At the opening of artist Xochi Solis’ workshop at the Art Students League on Denver on June 17th, my fellow attendees and I were asked to describe the last place we had traveled to that was completely new to us. Many of the women present mentioned exotic trips to Europe, but I talked about the … More Exploring Memory and Place with Xochi Solis
From a resort’s “desert oasis” to gardens inside modern office buildings, the natural world is integrated into our urban environments. Denver-based artist Mindy Bray turns her attention to these spaces, creating elegant paintings and site specific works that explore how we manipulate nature in urban settings. Focusing on the concepts of “absence and presence,” Bray … More Artists I Know: Mindy Bray
Talking with Denver-based abstract artist Tonia Bonnell about clouds, one can begin to look at them differently. Clouds have long fascinated Bonnell, who noticed during her undergrad years studying printmaking at Illinois State University that from the ground a cloud looks solid, but from an airplane, its makeup of millions of tiny water droplets is … More Artists I Know: Tonia Bonnell
One of the most common questions I am asked as an artist is how long it takes to complete a painting. This question does not surprise me. The process of making art is foreign to many. And abstract art, despite existing in the cultural lexicon since at least the late 19th century, remains mysterious in … More Every painting is a journey.
Why did I ever not want to create limited edition prints of my work? Honestly, I cannot remember. I think it was looked down upon, but now it is cool. So when I got the opportunity to create my own edition of prints from my original watercolors, I was thrilled. The process was challenging. First … More The Rain Studies
Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. ~ John Lennon For the past month or so, I have been wrestling with a painting. I tried all my usual tricks- sneaking up on it with white paint to “cover up” the parts that were not working, simplifying it, making it more colorful, making … More Harnessing Chaos
Whenever I think of line- in the design sense- I think of the word mark-making. Mark-making is one of those art terms that you hear in art school as an artist, but it doesn’t really mean much to anyone outside the arts. (Frankly, it doesn’t always mean much to artists!) However, it is a term … More Elemental Beauty: Line and Texture
