ABOUT
Making the Artworks
My involvement in the art business has now spanned over 40 years. I began as a picture framer, then worked alongside an art restorer, became an art dealer, and about 25 years ago, began to draw and paint. In my career, I’ve been fortunate to have seen remarkably good works of art and met some of the best painters in the field.
My focus is the landscape and its rich store of ideas and inspiration. I am compelled to work from the trees, skies, lakes and streams in their endless variations. I don’t try to recreate nature (even Monet said he never got it right) or attempt storytelling. Instead, the works are simplifications and exaggerations of nature. There was a time when I felt the tyranny of the landscape. That is, I felt limited by making pictures of a place. Now, instead of making pictures, I am free to make paintings, art that comes from nature but is far more reliant on the strategies of making good art objects.
Fortunately, I’ve learned that what some would call mistakes are part of the creative process. So, I try to begin boldly, not worrying about mistakes, using more color than might exist in nature, and varying the types of chroma and marks. During the process, I allow my vision and the inevitable missteps to become a part of the emerging image. Some of these missteps will be eliminated and the more delicious ones are incorporated into the process as unintended surprises.”
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Painting is not a linear, start to finish process for me. I typically have a number of paintings and pastels in progress in the studio. I welcome interruptions. They are also part of the process. If the phone rings, I’m talking and looking at other paintings, gazing out the window, or at photos in the mail order catalog. Sometimes the very solution I’m seeking is found that way. Otherwise, I might continue to focus on the singular canvas in front of me and miss a chance to make it better. All the paintings and little images in view feed each other, offering solutions and more problems. Those paintings that make it out the door have come to a good but sometimes torturous conclusion.
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On occasion, I also do monotypes (unique prints) and collages as a departure from painting. The monotypes are a great departure from working on canvas. With monotypes I’m painting on plexiglas plates and then the images are run through a press and the image is transferred to paper. The results are unexpected and free. It is exhilarating working under the time pressures of the printer’s studio and I’ve learned a lot from the process. With my collages, I have lately used wine and champagne labels. There is a freedom to making art without the limits of land and sky. With the collage, every edge, color, shape and design is exactly as I want it. The brush and canvas and interlopers here: they change the texture and edges of everything. With the collage, the entire design can be precisely changed by just moving a piece of paper.
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Tomorrow in the studio, new oils and pastels will emerge. The fun of it all is that sometimes the pastels become new oils, oils morph into different pastels or prints. All of nature is altered, perfected and abstracted. When I run out of variations to an idea, I’ll go back to nature where all the inspirations and colors for a lifetime are always waiting.
Representation
Arden's Gallery , Houston, Texas
Hunt Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
Madelyn Jordan Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY
Renjeau Gallery, Natick MA
Saks Galleries, Denver
Getty Images
Selected Exhibitions
2020 Group Show, Saks Galleries, Denver, CO
2019 Group Show, Saks Galleries, Denver, CO
2019 Group Show, Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM
2018 Group Show, Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM
2018 Group Show, Hand-Pulled: Mark Lunning's Open Press
PACE Center, Parker, CO
2017 Colorado Showcase, PACE Center Art Gallery, Parker, CO
2017 Governor's Art Show, Loveland Museum and Gallery, CO
2017 Group Show with the Expand Artists: Arapahoe Community College
Art and Design Center, CO
2016 Group Show, Art Gym, Denver, CO
2016 Group Show, Arden's Gallery River Oaks, Houston, TX
2016 One Person Show, Mirada Fine Art Gallery, Indian Hills, CO
2016 Group Show, Cherry Creek Fine Art, Denver, CO
2015 One Person Show, Arden's Gallery River Oaks, Houston, TX
2015 Group Show with the Expand Artists: Lone Tree Arts Center, CO
2015 Two-person Show with Kim English, Total Arts, Taos, New Mexico
2015 Group Show, Arden's Gallery River Oaks, Houston, TX
2015 One person Retrospective Exhibition, PACE Center, Parker, CO
2015 Group Show, "Here to There" Denver International Airport, CO
2013 Group Show, Open Press 25th Anniversary Exhibit. "A Celebration of
Tradition and Experimentation of the Fine Art Print,"
McNichols Civic Center, Denver, CO
2013 Two-person Show with Casey Klahn,
Madden Museum of Fine Art, Denver, CO
2013 Group Show, Group show at aBuzz Gallery, Aug 2013
2012 Group Show, Madden Museum of Fine Art, Denver, CO
2012 Group Show, Total Arts, Taos, New Mexico
2011 Group Show, Total Arts, Taos, New Mexico
2011 Group Show, Madden Museum of Fine Art, Denver, CO
2011 Group Show, "Decade," Madelyn Jordan Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY
2011 Group Show, "Exploring Abstraction," Michele Mosko Fine Arts, Denver, CO
2010 Group Show, Total Arts, Taos, New Mexico
2010 Group Show, Madelyn Jordan Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY
2010 Two-man Show, Total Arts, Taos, New Mexico
2009 Group Show, Madelyn Jordan Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY
2008 One-man Show, Arden's Gallery, Houston, TX
2008 Group Show, Madelyn Jordan Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY
2008 One-man Show, Framed Image, Denver, CO
2007 Group Show, Madelyn Jordan Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY
2006 One-man Show, ZYT Gallery, Los Altos, CA
2006 One-man Show, Arden's Gallery, Houston, TX
2005 One-man Show, Arden's Gallery, Houston, TX
2005 Two-person Show, Open Press Ltd, Monotypes, Denver, CO
2004 Group Show, Open Press 15 Year Retrospective,
Colorado Springs Contemporary Arts Center, CO
2004 One-man Show, New Monotypes, Arden's Gallery, Houston, TX
2004 Group Show, Millsap Moore Gallery, Evergreen, CO
2004 One-man Show, Arden's Gallery, Houston, TX
2003 Group Show, Colorado Painting, Grant Street Studios, Denver, CO
2003 Group Show, ZYT Gallery, CA 2003 Group show,
Grant Street Studios, Denver, CO
2002 One-man Show, Arden's Gallery, Houston, TX
2001 Group show, American Landscape Paintings, Editions Limited
Oakland, CA
2001 Group show, Joseph Thayer Gallery, Castle Rock, CO
2001 Group show, Colorado Art Open Exhibition, Golden CO
2000 One-man Show, Sharon Park Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
1999 One-man Show, Sharon Park Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
1999 Group Show, Sharon Park Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
1996 Group Show, Kismet Gallery, juried by Janet Fish, San Jose, CA
1996 Group Show, I. Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA
1995 Group Show, Triton Museum Biennial, Santa Clara, CA
1994 One-man show, 3Com, Palo Alto, CA.
1994 One-man show, Hitachi, Santa Clara, CA
1994 Group show, Pope Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA
1993 Group show, Gump's, San Francisco, CA
1993 Group show, Triton Museum Biennial, Santa Clara, CA
1993 Group show, Baker Gallery, Half Moon Bay, CA
1993 One-man show, Arden's , Houston, Texas
1993 One-man show, Van Kampen Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
1992 Group show, Santa Fe Institute of Fine Arts Alumni Exhibit,
Santa Fe, NM
1992 Group show, Joanne Chappell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1992 One-man show, St. Francis Foundation Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1991 Group show, Joanne Chappell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1991 Group show, Gallery 30, Burlingame, CA
1990 Group show, Pastel Society of the West Coast, 4th Natl Open,
Sacramento, CA
1990 One-man show, Burlingame Bank and Trust Co., Burlingame, CA
1989 One-man show, Hewlett Packard Headquarters, Cupertino, CA
1989 One-man show, Coyote Point Museum, San Mateo, CA
1989 Group show, Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, Texas
1988 Group show, Wilhelm Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
1988 Group show, Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, TX
partial listing
Coopers and Lybrand
Hewlett Packard
Kaiser-Permanente
Ritz Hotel, Denver
Four Seasons Hotel, Denver
St. Anthony's Hospital, Denver
Panhandle Eastern
National Dairy Board
Grubb and Ellis, Denver
Marriott Hotels
Holland America Cruise Line
Stanford Cancer Center, Palo Alto
Tufts New England Medical Center
Pinnacol Denver Hospice, CO
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
Gaylord Rockies Resort & Conference
Center Aurora, CO
Vail Mountain Club, Vail, CO
Yampa Valley Medical Ctr, Steamboat Springs, CO
Vectra Bank, CO
Blue Shield
Hitachi
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Glenmoor Country Club, Denver
Project Energy
St. John’s Mercy Medical Center,
Creve Coeur, MO
Rose Medical Center, Parker, CO
Spectrum Health Butterworth
Hospital, Grand Rapids, MI
Magnet Bank, Atlanta
Ford, Harrison Law, Atlanta
Lowry Medical Center, Denver
Town and Country Hospital, Houston
Jones and Keller, Denver
Raychem
Birch Hill Investment Advisors, Boston
Avista Hospital, CO
Collections
Interviews and Articles:
Denver Life Magazine, March 2019
Artists on Art, May-June 2017
SW Art Magazine, May 2015
view the full article
SW Art Magazine, May 2012
view the full article
Q&A Black Tie Colorado interview 2008
Artist Statement:
"Making the Artworks"
Information:
How monotypes prints are made
Videos:
Video page