Friday, September 3, 2010

St. Elmo is Sold

No, not the ghost town in the Colorado mountains above Mt. Princeton Hot Springs, but my diptych oil painting of East and West St. Elmo. This is my absolute last chance to show this on my blog (did I hear sighs of relief?), especially since I've vowed to start each post with a view of an oil painting (and I confess I have no new oils to show):


The Long Sale

I would have reported on my art show and this sale sooner, but I had to wait for the entire sale of St. Elmo to be completed, which it was only yesterday. Did you ever sell a picture that took over 3 weeks to conclude? Thank you to Dr. Joe and Barbara Vuillemin of Tucson, AZ, our summer neighbors, who bought East St. Elmo during my art show, Aug. 13 at the Old Colorado City History Center.
Barbara assured me that "I'll buy West St. Elmo next year, I can only buy one painting a year!" Then they went to St. Elmo and stayed overnight at Mt. Princeton Hot Springs. They enjoyed it so much that Barbara had me bring West St. Elmo over and hang it on the wall in their master bedroom, along with East St. Elmo.
"This is our new St. Elmo room!" she exclaimed happily. "Look at how the colors of your oils come out!"
I'm headlining this post with this sale because I feel great, and am encouraged to paint more Colorado mountain paintings. I have many started and many more in my head.

Judy Wise's Comment

Judy Wise made a comment on my last post, about my art show: "And that HUGE painting (Holy Taos Mountain)- congratulations o fearless leader. You inspire me. I am curious if it is acrylic or oil and which you are loving the most right nnow. I keep thinking I will switch to oil but my impatient nature stays my hand."
Thanks Judy. It's an oil painting, I love oils most of all because of the deep, changing colors that literally are alive. I do still love acrylics and I start all my paintings with them, and finish in thick oils. You certainly do need patience waiting for the oil to dry, and I don't recommend thick oil painting to anyone who can't wait.
And I didn't receive any encouragement at all in my desire to paint two more parts to Holy Taos Mountain. At this point I'm not planning on continuing with those new paintings.

At Last My Report on my Art Show

I was hoping to show photos of my art show last month, but I've given up waiting on them. Time passes in an odd, slow way in Old Colorado City, because I only learned a few days ago how successful the show was. Everyone at the center is pleased with the money they made, and of course so am I.
I did sell one High Road painting, of San Jose de Gracia Church at Trampas. Thank you to Marni and Nate Kiser. At this time I'm not planning on painting any more High Road scenes.

Woe Begone

Because nothing moves very fast in Old Colorado City, I want to show this picture of Garrison Keiler which I took just last week, when we attended a Prairie Home Companion concert with Chris and Rick in the gorgeous surrounds of the Chatfield Botanic Gardens, near where we want to move in the next year (more about that):
Life here is like life in Lake Woebegon, laid-back, easy-going, folksy. And slow, very slow. I think I even look like Garrison, and I'm infected by his ambling pace and rambling story telling, which makes me think of life in Old Colorado City and the characters I met at Founders Day, the day after my art show. Here are a Victorian dancing couple:

Some people like to appear old, and yet young and stylish at the same time. There is a nostalgia for olden days:

And some people just like to appear old. These folks may not appear to be having fun, but they are, they're Victorian dancers and are trying to appear proper and distinguised.

It's fun to imagine what these folks may be, bankers, politicians, hat salesmen, teachers, singers, madams, merchants, gamblers, snake oil salesmen, they were all here in Old Colorado City's early days.

Our Big Move

And now we're going through a big change in our lives, which is one big reason I've been trying to move my paintings. We've decided to put our house up for sale and try to move to Littleton, in south Denver, much nearer our family. Our home is too big for us now. We've been planning this move for decades, and were just waiting for us to be retired.
All of my unsold paintings are now back in our home, and will help sell it. I will continue to produce art, in fact I have a commission now I am working on, and I will show my artwork on this blog as I get it done, and I'll certainly keep you up to date on our progress. Thank you for your patience.

1 comment:

Judy Wise said...

John is having withdrawals over you selling the homestead. He has so many warm memories of that house (as I'm sure we all do).

On the other hand it is refreshing to see you loading up the conestoga wagon for yet one more migration. Your adventurous spirit is infectious!

xo