COORS
First entry into the Coors Western Art Show
The most popular paintings as far as I can tell are ones that contain one or more of the following:
detail
people
animals
gripping light effect
If these are combined, you have a painting that may get a lot of attention. People associate detail with skill, but eliminating details, clearing away all the little trees and underbrush so the chosen tree can get more light and reach its potential - that’s what I do. I magnify the main idea by clearing out the underbrush.
This is important because I’m in a major art show - the Coors Western Art Show - and would very much like to appear to be good, or at least competent. (A sale or two would make my day and pay for my supplies, shipping, and framing.)
I doubt anyone here is familiar with the Coors Western Art Show held each January in Denver, Colorado. It is a big show with really good painters - many are nationally known - and I have been invited back for a second year.
I am not nationally known.
In fact, I don’t even know how to paint, so it’s amazing that I get to participate again this year. We submit three major works. The deadline for the first image was September 1, and my first offering to the show is … I don’t know. It may be boring.
You would think that I would lean into what I know about people and make pictures that incorporate more of the bulleted items above, but I just can’t do that. Purpose is king, and I want to do what I want to do. True demonstrations of skill can be found in the work of Thomas Blackshear and Adrienne Stein, for example, but not only am I not that experienced, I’m simply not that talented. I work with ideas, striving to bring forth prayer. I do hope to improve, however.
So, my three major works for this year’s Coors Western Art Show feature no gripping light effects, animals, or humans. No sunset over a horse’s back, no Native American wrapped in a blanket, not one single cowboy hat, and not one high-definition cloud. Just the landscape presented in a way that allows the viewer to participate in my prayers and contemplations. They are like daydreams with open windows allowing passerbys to stick their head in for a visit.
There will be “detail” but the detail will be paint - striations, smudges, knife marks, and smears - not the “rendering-of-every-strand-of-hair-on-a-horse-tail” kind of detail. I make no effort to convince the viewer that what they are looking at is anything other than paint. The surface of a painting tells a story, and I want people to read that story.
I want people to see the contemplative side of landscape painting, and that can be accomplished - ironically - by visually moving backwards from what is depicted to seeing just the surface itself.
My first effort lacks the purpose that my other two ideas contain and therefore may fall short. Let me know what you think. I don’t take anything personally. Promise.
Highway 789 in Wyoming near the huge mineral springs in Thermopolis.
Late afternoon. So quiet.
So many wordless stirrings want to come off my brush as forms arranged on my linen panel, but I’m just not poet enough (Rilke), I’m afraid.
The wind bends down the heads of the grasses it passes over making a goldsilver sheen like ripples on a lake surface.
The stones have stories told in order of occurrence but are fractured and quiet now.
The fence. There is much to say about a fence.
After considering many things like the history of the space and the difficulty of the feat, I have decided to title it,
“Negotiations”
It is a 24x36 oil on linen.
One down, two to go. Wish me luck. Remember to comment to tell me what you think. Do you get a feeling of space? Do you get anything at all out of viewing it? Can you feel the overcast day? Is there any part that is bothersome? Let me know.
And now to share a real work of art that I found while pillaging Pinterest. Also, be sure to quickly see Thomas Blackshear and Adrienne Stein. They are amazing.
This is a kind of image that one could have in their home and get nourished by it week in and week out. Read how it is made. So beautiful. I love these images that have been chiseled down to the bones. Here is the link to where I found it: artist - ALBARRÁN CABRERA with NAILYA ALEXANDER GALLERY
My other cultural inputs: