Ready to get Out of Town?

It's June! Yay!

If you are dealing with a case of cabin fever this is a good time to bust outta' town.  Taos, New Mexico is only 90 minutes away and wonderful day trip destination.

Galleries and restaurants are quietly opening up;  take your mask and stroll streets that have been quiet way too long.

I currently have a show of 15 new pieces at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art, right up the street from the Plaza on Kit Carson. Voted Best Gallery in Taos, Wilder Nightingale boasts the broadest, and the most interesting stable of artists in all of Taos.

Do yourself a favor while this shorten summer lasts - take the drive to enchanted Taos, spend time and you will come back to Colorado with a new perspective on things.

Fall Arts in Taos

TAOS is always a good idea ! -
. . . the brisk air, changing colors and the smell of chilis roasting. . .
- it's Fall in Taos.
This weekend, September 23 and 24,  marks the 43rd Annual Taos Fall Arts Festival:  visual art, performance, kid art, regional art,  and galleries in party-mode. What's not to love?

I will be in Taos on Saturday night celebrating the opening of the new show "Solace in Sanctuary",  at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art,
which will feature work from all the artists in Wilder Nightingale-  themed along the lines of New Mexico's most loved and venerated locations.  Click on this link to see more:   http://www.wnightingale.com/artists/152

This show celebrates Fall Arts and Wilder Nightingale's 27 years of service to the Taos art community.
Join us at 119-A Kit Carson Road on Saturday evening from 5 to 7 pm
or call 575-758-3255 for more information.

Looking Ahead

Summer is JUST around the corner- or should I say - just around the next snow storm. We have had a couple of "nice" days here in the high country but I KNOW there is at least one snow still out there because my irises are just beginning to bloom.  Sigh. . . . .
Painting students are getting restless for the great outdoors and all my classes will go OUTside at the end of June - Yay!
Join us on Tuesday Evening, June 21st,  and- or
Thursday Morning 
June 23rd at the Alamosa Family Rec Center. Call 719-589-2107 to register for 8 weeks of plein air painting.

In the meantime- I am looking ahead to my summer - starting with Taste of Creede -Memorial Day Weekend, May 28 & 29.
Artists gather from all around the country to join world renown painter - Stephen Quiller in historic Creede, CO. Sunday's main event is the Artist's Quick Draw at 1pm - with a live auction immediately following.  Last year my buyer came all the way from Westminster, CO to be at this party.

2016 Santa Fe Plein Air Festival is next in June, and Susan McCullough and I will paint for a week in New Mexico with plein air painters from all over.  This is a juried event - so the show should be awesome and will open Thursday, June 9th at 5pm
InArt Gallery, 219 Delgado St in Santa Fe, NM.

Sun UP to Sun DOWN- Plein air Painting in Taos, NM - 
All day painting on July 29 and All day Show on July 30th at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art.
This special event will feature Myself, Susan McCullough, and Peggy Immel,  all painting from dawn to dusk, on Kit Carson Road in front of Wilder Nightingale Fine Art in Taos, NM. Come on Friday to watch, come back for the show on Saturday. All work will be for sale.

Summer Workshops
I will be teaching 2 one-Day Workshops this summer:
Wednesday, August 17th at the Art Center in Estes Park, CO.  
Call 970-586-5882
and  
Friday, August 19th at Fare Bella Gallery in Manitou Springs, CO  
Call 720-226- 4315

Classes and workshops are a good way to inspire your painting and make the most of the summer season.  Get OUT there!  -  and I hope to see you at one of these events.

Hearts and Stars in Taos

I have been a little slow about blogging of late; whatever the word might be for "un-motivation" - I have felt it creep over me like a fog (and not on 'little cat feet') as I grieve the recent loss of a dear colleague and mentor. See a few posts back.
Creativity, motivation and making a living - these things cannot wait for the luxury of good feelings - so we press on.
And Christmas is impossible to ignore; no matter how slow you have been driving on surface streets, once you hit the on-ramp - prepare to be swept up into the fast lane of Christmas craziness. (please indulge the freeway metaphor. Now I am showing my roots- but I digress).
It may be a fallow time in the landscape but no where else. Painters, like everyone else, have realized, about now, - we should have started working on holiday inventory last January. Too late now.
But, my brain is starting to perk like crazy with more ideas than I could use in a lifetime - conveniently, I don't have time to pursue them.
It is one of those universal laws: the best ideas bubble up when there is no possible way they could be addressed. Hmmmmm.
At this moment, I am just happy to have some motivation.
And FINALLY, to my point -
the TAOS Hearts and Stars Party; one of the best holiday party/fund raisers with a focus on giving back. This is one holiday- miniature show that covers all the bases, bringing together work from some of the best artists with art lovers, collectors and the Taos community at large - to support Taos Coalition to End Homelessness, Inc.
All the work is under 8"x 10", and very affordable.
Rob Nightingale at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art does a wonderful job hosting this event with live music and fabulous food - all for a good cause. It is his gift to the community. Thanks Rob.
If you are within 200 miles - of Taos on Saturday night - it is a party worth attending.
Saturday, December 3rd from 5-7 pm at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art on Kit Carson in Taos; suggested $10 donation at the door.
My piece is at the top of this post: 'Showers Ahead', of the road to New Mexico from Colorado - in fact the road I will be taking to the party.
It is 8"x 10", oil on panel.

The Best Gallery In Taos

Wilder Nightingale Fine Art was voted - People's Choice for Best Gallery in Taos - for the second year in a row. I am so happy to be represented there, and have always considered it to be the most beautiful gallery in Taos.
Congratulations Rob!
The PEOPLE have spoken.

Hearts & Stars In Taos

It is that time of year: holiday parties, fund raisers and ways to think about giving back. Hearts & Stars is one show that covers all those bases, bringing together work from some of the best artists with art lovers, collectors and the Taos community at large - all for a very good cause - to support Taos Coalition to End Homelessness, Inc.
And all the work is under 8"x 10".
Rob Nightingale at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art does a wonderful job hosting this event with live music and fabulous food - all for a good cause.
If you are within 200 miles - it is a party worth attending.
Friday, November 26th from 6-8 pm at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art on Kit Carson in Taos; suggested $10 donation at the door.
I will definitely be there, albeit dragging "das Boot" but the Dr has given me leave to go without crutches. Yippee! That is one personal reason to be thankful this year, that and the fact that I didn't break my head or painting hand.
The painting at the top of this post is one of two pieces that I entered: 'Ladies in Painting', 7"x 7", oil on panel, the other, below, is 'Mesa View', 6"x 8", plein air piece in oil from Ghost Ranch.
If you can't make the show in person, see it online just click on Wilder Nightingale.

Congratulations Wilder Nightingale Fine Art in Taos

I am very happy to be represented in Taos by Wilder Nightingale Fine Art and the gallery was just voted 2010 People's Choice for Best Gallery in Taos. Congratulations Rob Wilder Nightingale;
I think your gallery is the most beautiful, with the most fabulous art and the People of Taos have confirmed that opinion.