Return home

I have finally come home from Colorado. I am exhausted from the travelling, but as always, there is nothing like my own bed. I can't believe I have neglected my blog for so long! Overall, it was a good trip. My mom is out of the hospital and home. Colorado in the summer is such a magical thing. I did meet a wonderful person at a gallery/ frame shop in Denver who has agreed to sell some of my unframed monotypes. If anyone is interested in checking it out, it is called The Framed Image. It is located just west of I-25 on Hampden, in a shopping center called Happy Canyon. I am excited about this new connection!

I was fortunate enough to spend several days - nearly a week, actually - in Salida. My friend Sally Mather and her husband Greg Mihalik were kind enough to take us in for the duration of our visit. Matthias was with me for two days, but he had to return early for work. That was hard, since I was hoping on having his help for the drive home. The day after he left, poor Gordita, the VW van, began having some trouble. So I ended up taking her in to the auto doctor. Fortunately, he was able to get her running for not too much money. It did keep me in Salida a bit longer than I had planned, but I won't complain about that. I got to enjoy some beautiful hikes with Sally and Mr. Pono. I also reconnected with a few friends. I have so many dear friends in Salida. I was not able to see everyone, mainly due to lack of time, but also due to fatigue from Denver. So if you are reading this, and you are one of the Salida friends I did NOT see, please don't be upset. I love you too, and I wish I could have had another week of reconnecting with you all.

I left a new painting in Salida, at cultureclash. It is hanging up on the wall, and will be there for Artwalk. For those of you who don't know, next weekend in Salida is the biggest art weekend in Salida. Called Artwalk, there will be art everywhere, and the regular galleries have extended hours and usually food and music. There is a cool fundraiser with miniature art for sale. If you want some fun with art, I highly recommend Salida next weekend! For more information, click here.

I realized that I feel the most at home in the mountains of Colorado. Matthias agrees that it is a favorite place. Maybe we will be able to move back in a couple of years. For now, I remain a desert dweller.

Sally pointed out some beautiful wildflowers on our hikes. One of them is this divine Calypso orchid. It is not a large flower, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in beauty. It was named for the character in The Odyssey, Calypso, who was also beautiful and lived on a remote island.

The drive home was long and hot. I had forgotten what it is like to drive a vehicle with no air, no cruise control, and not a lot of power. As much as I love that Gordita, I certainly missed my other car, which is much newer, and has all of those niceties.

I hope to be in the studio this week, so new art will be coming soon. I missed you, blog readers!

Framing art

I have been busy, getting all my framing figured out for Artwalk, which is Salida's biggest art event of the year. I have been asked to be the featured artist at Dakota's Bistro, downtown, and of course I need to supply cultureclash with some nice new work for the event. I am framing about 22 of my new monotypes! You should see the framing bill! Not all of the work will be left here in Salida. I will have enough work so that I can take some with me, too. That will be good.

I have also listed some new things on my etsy site, including this little watercolor nude, called "Serenity". I have gotten together a number of new pieces, which I will be listing on etsy gradually over the next few days. So keep checking back, if you see something you like. Etsy has started to pick up for me, probably because I have been putting more time into it, and have been listing more new items. So I am excited about that.

I didn't pack a single box yesterday, but I will today. I just had to get all of that art stuff figured out first. I also took digital photos of my biggest monotypes, so that once they have sold, I still have a record of them. It has taken me a while to figure out how to get good photos of my art, but I am getting closer. My main concern is getting the colors to be closer to the original. You can see what you think, as here is one from yesterday. This one is called "Salvation".