Ahhh - vacation....
What with moving to the mountains, selling our house, and getting work out the door for shows and galleries, I've been getting wound pretty tight and needing some time to de-stress. We flew down to Phoenix yesterday morning to spend a long weekend basking in the sunlight and warmth of the desert, and I'm already feeling 100% better after a day of rest. March and April always make me think I want to live down here - the weather is perfect, the flowers are blooming, and there's just something about the desert that feels like home...
While Nate golfed this morning, I spent a few hours perusing all of the galleries on Main Street here in Scottsdale. The Scottsdale Art Auction was today, and they were televising it in Legacy Galleries - I was amused to discover that high end art auctions sound the same as cattle auctions, fast-talking auctioneer and all! Because the art auction was today, a lot of the big-name galleries had Western art themed shows hanging. I'm not a huge fan of cowboy and indian art, so I was a bit disappointed, but there were still some gems to see.
At Trailside Galleries, I was stopped dead in my tracks by a Cyrus Afsary landscape - I think I stood there for ten minutes staring at it. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite painters - I just love the feeling in his landscapes.
Willow Gallery still had all of the sold paintings hanging from the Robert Coombs opening they held on Thursday night, and as usual his figurative work was just beautiful.
Scottsdale Fine Art also had a great figurative show hanging with works from C.M. Cooper and Nancy Seamons Crookston - two of my favorite female painters. While I was in there, I fell in love with a couple of small sunset paintings by Douglas Diehl - if Nate and I still had the dependable income of corporate jobs, I would have bought both in a heartbeat!
It was nice to just go and enjoy looking at art for the sake of looking at art. Now that I do this for a living, I often get caught up in the business of art, and when I visit galleries I'm often thinking about whether or not they'd be a good fit for my work, etc.... Sometimes it's nice to remember that I just LOVE good art, and that it was my passion before it was my job.
I am so pleased that I get to name drop here-I know both Nancy Crookston AND Rob Coombs, from our time in Utah. I think Nancy has moved away, but I still occasionally hear from Rob. I bought one of his paintings years ago and am so happy to watch his career go skyward. He's a great guy.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are having fun.
Hi Stacey,
ReplyDeleteYup - sure wish I was there... but am glad for you being there and sharing the experience. Sounds like this is just the break you need after several months of working so hard. I visit your site each week, and thoroughly enjoy your pieces. I also enjoy how you are transparent in things like your goals, where you are at in meeting them, and the way you make me laugh with "Re-painting and Stupidity". Thanks for all you share in your blog, and for introducing me to some new and wonderful artists in this posting. Enjoy your holiday! You deserve it.
Tracy - there are a lot of great painters in Utah, and you seem to know all of them!!
ReplyDeleteJoanne - thanks for stopping by! I definitely needed the break after the past few months, but I didn't fully realize it until I finally relaxed.