C.Waters Annual Artist Showcase and Sale, Creede, Colorado

Chere Waters has nurtured a family of artists whose work populates the walls of her newly reopened C. Waters Gallery in Creede, Colorado. She will feature this select group in the second year of her newly relocated and named C. Waters Gallery after six previous years in a space attached to her home on the hill overlooking the town.

That's me on the left at last year's grand opening. Chere is in the center in black. Paul Stone, recently deceased after contracting ALS, is in the wheel chair in front. I call him Dr. Boom. You can check out the trailer for a project about his life at this link:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/paul-freakin-stone-that-s-who#/









The reception and sale will be on Saturday, July 16, 2016 from 3 to 7 pm in the gallery next door to the world famous Creede Repertory Theater on Main street. My fellow featured artists are Suzanne Reed Fine, Kristian Gosar, Aaron Brown, Brownie, Hanna Waters, Colleen de Santos, Peggy Stenmark, Randall LaGro and Alicia Hess.

Here is one of my paintings - " Threshold to Loch Vale" 24x30" oil on linen

Chere's receptions are legend- great fun, food, artists and libations-and I am sure this one will not disappoint. If you are in the area, Creede is a hoot with the theater, dining and the magnificent San Juan Mountains. Come on by.

Vistas Over the Fence

Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust 4th Annual “Keep the Rio Grande Grand” Art Benefit and Sale
Opening Friday, June 24, 6 pm til Dark Thirty
The Gallery at the Windsor, Del Norte, Colorado
Show runs until July 4th



Of course I am a great fan of our lands held in common- such as the National and State Forests and Parks. We are blessed in the West with an abundance of public land. I like an analogy in reference to Indian Reservations- that these are our Tribal Lands- if we could just get over our glaring and all-to-easy-to-point-out differences of who makes up the U.S. to consider ourselves a tribe.
It is not the Government (Gummint?) who owns the land- it is you and I.

"Mountain Homestead"
9 x 12 plein air

But I early on noticed something very significant. In the midst of these huge tracts of public land are pockets, sometimes very large pockets, of fenced land- usually posted with no-trespassing signs. Many a time I have stretched my neck over barbed wire- drooling at verdant vistas along streams and meadows- out of reach for the law abiding citizen. These are the private ranches that have been carved out of the most productive and watered lands in the west.

Homesteading was the vehicle for this creation of ranches in the late 1800’s. The U.S. had recently acquired millions of acres of land that was uninhabited (by Europeans) and to encourage settlement the lawmakers decided to give as much of the land away as possible. The classic image for me was some movie with hundreds of people lined up on horseback and in wagons. The official fires a pistol into the air and the great land rush was on.

So if you were able to pick out 160 acres- for free- what would you pick? The landmark cliff face or high peak, or the meadow down in the cottonwoods where you could fatten some cattle? In this way, many of the oasis zones became the core of spectacular ranches. Over a century later, the current land owners, many of them descendents of the original settlers, have the option to make sure these rare lands are retained in their open vistas far into the future.

"Into the Meadow" 11 x 14
The creation of development easements and land trusts have, hand -in -hand, made what is truly a promise into the future. These scenic expanses will be here to be enjoyed by some who have not even been born yet. I salute the vision of these land owners who choose to go this way.

The Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust is a valuable organization created to hold these easements. I am once again participating in the annual art celebration to help raise funds for the land trust projects.

It is also self-serving for me. I want to keep these ranches open- so I can paint them. Who knows- someone may actually let me in to paint on the other side of the fence!

(I say this in jest- I am continually invited by generous land owners who share with pride places they love to show off.)

"Creek and Cone" 9x12 plein air

InSpired

I have long been attracted to rock formations which are so prevalent in the dry West where the geology isn’t covered up by “pesky” vegetation. This piece portrays a famous landmark in northern New Mexico called Chimney Rock at Ghost Ranch. Can’t say much for the creativity of place-namers…. I am sure there are hundreds of Chimney Rocks throughout the country. I would love to know what the Native Americans called it; probably different names by different clans throughout time.

In looking at the attraction to these landmarks there are some obvious aspects such as an easily identifiable natural feature that you can communicate, such as “two miles south of Chimney Rock.” Then there is the piece about the imagery of free standing rock pillars.

The obvious association with rock spires is the phallus shape which conjures up things about masculinity and power. But I also think there is the hopeful recognition in the resemblance to monumental scale humans, perhaps the original inspiration for commemorative statuary. In an animistic bend we can enliven these giant formations with a living presence – the Rock People.

When I visit the area around Ghost Ranch I am cognizant of the mechanics of geology through my years of study, with the “explaining” of how the sediment was laid down, layer after layer, with each stratum telling its own tale. Then the layers being compressed underground for eons and its reemergence as it slowly gets worn down into sediment again by the wind and moisture, freezing and thawing.

This explaining diminishes the magic if you let it. Science can trivialize the wonder of nature with the notion that things happen “normally.”

Science used properly can amplify your appreciation of what you see. “This used to be an ocean beach dune and is now in the side of a cliff 2000 miles away from the sea!”
Such information baffles me back into the magic of our Earth.
Oh- and look over there at that hoo-doo- I see a face!

The painting : "Inspired" oil on canvas 24" x 18"