I have to admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed by my exploration of the art scene yesterday in downtown Colorado Springs.  It seems there are thousands and thousands of painters in Colorado.

Coming from Mountain Home, AR and Albany, GA to The Springs has me feeling like a fish out of water. I can’t help but wonder how this southern gal will fit in here.

The good news is that no one paints quite like me.  I am choosing to look at that as a good thing.

Artists need to protect themselves from being influenced TOO much by great art made by others; subsequently loosing their own, hard earned style.

My style of painting might not be for everyone, but who cares?  It is mine.  I claim it. I embrace it.

I took some time to tour the Cottonwood Center for the Arts — a cool place that has 2 floors of artist studios for rent, as well as galleries for exhibits.

The drawbacks for me when considering a studio at Cottonwood are substantial.  Cost, commute, privacy.   Heck, for all I know, I might not even be accepted. I am not sure what sort of application process they require.

The biggest drawback for me seems to be the building itself. It is ugly as hell, a former office building with very tiny windows and an unappealing front entrance.  Inside it feels cave like, I don’t think I can be creative there.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a GREAT place that supports emerging artists, but I am not sure if it is right for me.

Where will I fit in?

I am looking foward to finally getting settled in and comfortable in Colorado.

I am yearning for my own studio space again. After almost two years in a small condo in Arkansas, with no room to paint at home, I need my own space desperately. It doesn’t have to be fancy, any old room will do.

Thank goodness by husband is very supportive of this. I am grateful that he understands.

By the way, it’s snowing today.  Still a novelty for me.

The photo above was taken by me a couple days ago at sunrise. It is a view of Pike’s Peak from the patio of our temporary apartment in North Colorado Springs.

“Roadrunner” — photo credit: AR Nature Gal

After having a week to catch my breath after my long Christmas road trip, I decided to take a minute to log my miles.

I have heard that whatever you are doing on New Year’s Eve / Day is what you will be doing all year long.

I hope that’s not true, since I drove 574 miles on New Year’s Day.

Here’s the recap:

Pre-Christmas to pick up college daughter from UTK, Mountain Home, AR to Knoxville, TN and back:  1,112 miles.

Holiday trip to deliver hubs from Mountain Home, AR to Colorado Springs, CO.  and back.   1,696 miles. (extra credit for following a U-haul all the way out)

Total miles:  2,808

Word Problem Challenge:  If an antist traveling approximately 65 mile per hour sits behind the wheel in a small Honda for 2,808 miles, while 3 young adults traveling approximately 75mph play music, eat, sleep, and stop for snacks on the same road, how many hours will it take before such artist loses her mind?

Actually we had a excellent trip.  Christmas Day at my in-laws in Ponca City, OK was wonderful.  And I’m not just saying that because they might read my blog.

All in all, traveling is fun, but it is good to home!

January is a time for organizing, throwing out the old, and bringing in the new. In an effort help freshen up your habitats, I am offering a January Studio Sale.

Grab your favorite at Fifty Percent Off.

During the entire month of January, pick your favorite from 12 different original paintings.

If you have been simmering a craving for one of these paintings, now is the time to get it.  I will be traveling ALOT later this year, so I doubt I will offer very many more discounts once spring arrives.

Use coupon code CleanOut2012 in my online shop to get the discount for these collections:

• City Walks
• Angels & Dancers

These two collections have some wonderful colors, especially clean greens and the warm golds.

Sale Prices range from only $15 bucks to $500.

Please keep in mind this code is valid in my Supa Dupa online shop only, not my Etsy shop.

Free Shipping

As always I offer free shipping on everything except my Twenty-Somethings.

If you have any questions about how to use the code, please don’t hesitate to ask me.

Happy New Year!

Cindy

Moth Recital, original painting on SALE until end of January 2012.

Golden Angel on Sale until end of January, 2012.

Urban Love Affair on Sale for January 2012.

Leaning Wings on sale through January 2012.

The Burbs, on sale through the end of January 2012.

Hanging Hope,on sale through the end of January 2012.

Wireless Whimsy, on sale through the end of January 2012.

Bubble Street, on sale through the end of January 2012.

Oasis, on sale through January 2012.

Five Hearts on a Wire, on sale through January 2012.

Vegas Fountain Dancer, on sale through January 2012.

Victorian Vegas, on sale through January 2012.

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It helps me feel better about where I am right now artistically.  In 2007, I created my first “serious series” of large paintings, called Urban Trees.  I was surprised by their success.  This beginning bit of sales activity helped encourage me to keep going.

I had a couple tiny exhibits at a bank and a health food store in Albany, Georgia.

I made some wonderful friends through the Georgia Artists Guild of Albany.

I enjoyed some local sales of my fire paintings as well, I believe they strongly reflected the shapes of the pine forests found in South Georgia.

The economy had yet to crash and burn, and my hopes were high about the future.

2007 Blog Posts

My blogging style makes me gag when I read what I wrote five years ago, but it is what it is.  That’s the nature of blogging.  I deleted all the other blog posts from 2007 – I just couldn’t stand to keep them up for everyone to see.  Yuck !!!

Lunch with Fans: A new art experience.

12 SUREFIRE STEPS TO GET MOTIVATED AND READY TO PAINT AFTER RETURNING FROM VACATION

Looking Forward

So enough of the past.  Happy New Year to all in 2012, here’s to new adventures, new creativity, and new artwork.

Cindy

Cotton Boll Paintings from 2007

Lemon Tree by Jennifer Lommers

I have a very, very humble little art collection of my own.  I try to purchase one original painting per year.  I also have honored to have bartered with other artist friends to acquire a couple additional originals.

My collection of originals

Not to brag, but then again to brag, I am the grateful collector of an original Janice Rentz, Florence Prisant, and a Julie Ryan.

I have a small, bright landscape from my dear friend Janice.  I have two nude watercolors painted by Florence.  I treasure them both.

I also own a medium size madonna with doves, painted by Juli Ryan.

It feels like I am leaving one out, but without going to my storage boxes, I can’t recall.  (don’t you HATE when that happens?)

I wish I could post of picture of these hanging on my wall, but since we moved and are still in the rental unit, I have them tucked safely away in storage.  Like coccons, waiting to fly up onto my wall when we get settled in Colorado next year.

Wish List

Like all passionate collectors, I have a wish list of artists from which I want to aquire an original painting.

In no particular order, here is my wish list Santa :

Jennifer Lommers  - hoping to purchase a lemon painting.

Pat DeVane Burns – hoping to purchase a cat painting someday)

Natasha Wescoat – hoping to purchase any of her original paintings while I can still semi-afford one.

Michel Keck – I have longed for an original from this “raw” artist for many years, can’t really afford it, but like to dream of them.

Robin Pedrero –  I hope to collect an original blackbird painting from her.

Linda Blondheim  - I have admired her work the longest, someday I will save up and purchase a small Florida landscape from her.

If you enjoy following artist’s, most of them have blogs, facebook, etc, so check them out.

Who is on your artist’s Wish List?

I just got back from The Sheid. I finished hanging my solo exhibit for the lunchtime reception tomorrow.

Hanging paintings in a glass room is more than a little challenging.  I spent the better part of the morning fiddling with dangling metal rods, then balancing and begging each painting to straighten up and hang right from tiny hooks attached to the dangling rods.

I found myself to be in  quite a precarious position.

Bet you didn’t know an artist’s life was so ultra glam, did you?

Bring Sunglasses

You might want to consider wearing sunglasses tomorrow, as the colors are outrageously bright.

As a flamboyant Macon Georgia TV personality, wearing skin tight Dolce & Gabbana jeans and a pie plate sized mother-of-all-pearl belt buckle, once said when asked what he thought of my art, “Well, she certainly isn’t afraid of color now, is she?”

Be sure to insert Southern accent here, as it just isn’t the same without it.   hee-hee

Getting a good photo of the exhibit is near impossible with all the strong back-lighting streaming from the windows.

The room is beautiful. I wish I could attach this glass room to my house and use it as a studio.

Wanna Sneak a Peek?

Scroll to the bottom of this page for a full size sneak peak at the paintings on display.

Naturally, me thinks they are much, much better in person, so stop by tomorrow if you can.

Cindy Davis Art, Mountain Home, Arkansas

Art Reception

Free Artist Reception:11/15/2011 at lunchtime. Come by and see me from 11:30am to around 1:30ish.  Light snacks too!

Exhibit Dates

November 15 – December 12, 2011.
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Veda Sheid Center
1600 South College Street
Mountain Home, Ar

Sneak Peak at my paintings hung on a wall of glass.

Some of the Paintings included in Exhibit:

Mountain Home Grain Elevator, $250

The Burbs, $250

Urban Love Affair, $900

Wireless Whimsy, $900

Bubble Street, $250

Mintaholic, $150

Don't Cry Teal Babies, $150

Whimsical Bird Tropics, $900

Mucho Mango, $150

Vibrant Flappers, $150

Butterfly Blues, $250

Arabian Nights, $250.

Pikes Peak from my hotel window

1999

Lunch at River City Brewing Company, Jacksonville, Florida. Small, nervous talk typical on a first date. We speak of dreams, kids, jobs, past, present, future. He speaks of Colorado. How much he always wished he could live there. Nature, mountains, and scenery.

Love sprouts and grows.

Marriage. Raising kids. Vacations. Richer, poorer, better, worse, sickness, health. We get to experience a little of all these things.  Together.

2011

Empty nest awaits us.

Email arrives. Job opportunity in Colorado Springs.

Can we do this? Should we?  When and how?

Should we stay or should we go?

Tough decision time. Sadness about saying goodbye to Arkansas, especially the people. This happy/sad combo leads to sleepless nights, questions, second guessing, smiles, sighs, and a few tears.

We decide to relocate.

In a few months, we will be relocating to a city nestled up against one of the largest big kid playgrounds around — the majestic Rockies.

Colorado, what’s next?

I am sitting in the hotel, looking at Pikes Peak out my window.

We are here for a preplanning, recon trip.  Scoping out housing, taking care of business, exploring the area.

Even though I am enjoying my own excitement, looking for new art possibilities, I think it has been even more fun to watch my husband this week.

Fun to watch his excitement and his realization that, YES, this really is going to happen.

Dream realized?

Honey, I hope we have a blast out here. Let’s go hike, camp, and play in those big boy mountains.

Spring 2012 – Cindy Davis moves to Colorado.

Stay Tuned.

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Arabian Nights, acrylic on canvas, by Cindy Davis.

I am excited to announce I will have a small, local exhibit in Mountain Home at The Veda Sheid Center on the campus of ASU.

The exhibit has generously been sponsored by the Ozarks Regional Arts Council.

Dates 

Free Artist Reception: 11/15/2011 at lunchtime. Come by and see me from 11:30am to around 1:30ish.  Light snacks too!

Exhibit Dates: November 15 – December 12, 2011.
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The building is open most days that classes are held.  Building is closed during Thanksgiving week.

If you happen to be attending The Nutcracker Ballet, take a moment to check out my exhibit  in the glass room at the top of the stairs.

A few people have been asking me if I am still going to try my 2 weeks alone art experiment.

Short Answer: Yes

Long Answer: Not anytime soon.

I have accepted the fact that I won’t be able to get away this autumn for my two week solitary painting adventure.

A recent death in the family and another relocation which I will tell you about later, both prevent me from running away like a crazy person to the woods.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

A time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Last week I tripped and fell right into a painting that I absolutely loved.

I titled it Possibility Flowers.

Possibility Flowers was ridiculously easy to paint.  No thinking.  It just poured out.

So my first thought was that Possibility Flowers isn’t the type of work I should pursue.

Creating real art should be difficult and even painful, right?

I took what my brain told me was the easy way out and painted more possibility flowers.

Guess What?

It was fun. My heart didn’t feel that is was the easy way out at all.  My spirit soared!

So I painted more, and more, and more of them.

While driving back from Memphis yesterday I realized that I may have reached a point where at certain times the technical aspects of creating a painting might be easy for me now.

And that is OK.  I should enjoy the ride.

For only a few months ago, nothing was flowing off the brush.

Each time I stepped into the studio felt like I was hiking in mud.

So folks, it looks like a lot more possibility flowers are on the way, unless the brush has something else in mind for me.