some of the best artists from several states including Steve Quiller, Kris Gosar, Randy Pijoan, Peggy Stenmark Morgan, Charles Ewing, Jan Thompson, Frankie Will, Sue McCullough and myself -
to name a few.
The Quick Draw fun starts at 1 pm and there will be an auction immediately following. This is a chance to bid on work that you watched being done by top artists.
Creede will be the site of a lot of holiday partying - live music, vendors, Silver Chef Competition, stuff for kids and the National small Prints Show at the Creede Repertory Theatre;
all well worth the beautiful drive into the mountains.