Summer at the Taube Museum of Art

 

Summer is Very Special at the Lillian and Coleman Taube Museum of Art in Minot, ND

 

Check it all out here:   Taube Museum of Art, Minot, ND
 

Big Designs in Small Art!  (all artworks are no larger than 80 square inches)  

is the 11th Annual Small Works Exhibit & Auction
opening tonight in the Main Gallery ... June 21 at 5:00 - 8:30 pm
plus extended hours to celebrate with the Downtown Founder's Day event.
The reception is free and open to the public.
The exhibition runs through ...  July 27, 2018                  (I sent 6 framed paintings)

The show hangs in the Taube Museum Main Gallery but is also accessible online ...

The amazingly diverse artworks are available to bid on in person by visiting the museum,
online www.taubemuseum.org <http://www.taubemuseum.org/;  and their Facebook page,
with the ability for online visitors to place bids by email, phone, or Facebook.
A visitor also has the option to purchase art immediately at the "buy it now" price.
Phone  701-838-4445  or  Email  taube@srt.com   for more information

ART CAMP begins June 26th, plus great Art Ventures all summer long

I am honored to have my 6 Small Works submissions on view for the kids at Art Camp and hope they will enjoy the diverse styles and mediums by so many talented artists. Margaret Lee and her instructors create truly memorable and inspiring educational art experiences for kids and adults!
  

Friday January 13, 2017 4-7 pm

Coni Grant and I invite you to our Show Reception

at the SLV Health Regional Medical Center

in the Second Floor ARTrium on Friday January 13, 2017  from 4-7 pm

Fabulous food, good conversation and our most exciting new art on view
Show hangs November through February
20% of all Sales goes to SLVH Foundation

Check out Coni's website to see more of her work at ConiGrant.com

See a few of the works in the show by Judith Greenwood at SunShadowPainter.blogspot.com

Angels Gather Here

After thinking about it for a year or so and working most of summer to clear out long-stored art and supplies from a 10' x 12' backyard shed, my decorator friend Kandy came by at the end of August. We got right down to possibilities: talked about colors, the ceiling, walls & trim, etc., for this re-do and dashed about town to Sherwin Williams, hardware stores & lumber yards. (Thankfully, Larry had already put insulation in the walls and ceiling.)

Lots of decisions to make! Turned out to be quite a bit of work during September and October, but we had huge fun doing it together!

Then Kandy wrote all about it in the blog she shares with daughter Karli which inspires and informs. She explains the whole project and shows fabulous photos that continue to make me smile: "The Art Shed: Part 2"

Inside the post are links to "The Art Shed: Part 1" showing off our wildly painted floor, and to the post right below Part 1 about my New Old Green Table from the 1940s.

Yes, Colorado artists and my collage-art friend from California will join me for projects in this beautiful new space. I only wish North Dakota artists could easily stop by, too.

For the past several years I enjoyed creating personal angel sketches for people at shows in Santa Fe, Durango and Salida. I continue to create those angels for local folks and folks far away. The new Art Shed provides a wonderfully bright, happy place for both angels and people!




 

Arlene Saugstad smiles

Arlene always smiles! She's one of the world's most special ambassadors of happiness!

Now that she's reaching the big ONE OH ONE! Birthday, I can't resist reflecting on all the fun she has brought to me and Larry and to Minot during soooooo many years of living.

Of course I already did that last year, and everyone else did too, I'm sure, along with thinking about the many kinds of good things she has facilitated, plus her wonderful and inspiring friendship which has meant so much to so many.

Today I can't resist sharing the Arlene angel card I created of her and for her back in 2004. It's pretty sassy, and definitely hints at her love of dance and bright colors. Thank you Arlene for being a true friend since we first met in 1986!

The Mountains Awaken First

Rainy Afternoon

Summer in Full Bloom

Autumn Country Road

Alamosa ArtWalk

Wow, Alamosa ArtWalk is almost here!! I am ready!! Friday I installed five landscape paintings at Edward Jones Investments (418 State). It's a plum location in a beautiful office, located just north of Milagros Coffeehouse at State and Main. You may stop in anytime during business hours from now until March 31.

ArtWalk is on Saturday, March 28, 10-5 pm. I will be at Edward Jones from 11 to 2. Hope the weather holds in this beautiful Spring pattern we're enjoying and everyone will come downtown for all kinds of visual arts, readings & performance, music and local foods. Check it out: AlamosaArtWalk.org

The paintings above (and a few others) will be on display. They are all acrylic on canvas board. This is a new and exciting direction for me. The mountains and the wide, fast-changing skies have seriously captured my eyes and heart.

Dakota Sunshine

What could be more lovely and uplifting during this cold, snowy time than a happy, smiling sunflower?

During late summer in North Dakota, the vast fields of blooming sunflowers make everyone smile. The first time I saw one of those fields, I had to stop the car, get out and stand up on the doorframe to look out as far as I could see... it was just like a sea of sunshine!!! The yellow was so intense it made me feel like I was bathed in sunbeams. I never forgot it, and some years later began a series of paintings (that continues to this day) of the sunflower in its glory. They are all titled "Dakota Sunshine" and have brightened the lives of many smiling people.

This painting with a bit of purple sky is available framed (11" x 14") at Junk Yard Chic, a fabulous shop filled with gifts, art, home accessories, and all sorts of whimsical, magical surprises in Bismarck, North Dakota. If this one is sold, they have more in other colors! Or if you want one with your state's name on it just email Ann Andre at Junk Yard Chic, or call her at 719-223-3784, or email me at angelcatpainter@gmail.com.

Anyway, a bit of the sunflower sunshine is good for all of us at this time of year... helps us remember that spring and the warm blooming weather will return. I think we can better enjoy this time of rest, reflection and renewal, knowing that.

Creating and Sharing

Well, I can hardly believe that a whole month has passed since I finally posted for the second time on this blog. I love to write in addition to creating visual art. So why am I not writing, and writing all the time? That's a difficult question and may be similar to the question: Why am I not creating art all the time? Do I let life get in the way a little too much and let it keep me from the solitary chore that is painting?

What is it that keeps me from my acknowledged desire for and certainly a kind of longing for more time spent in artistic endeavors? It's true that my creativity easily and often blossoms in many other ways: like problem-solving in everyday life; recognizing connections between many disparate things; knowing how this will lead to that; seeing through, beyond, into so many things, people, situations. These are things that do not always require much solitary time. Or is all of that also an important part of the creative process and not to be put off or denigrated in any way? I do know that time and energy spent on solitary creative endeavors often brings me and many others much joy. And that result is also precious to me, but not always enough to inspire me to my work.

Suddenly last week, when I read the following words in a beautiful new tourism publication from Telluride by the Poet Laureate of San Miguel County, Colorado, I felt a stirring, a sense that she could just as easily be speaking about visual art and maybe many, or even most, other kinds of creative endeavors:

While the creation is solitary,
the dance is the sharing of the words.
-Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Rosemerry has, I think, explained it all quite well in these few words. Although much of the creative process is rather solitary, it is the sharing after (or sometimes even during) the creative process that makes it come alive... makes it dance... makes it really and truly real. I love that part, the sharing and dancing, just as much as the creating. Her words have inspired me anew to make a more concerted effort to find the solitary time I need to create, so that the excitement and joy and connections of the dance can happen more and more often.

Starshine

Finally, time to start talking....

It isn't like I haven't been talking, talking about art, and making art....

I just haven't gotten around to coming here to do it! But after looking at so many wonderful blogs, I decided I better get started.

The acrylic painting above is called STARSHINE. It is about 4"x6". I will be putting many more angels on here, a few cats, some landscapes and still lifes, and who knows what else.

In the meantime, check out my friend Coni Grant's blog that has fabulous plein air paintings, great discussions on art, links to other great art blogs and some of my recent work also. She teaches an oil painting class that I attend. We learn a lot and have lots of laughs every week!


And my friend Judith Hovde, who is a world-class calligrapher, great photographer and wonderful writer also has a blog that makes me smile, is charming and always has something new. We have been making art together and having fun for more than 20 years!

Beginning

Well, here we are on the Internet. I really do paint Angels and Cats... and Flowers and Animals and Landscapes... It's pretty exciting to be able to talk about ART and other interesting things. I'm sure I'll think of something to say pretty soon.