Open Studios 2015 is a thing of history — lots of work to get ready, lots of visitors and lots of questions asked: What are your paintings about? or the one that bugs me a little: What are you trying to say?
I don’t actually think a successful painting has to “say” anything if that means it has to be edgy to be relevant. My paintings are about the creation of something beautiful and interesting to me and, hopefully, to the viewer. If it is visually compelling, it will have accomplished what I want to express.
My paintings are about many things. Nature and design — pattern and symbolism— abstract and figurative. The pieces explore natural forms (birds, leaves, branches, flowers, mountains) and patterning both natural and designed by humans (artists!) My pieces inspire the human spirit, revealing a connection between us and the beauty of our environment.
“Beauty is. It is as natural as breathing. Its allure is transforming and I never thought art was about anything else.“– Robert Zakanitch
NoBo Sixth Annual Group Show and First Friday Opening
The First Friday Opening for the Annual NoBo Group Show is coming up this Friday, Feb. 5. This is one of my favorite group shows – a catered reception, an abundance of great art, and live music! With over 70 artists participating, there’ll be lots of opportunities to mix with artists and patrons.
What’s it all about?
Open Studios 2015 is a thing of history — lots of work to get ready, lots of visitors and lots of questions asked: What are your paintings about? or the one that bugs me a little: What are you trying to say?
I don’t actually think a successful painting has to “say” anything if that means it has to be edgy to be relevant. My paintings are about the creation of something beautiful and interesting to me and, hopefully, to the viewer. If it is visually compelling, it will have accomplished what I want to express.
My paintings are about many things. Nature and design — pattern and symbolism— abstract and figurative. The pieces explore natural forms (birds, leaves, branches, flowers, mountains) and patterning both natural and designed by humans (artists!) My pieces inspire the human spirit, revealing a connection between us and the beauty of our environment.
“Beauty is. It is as natural as breathing. Its allure is transforming and I never thought art was about anything else.“– Robert Zakanitch
Studio #87 directions
My address is 1150 Orange Place in North Boulder, West of Broadway, off of Poplar.
The directions are: Broadway north to Poplar, left on Orange Court, veer left onto Orange Place. The studio is at the end on the cul de sac. FOLLOW THE SIGNS
You can access my house from the Norwood bike path if you are on foot or biking.
I’ll be giving demos of my stenciling technique and will have a kids’ table for budding artists to try their hand at stenciling as well.
“Open . . .” Opening
It’s finally here — the Friday opening reception for the Open Studios Tour starting this weekend.
The Preview Party is Friday, October 2nd from 6:00 – 8:00 pm at the Boulder Public Library’s Canyon Gallery. Open Studios will be asking for a $10 donation. Food served at the event will be from Parma Italian Trattoria, Savory Cuisine, Nothing Bundt Cakes, and B.W. Cooper’s Iced Teas.
Aside from the reception/party, the preview show is a great place to see examples of each artists work. There are two notebooks available with bios and info on each artist. The library show will be up through the two weekends of the Tour.
Exciting new happenings for the 2015 Studio Tour
Free Map! — now you can download a map app for your smart phone. Find it through a free app called GuideBook. It contains sortable lists, maps, links to artists webpages and emails, bike routes, and much more. You can find out more about the app or you can download a free pdf of the map on the Open Studios website http://www.openstudios.org
For a hard copy there will be a map and listing of art studio addresses in an insert in the Daily Camera on Friday, October 2
20th Anniversary Show Catalog —This 272 page book contains a short history of Open Studios, archival photos, and a two page spread of each of the artists in the 2015 tour. The book will be for sale for $20 + tax.
What other new work will you have for Open Studios?
I always create a new painting for the Open Studios group show which is at the Boulder Library Canyon Gallery. (the show runs from Sept 3 to Oct 11. and the tour is the 1st two weekends in Oct.) The preview show is a great place to visit to see examples of each artist’s work. There are two notebooks available with bios and info on each artist.
The painting I’ve submitted is a new landscape titled Long’s Discovery.
When I paint a landscape I never use a typical plein aire or photographic approach. This particular interpretation of Long’s Peak is designed to focus on the starkness of the peak contrasted with layers of discovery that might occur during the approach.
Long’s Discovery 37.5 X 23.5” acrylic on hardwood panel inc. self frame
Labor Day Art Exhibit and Reception
My painting, Winged Withdrawal will be included in the annual Labor Day juried show sponsored by the Boulder Art Association. On display from Friday through Monday, the show is in a new venue at the Hyatt Place Hotel, at 30th and Pearl. Free public reception on Friday night, 4 to 8.
Q. Will you have new work to show at your studio tour?
I’ve finished several new paintings that will be displayed at my studio the first 2 weekends in October.
One new painting is of Monarch butterflies. They are in the news now because of major problems with loss of habitat due mostly to herbicides that kill their host plant, the milkweed. I titled the painting Monarch Miracle mainly because their amazing life cycle, which includes several generations sort of relaying them to their winter habitat in Mexico, seems totally miraculous to me. I’m also hoping for a miracle that humans will do the right thing and be able to save them.
Monarch Miracle 13 X 15” acrylic on hardwood panel inc. self frame
Q. Speaking of Open Studios, where’s yours?
A. I live in North Boulder and my basement is my studio. It’s 700 sq. ft. with a large south facing window, which makes it a decent area for a studio. Even with all that natural light, I’ve had to add lots of artificial lights.
There’s a gallery area for hanging paintings. The work area has 3 adjustable tables and a drafting table. I need lots of table space to spread out on since I often work on more than one painting at a time. While most of my process is in the physical act of painting, I use an iMac for every other part of my process, from looking for inspiration, to finding photo references, to editing photos of my paintings and posting on my website.
I like the flexibility of being able to work where I live. I used to free lance graphic design from my house and am pretty disciplined about setting a schedule and not getting side tracked when I need to work. And, although I’m isolated when I paint, I don’t have to deal with being distracted by studio mates in a shared studio setting.
Questions from the Curious
I’m using my upcoming studio tour —less than 2 months away – as motivation to talk about my work and the tour. I’m great at being motivated when I have a deadline!
My blogging handicap is that I’m a visual person, so getting my thoughts expressed in words is going to be interesting (at least to me). I can’t count how many times I’ve rewritten my art statement over the last five years—always trying to improve on clarifying and communicating my ideas.
When I open my studio and have curious people (many of them artists themselves) come in and ask questions, I find it helps me to clarify my process by answering their questions. So that’s my idea on a series of blogs: answering questions from the curious. Basically, what, why, and how.
I’m posting a few visuals of why visitors might be curious about my paintings:
