A Santa Secret for You and a Miraculous Story

click to view the Santa video on YouTube

Funny, I had been wanting to get my picture taken with Santa this year and it had been over 50 years since the last one. I was thinking about just how to do it. I could go to the Mall, but I wouldn't. The Santa photo just kept coming up. It was a thought and a wish of sorts, but not something I was really working on.

Within a week I found out that a Santa would be where I get my hair cut. I was all in! So last Saturday I want to see the owner Paul and got my photo taken with Santa. What fun!

As it so often happens, I got much more than I bargained for. Santa was Dr. Mike Rudnick, a delightful man. Since we had time to chat, he told me a Santa secret, VERY cool and I asked him what he wanted. He was much surprised, since that is usually his role. He said that no one had ever asked Santa that question before. We had a great time and yes, I did get my picture taken and Santa got a Manifesting 123 book so polish up his wishes with. It was all great fun and I'd recommend meeting up with Santa much sooner than every 50 years or so.
Santa told me a wonderful story. It's about a very young girl in Juarez, Mexico that was very sick. Many prayers were offered for this little girl and there was a marvelous result. Dr. Rudnick and his wife are a part of a church group that goes to Juarez in the summers, volunteering services to those in need there. As he mentions in the video, "It is different there." This young girl was threatened my an illness that would not be fatal in the US and she could easily get treatment in a US hospital. Unfortunately, access to the proper drug or a Juarez hospital were possible and this little girl had precious little time to live when Dr. Rudnick saw her.

Santa tells the story in his 6.5 minute video here. Remember, Santa has a cool secret to share!

Thank you, Santa for allowing me to film and pass on your story. Thank you as well Paul, owner of the Spellbound Salon for fixing me up with Santa. Sweet!


Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

It just occurred to me that not only have I had a wonderful year, but somehow manifested Santa himself. Hmmm... look at what we can do!

Thank you all for your support of this little big Manifesting book, your stories, and for passing the word on to your friends. Good things have happened, lives have been changed and joy is in the air. I wish that all your beautiful dreams, prayers, wishes and intentions come true with sugar plums on top!
Most sincerely,
Ken

Fine art
Author of Manifesting 123 and you don't need #3

Do you have a story of your own where an intention came true? Send it to Ken

Merry Christmas 2013 !

Shown: Snow on the Foothills, oil on canvas 20 x 60

Art in Film: A little film companion to the recent film Gravity

I couldn't resist passing on this out of the box idea, a treat for those that have seen the movie "Gravity."  Click to play 

Jonas Cuaron's seven-minute companion short, filmed in Greenland and featuring Bullock's voice, could make Oscar history.

This story first appeared in the Nov. 29 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

The idea for Aningaaq, which follows an Inuit fisherman stationed on a remote fjord in Greenland, occurred to the Cuarons as they were working out the beats for the Gravity screenplay "It's this moment where the audience and the character get this hope that Ryan is finally going to be OK," Jonas, 31, tells THR. "Then you realize that everything gets lost in translation.”

Both Cuarons spent time in the glacial region (Alfonso once toyed with setting a movie there) and fell in love with the barren vastness of its frozen wilderness. During one of those visits, Alfonso met a drunken native who would become the basis for the title character, played by Greenland's Orto Ignatiussen. But it wasn't until Jonas, on a two-week trek gathering elements for his film, was inspired by the local inhabitants' profound attachment to their sled dogs that he decided to incorporate that element into the plot.

The short was filmed "guerrilla style" on location on a budget of about $100,000 -- most of which went toward the 10-person crew's travel costs -- and Cuaron completed it in time to meld the dialogue into Gravity's final sound mix. The result is a seamless conversation between Aningaaq and Ryan, stranded 200 miles above him, the twin stories of isolated human survival providing thematic cohesion. Still, Jonas says he was careful "to make it a piece that could stand on its own." Should both get Oscar noms, an interesting dynamic would emerge: Two films potentially could win for representing different sides of one conversation, to say nothing of having come from father and son.

At Auction: Norman Rockwell Painting Sells for $46 Million

.Norman Rockwell's "Saying Grace" appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on Nov. 24, 1951

From the NY Times:

Rockwell Painting Sells for $46 Million

By CAROL VOGELPublished: December 4, 2013

Three of Norman Rockwell’s best-known paintings of homey, small-town America, which are among the most popular of the artist’s Saturday Evening Post covers, sold at Sotheby’s American Art auctionon Wednesday morning for a total of more than $57 million.

The final price for “Saying Grace,” considered Rockwell’s masterpiece, was $46 million, after nine and a half minutes of spirited bidding. The painting, which depicts a crowded restaurant with a boy and an old woman bowing their heads in prayer, sold for more than double its high estimate, and far more than the $15.4 million price another Rockwell brought in 2006. The image had topped a Saturday Evening Post readers’ poll in 1955, four years after it was painted. (The artist was paid $3,500 for the painting — about $30,500 when adjusted for inflation.)

Another favorite, “The Gossips,” a finger-wagging montage that included Rockwell’s friends, neighbors and even the artist himself, painted in 1948, sold for $8.45 million. (When the Saturday Evening Post cover ran on March 6, 1948, the magazine was flooded with inquiries from readers wanting to know what the heads were gossiping about.)

The third major painting in the sale, “Walking to Church,”brought $3.2 million and was purchased by Rick Lapham, an American paintings dealer, on behalf of a client. Mr. Lapham was one of only two bidders for the painting. It appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in 1953, and was based on the Vermeer painting “The Little Street.” Rockwell translated the scene to his own urban street setting, depicting family members in their Easter best, each clutching Bibles, from a composite of different buildings in Troy, N.Y., and a church steeple in Vermont.

Asked why there was not more competition for the painting, Mr. Lapham replied, “It’s stylistically different,” referring to Rockwell’s translation of an old master painting.

The paintings had belonged to the magazine’s longtime art director, Kenneth J. Stuart, who received them as presents from the artist. They were being sold by his three sons.

Fun: Thanksgiving encouragement

I put a little something together to celebrate the day and to encourage gratefulness on this special day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ken

Kid's Art Made into Masterpieces

Launching this week:

Here's something really fun. It starts with a child's art and through this service, an artist embellishes the child's artwork. It is transformed into a larger, painterly work, as they say, worthy of the Louvre or your living room. It's a great idea. I hope the kids and the artists involved do great things!

View the website:

Monet Filmed While Painting Water Lilies in Giverny

Click to view this film made in 1914 showing Monet being interviewed and painting at his home in Giverny.

Watch carefully and you can see how he takes in the subject, his brushes, palette and paint application. Surely this is not Monet working at full power with his immaculate white coat, but there is plenty to see here.

How did he ever keep from setting his beard on fire? The dangling ciggie ash creates a dramatic tension... it's an art film!

Enjoy this history. We are lucky to have this film of a master at work.

Grateful Notices: November 13, 2013

Heat in the back of the Forest, oil on canvas 48 x 60 inches
Private collection, Cincinnati, OH
Exhibited: Steamboat Springs Center for Visual Arts, CO

My grateful thanks to the buyers and the gallery involved. It is an honor to be exhibited and brought into someone's home.

This is a canvas that went through a lot of changes before reaching this final version. Last year it was a finished oil with a stand of all yellow trees with rounded tops. After viewing it for a few months, I decided the look was too uniform and less interesting.

At the end of my studio time one day, I put it up on the easel and used the left over paint from the day, completely eliminating the all yellow trees. Once they were obliterated, I added more paint and took it as far as I could comprehend. It took under an hour to completely change the look of the work and I called it a day.

For weeks after, I couldn't figure out how to finish it. A number of people came through the studio and it was always their favorite. I learned to go from 'Really?" to "Thank you." About 2 months passed with the oil in plain view every day.

While I was working on another oil, the solutions to this painting came to me. With a few changes and tweaks over the next 4-5 short painting sessions, the oil was complete. The process spanned two years, but at last I was happy with it.

The studio is very different without this big oil... I'll have to make more canvases with new problems and challenges.

New oils: October 21, 2013

Two new oils just completed:

As the Trees Glow

Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches. $9500 unframed

This oil was started some years ago and has been through numerous phases, all less than successful until this Fall. I learned a lot during the endless painting sessions here. The surrounding colors outside the studio window provided some of the dramatic solutions, but in the end it came from just being more courageous and paying attention to what the painting needed.




Snow on the Foothills
Oil on canvas, 20 x 60 inches. $4250 unframed

This was begun as a painting demonstration at my Denver art workshop earlier this year. I finished it just as the first real snow arrived in Denver last week. The painting quickly began to take on a glow and I stayed with it, increasing that effect. In the end, this simple composition became the place for hard contrasts and flowing chroma to take place.

It is interesting to see the heat and cool of these very different oils in the studio together.

View more works On my website  Sign up for my monthly art newsletter

Wayne Thiebaud is one of my favorite artists and this article about artists getting older - much older, is worthwhile and hopeful. I just heard friends singing happy birthday to me just last week. It's an enjoyable ride!  Ken

When Age Produces Beauty: Photographs of Legends at Work

Time Magazine, by Richard Lacayo, art critic and editor-at-large at TIME.
Eugene Richards is an award-winning American photographer. He was recently honored with a second Getty Images Grant for editorial photography.
September 12, 2013 This article with other artist photos

Time is rough on a lot of life pursuits. Athletes dwindle. Dancers pull tendons. Politicians? It varies. But artists, if they work it right, they ripen. Here’s Hokusai, the great Japanese painter famous for his Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji, in the mid-1830s, puffing out his chest: “Nothing I did before the age of 70 was worthy of attention. At 73, I began to grasp the structures of birds and beasts, insects and fish, and of the way plants grow. If I go on trying, I will surely understand them still better by the time I am 86, so that by 90 I will have penetrated to their essential nature. At 100, I may well have a positively divine understanding of them, while at 130, 140, or more I will have reached the stage where every dot and every stroke I paint will be alive.”

Hokusai didn’t see 140, but he got to 89, and produced some of his best work in later life. That’s not surprising. While art history is full of greats who died early, the truth is that people who make careers of their creative urges more commonly live into a productive old age. For every Raphael or Van Gogh who disappeared in his 30s, there are dozens like Michelangelo and Titian, Degas and Monet, Hopper and O’Keeffe who combed gray hair, working all the while. Artists don’t think about retirement. They’re already doing what they always wanted to do.

With that in mind, earlier this year TIME commissioned Eugene Richards to visit a number of prominent American artists who were in their 80s or about to arrive there. Over 7 months he photographed them in their studios, homes and galleries. What follows are pictures from eight of those encounters, with John Baldessari, Mark di Suvero, Robert Frank, Robert Irwin, Alex Katz, Faith Ringgold, Betye Saar and Wayne Thiebaud.

Keep in mind that the work artists do late in life can sometimes rank among their most influential achievements. Titian is the great example. In his 70s and 80s he virtually invented free brushwork, a flurry of wild strokes that would unlock the firm contours of Renaissance painting and be adopted by artists from Velazquez and Rubens to the 20th century Expressionists. Then there’s Renoir. Over the last decade or so of his life he made scores of peachy, plump nudes. They look a little campy to us now but they fascinated Picasso and Matisse and helped them to rethink the human body. Two decades later Matisse, when Matisse was in his 70s and largely an invalid, he developed the cut-paper technique that led to some of the most powerful and delightful work of his long career – more than that, to a new way to signify pleasure. Having suffered two debilitating surgeries, maybe he just wanted to be the one in control of the blades. That’s another thing about the late ripening of artists, maybe the best thing. Every day, they can just pick up the old tools and take charge.

Grateful Notices: September 13, 2013

I am always grateful to the many people that are involved in placing my work into public collections...

Fall Remnants, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

(Exhibited: Madden Museum of Art, Denver 2012)

Collection of the Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London, CT
Via Boston Fine Art

Limited edition giclees were also purchased for the public spaces of:

Brookdale Senior Living, Highlands Ranch, CO

via Arch Framing

Gallagher North America, Kansas City, KS

via Artist Circle Fine Art

Thank you!

Just Fun: The National Atlas Streamer Map

This photo traces Plum Creek near my home. That little stream flows all the way to New Orleans to get a jazz fix! So take a break and check this out - it's art, it's science and for those with inquiring minds.

The National Atlas Streamer Map
...something fascinating I saw posted at Fast Company Design web, and quoting from their site:

"Streams, like houses on city blocks, have addresses. They don’t have numbers, but the places they live are meticulously catalogued by the Department of the Interior. Their new interactive map Streamer is like Google Maps for creeks--click on any stream in the U.S. and make your way upstream to track its origin, downstream to discover where it deposits, or anywhere in between on its winding way.

The online exploration tool “allows people to learn a little bit about waters and outlets, and visualize the classic, ‘Drop a stick in a stream and see where it goes,’ idea,” says Jay Donnelly, editor of the National Atlas of the United States.

It took the National Atlas team 20 years to create the complete dataset of hydrology. The map makes clear two astounding feats of the country’s network of streams: The first, and more obvious, is the reminder that there’s an incredible amount of water flowing around us. The second is that streams travel extremely long and unpredictable distances. “I might think, based on my knowledge and geography, that when you are just a little bit outside Chicago everything is draining to Lake Michigan," Donnelly tells Co.Design, "when it actually drains into the Gulf of Mexico.” To wit, a huge swath of the map turns red when you visualize the tributaries in total pouring into the Mississippi River.

Donnelly envisions strengthening the map as it becomes a product of community input, building further topographical intelligence from feedback. “When MapQuest was built and introduced, it was very useful for going from point A to point B,” he says. “That was only the starting point. People wanted to add their own information. I think that’s where we’re at with Streamer.”

Streamer Map instructions:

After zooming in, select a trace button to Trace Downstream or Trace Upstream. Trace Downstream is selected by default when the application starts.


Click on a stream to trace it. View a summary of trace results in a pop-up window by hovering over the trace origin marker, a red circle. Click Clear Map to clear your trace and start over.


Click Trace Report to create a Summary Report or Detailed Report for your selected trace. Reports pop up as a new web page.

A map and a trace summary are included in the Summary Report (example). The Detailed Report (example) extends the Summary Report with an itemized list of hydrographic and political feature names that your trace intersects.

New Oil: Evening Cloud Layers

Evening Cloud Layers

oil on canvas, 30 x 30 inches

This is an oil that I started when teaching the art class at the Madden Museum with Casey Klahn this summer. I'm very happy with the layering of the color and the variations of color and brightness. This work was 'good enough' a number of times, but I continued to take it further. I would be convinced it was done after a painting session and the next day it just didn't thrill. After a few more days of large and small moves, it continued to please and it was declared finished.

 It was one of those paintings I could continue to tinker with but it took it as far as I want it to go. I'll use this oil as a launch for a much larger version. I always learn with every canvas and I'm looking forward to seeing where this composition takes me next.

Workshop: Richard Diebenkorn Painting Advice

Richard Diebenkorn

Notes to myself on beginning a painting

1.   Attempt what is not certain. Certainty may not come later. It may be then be a valuable delusion.

2.   The pretty, initial position, which falls short of completeness, is not to be valued-except as a

      stimulus for further moves.

3.   Do search. But in order to find other than what is searched for.

4.   Use and respond to the initial fresh qualities, but consider them absolutely expendable.

5.   Don't "discover" a subject-of any kind.

6.   Somehow don't be bored-but if you must, use it in action. Use just destructive potential.

7.   Mistakes can't be arranged, but they move you from your present position.

8.   Keep thinking about Pollyanna.

9.   Tolerate chaos.

10. Be careful only in a perverse way.

Art Tech: Worthy Art Apps

From the NY Times, August 25, 2013 (exerpted)
Full article

I'm recommending one of my personal favorites, the Art Authority at the bottom of the post. You can zoom in and really see these pantings close-up. - Ken

Dreaming With Van Gogh
By J. D. BIERSDORFER


This year is the golden anniversary of a classic art-education text, “Interaction of Color,” by Josef Albers, a Bauhaus artist who left Germany for the United States in 1933. His influential book of color theory was originally published by Yale University Press as a limited silk-screen edition in 1963 and became a paperback in 1971. Now, INTERACTION OF COLOR has arrived as an engaging immersive iPad app (one chapter free to try; $9.99 for the full app).

Color theory also comes into play in VAN GOGH’S DREAM ($9.99 for iPad), an inventive multi­media biography of the artist and his techniques. Text, high-resolution images, digitized letters, dynamic maps and video clips from experts at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam combine to recount the life of the volatile Dutch ­Post-­Impressionist.

As with any solid educational app, “Van Gogh’s Dream” shows as well as it tells. In the section about his methods, the text explains: “To create a harmonious painting, yet exaggerating the hues to enhance their power of expression, van Gogh used his own formula based on a play of contrasts between complementary colors.” A touch-sensitive chromatic wheel on the same screen lets users instantly change the hues on a sample canvas to see the effects of color contrast in action. (Although this app is currently iPad-only, van Gogh enthusiasts toting Android devices can get a biography and 800 photographs of his paintings with the free VAN GOGH GALLERY app.)

As great as tablets can be for touch-based actions, today’s sharp color screens also show off detailed photographs and images quite nicely. For students and art lovers looking for a general guide that doesn’t strain the shoulder, there’s ART AUTHORITY ($9.99 for iPad; $4.99 for iPhone and Kindle Fire), featuring the work of more than 1,000 major Western artists from ancient to contemporary times.
The app’s overall visual design isn’t particularly original: tappable paintings on a museum wall lead to eight different historical art periods. But it conveniently rounds up images of some 65,000 paintings and sculptures, and information related to them. Images can be expanded to full-screen views for greater appreciation. Earnest (but not infallible) background particulars and artist biographies come courtesy of Wikipedia.

True, apps can’t replace the experience of gazing at art in person. They can, however, bring art closer to the curious in other ways.

Manifesting 123: Ken Elliott as author / radio show interviews

Yes, I am a full-time artist, but in the summer of 2013 I published a book about manifesting and the law of attraction. It's off to a very fast start selling hundreds of copies in a few weeks!

I learned from the best teachers and had some amazing experiences and results that I shared with my friends. People that had been studying and practicing manifesting for decades told me I had new an important information. Further, they said I presented as simply as they have ever heard it done.

This is not an ordinary manifesting or law of attraction book. This book contains critical new information that allows anyone to successfully and confidently bring good things into their lives. As an artist, it is my secret success weapon!

This book is THE basic manual for manifesting and attraction, the go-to book easily explained with fascinating success stories.

It's a nice thing to quickly sell a number of books but more importantly, I'm getting a flood of stories about how effective and how simple this process is. I was taught by the very best on the subject and I am passing it on to you as the go-to manual on the process. I have to admit, I've been very successful at manifesting good things in my life and it's one of the secrets to my success as an artist. 

Every time I do an art class or lecture I add the information in the book to the event. I've had a lot of favorable comments from my fellow artists, so I want to pass everything along to you. This is an art, not author blog, so if you want to follow the developments and stories resulting from this book, please use the links below. Only on rare occasions will I post recent developments or stories regarding manifesting  to this art blog.

Ken was recently interviewed on these these radio shows:

Listen to recent radio interviews archived:
Come at Get it Radio with hosts Wayne and Kelly
November 2013

Two hours of Manifesting 123 in detail. Ken discusses how he learned thought is real. Each time he sent something in thought, his gifted friends would see it form up on the other side - in spirit. A caller explains how she used the Manifesting 123 techniques to quickly find the money necessary to move from California and start a new life and career in Colorado. Did anyone say Las Vegas?
listen / download

The Ronnie McMullen Show
July 27, 2013
listen / download
In this interview you will hear me describe manifesting at its core. I have an incredible personal story demonstrating how manifesting really works - it's not just hoping for a good result. I describe how your thoughts actually form up. It changes everything.

The Survival Talk Radio with host Klarque Garrison and co-host Michele Gilliam Morrisey

August 21, 2013.
Click to listen  Note the Interview timing start and end: 9:27 - 32:24 min.

Links and more information:

The Manifesting123 website
To order the signed 136 page paperback or download in all ebook versions

sign up for Ken's Manifesting 123 bi-weekly newsletter with new stories and comments

Manifesting 123 on Facebook

Ken's author/book info and reviews on Amazon.com

What they are saying: from the website

This is brilliant! Ken not only learned about manifesting, he changed his own life using the techniques you will learn here. The simple and profound gift of this book could only come from a masterful ability to teach what took him many years to learn. Begin changing your life today. --Judy Goodman, CPC, CSRC, CRC

Your book is the best I have read, and I do read this subject. Simple, covers all the bases with humour and clarity. Great job! Great resource and I thought I was 'done'--not quite it seems, so thanks! --Emily and Ted from Canada

Of all the Law of Attraction books, films etc. that I've tried, this works the best and the quickest.

Margaret

"Ken's book is simple, to the point and, compared to others I have read, the easiest manifesting book to use. He took me on an elegant, successful journey."Jan D., publisher, artist, Larkspur, Colorado

"I LOVED your talk and am so amazed and inspired by the miracles you make everyday!! I am SO VERY excited to read your book and tell the world about it!

Rod, Omaha, Nebraska

"I have known about visualizing our way to a higher, improved and happier life, but I was never very good and would just give up on it after a short time. Then Ken Elliott taught me his Manifesting 1,2,3! Ken makes it easy. You stick with it and magic happens! You won't believe the results!

K.M., Denver

"Ken is an engaging, personable speaker with terrific stories that illustrate just how simple and straightforward it is to create. Do not miss him when he speaks. Invest in your life, please. Buy Ken's book."

E., Canada.

Exhibition: aBuzz Gallery group show, August 23 - September 14

I hope you will join us!

Just Fun: Alternating Current

Here is something fun from SamArtDog's blog:
http://samartdog.blogspot.com
Thanks for the fun Sam.

Is this what alternating current looks like?

Grateful Notices: August 18, 2013

BRIGHT ENCOUNTER
oil on canvas, 60 x 60 inches
Purchased by the Denver Art Company
Exhibited at the Madden Museum of Fine Art, 2012

Thank you Debbrah!

New Oil: Heat in the back of the Forest

Heat in the back of the Forest

oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches, unframed, $8500.

This oil is a result of a dramatic move.  There is a previous oil that was a red background and yellow trees in front.  I wasn't happy with the shapes of the original yellow trees - they were too much alike and too predictable.

After viewing the original oil for about 6 months, I took the oils left on my palette after a painting session and scrubbed them over the top of the yellow trees. Once they were obliterated, I felt much better and widened my options to make a better painting. Now I had a painting to solve... a happy situation and not a dead-ended one.

It took four more painting sessions to bring it to completion. The entire endeavor was a bit of school for me and I was thrilled by the process.

In the Studio: August 3, 2013

Here are some works in the studio this week. The large canvases are 3 x 5 feet each and both oils have been around awhile. The one at the upper left was started / finished about 3-4 years ago. From time to time I would rework it, improving it each time, but never taking it as far as I hoped. As I improved as an artist, I could bring more experience to the canvas and now is is almost complete. I'm very happy with this version and much has been learned along the way.

The work on the easel was once a finished work that looked very different from what you see now. The original image needed more strength so I scumbled over the entire top half of the canvas with arbitrary colors to make a new stand of trees, letting the original red background show through in places. It became a much stronger image instantly but not a very believable one.

Then a wonderful thing happened. The same thing is happening to the cloud canvas on the floor. left. I wasn't sure what to do next with these works but I left them out for viewing. When I into the studio fresh in the mornings  I was surprised to see that the paintings had improved. They were painting themselves! I simply put a little distance between my expectations and the works as they actually are. Now I can better decide what is good about the work and what needs more attention.

I hope you have a number of good works busily painting themselves as well !

Exhibiting: Abuzz Gallery, Denver

Upcoming Exhibit:

Fri, August 23, 6pm – 9pm

Group show at aBuzz Gallery

3340 Walnut St., Denver, CO   map 

One Thing After Another Five artists working in 5 different mediums more info

Artists: Janice McDonald, Mary Williams, Victoria Eubanks, Ken Elliott, and Carol Ann Waugh show their new work in a variety of media: wood, encaustic, oil, fiber and collage.

Watch for new works at the Expand Art exhibit, (this is a sneak preview)

We hope to see you there!

Ken

Ken Elliott  "Illuminated Autumn" oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches.

Exhibiting: Madden Museum, Denver

Currently exhibiting:

Two-man Show, Ken Elliott and Casey Klahn currently exhibiting at the Madden Museum through August 31.  Works are for sale through the Museum and the artists.   map

Ken Elliott oils, pastels and monotypes

Casey Klahn at the Madden

Workshop photos: Ken Elliott and Casey Klahn at the Madden Museum of Art, Denver

Here are a couple of views from the 'On Color' Workshop that Casey Klahn and I taught July 20-21 at the Madden Museum of Art, Denver. It was a great two days in an incredible environment. The Museum gave us great inspiration and counter point to the works produced that weekend. Thank you all for participating. Keep your breakthroughs coming!

Workshop: Sold out, Denver with Ken Elliott and Casey Klahn "On Color Workshop"

The On Color Denver Workshop is sold out!

But there are more Workshops to come. View Ken and Casey's upcoming workshop schedules for 2013 - 2014

Ken Elliott and Casey Klahn at our "On Color Workshop" July 20-21, 2013

We will be taking your art and color to the next level, discussing strategies for your art career and throughly enjoying ourselves! The class is open to all media and skill levels.

Casey and I will mix up some crazy exercises for you to explore your color sense. Plan on being transported to the world of the abstract expressionists and the Fauvists. Demos, exercises and interaction by the group. All medias welcome. Lots of easel time. High energy!

Our class will be held in the remarkable Madden Museum of Fine Art space, Denver Metro.
To sign up or inquire, contact Ken or Casey.

Hope to see you there!

Newsletter, July 2013

All Over Sunset Study
Pastel on sanded board, 8 7/8 x 11 7/8
Currently exhibiting at the Madden Museum of Art, Denver, CO

From the Newsletter for July:

Summer in Colorado gives you an excellent opportunity to head for the mountains and get in the cool air. The Rocky Mountain National Park is a wonder and after a couple of days I went by the Ritz-Carlton in Beaver Creek and saw my works just installed in the guest room corridors. This week the Castle Rock, CO Adventist Hospital hung the large oil they commissioned for the 3rd floor lobby area and last week I was notified that my Taos Gallery, Total Arts sold one of my large pastels to a client in Spain. It feels good to see your works get out into the world.

I will have works exhibiting at the Sheraton Hotel, downtown Denver July 16 - September 7 and at the aBuzz Gallery, a group show with Mary Williams, Victoria Eubanks, Janice McDonald and Carol Ann Waugh, August 23 - September 14. 

This month I'm teaching a workshop with Casey Klahn that has happily sold out. Together we will have a great workshop with artists from around the country and teaching together at the impressive Madden Museum of Fine Art in Denver. That really raises the bar!

Ken will be teaching two day "Making it Fine Art Workshops' in Houston and Atlanta with others being formed in Denver, Austin, Cape Cod, Atlanta, Ventura County, CA and New York, 2013. Please inquire by email or 303-995-1611. information about upcoming workshops

View the rest of the newsletter    Sign up for Ken's monthly newsletters

Grateful Notices July 11, 2013

Approaching Weather, oil on canvas, 36 x 60 inches

Just installed today at the Castle Rock, CO Adventist Hospital. Noyce Art Designs, is the art consultant on the project.

I originally saw this scene from a parking lot near my house. I had just moved to Colorado some 15 years earlier and I was stunned at the large view in front of me. I made a pastel that became a giclée print and years later, a small oil version of this view. I was thrilled at the prospect of doing this larger version as a commission.

When I first took the photograph, the landscape was for the most part undeveloped and that is reflected in the oil painting.  Presently, this hospital sits in the middle right-hand portion of the painting. I see this area almost every day and it's remarkable to compare the change represented by the oil and what is on the ground now. I'm happy for all the people who have now moved into that landscape and call at home as I do. It's also a great bonus to have such a huge hospital facility nearby for all of us.

Grateful Notices July 10, 2013

Yellows at the Creek, 17 x 30 inches

I just got the news that my Taos gallery, Total Arts sold this large pastel sold to a private collection in Spain. What a nice surprise.




These two 40 x 40 oils on canvas are now in the collection of FM Global, Norwood, MA.
Boston Arts was the art consultant on the project.

Many thanks!

Exhibition: Ken Elliott at the Total Arts Gallery, Taos NM, June 2013

Forest Verticals, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches.

Ken is one of the featured artists at the Total Arts Gallery, Taos, NM this month... just like a summer movie premiere!

A Forensic Artist surprise

click here, not on the photo

Something artistic, touching and good to know about ourselves.

Two people described the same person to a forensic artist and this is what happened.
How he did this will surprise you.

Workshop: Houston, April 2013

Here's a view of the recent Houston workshop, April 2013. It went so fast! Here are some of the artists making their version of the same cloud photo.  It is fascinating to be in the room with all those points of view. Thanks to all that attended...we are all better and braver for the effort!

A tip of the hat to Paula Siegel, at the Mixed Emotions Gallery for allowing us the use of her beautiful space.

I'll be doing another Houston workshop in October 2013, date to be announced. Please let me know if you want to be contacted when the date is finalized. There are only 8 spots total for this class and signups have started.

Next Workshop  Complete info
Ken Elliott and Casey Klahn at our On Color Workshop July 20-21, 2013
Only a few spots left!
We will be taking your art and color to the next level, discussing strategies for your art career and throughly enjoying ourselves! The class is open to all media and skill levels.

Casey and I will mix up some crazy exercises for you to explore your color sense. Plan on being transported to the world of the abstract expressionists and the Fauvists. Demos, exercises and interaction by the group. All medias welcome. Lots of easel time. High energy!

Our class will be held in the remarkable Madden Museum of Fine Art space, Denver Metro.
To sign up or inquire, contact Ken or Casey.

Other 2013 two-day Making it Fine Art Workshops are forming in Denver, Austin, Cape Cod, Atlanta, Ventura County, CA and New York, 2013. Please inquire by email or 303-995-1611.

Workshop: Sold out ! Ken Elliott and Casey Klahn July 20-21, 2013

The On Color Denver Workshop is sold out!

But there are more Workshops to come. View Ken and Casey's upcoming workshop schedules for 2013 - 2014

Ken Elliott and Casey Klahn at our On Color Workshop July 20-21, 2013

We will be taking your art and color to the next level, discussing strategies for your art career and throughly enjoying ourselves! The class is open to all media and skill levels.

Casey and I will mix up some crazy exercises for you to explore your color sense. Plan on being transported to the world of the abstract expressionists and the Fauvists. Demos, exercises and interaction by the group. All medias welcome. Lots of easel time. High energy!

Our class will be held in the remarkable Madden Museum of Fine Art space, Denver Metro.
To sign up or inquire, contact Ken or Casey.

Hope to see you there!

Workshop, Denver 16-17, 2013

Here is the famous Group of Eight from my Denver workshop, April 16-17, 2013. Big things happened and we kept smiling all the way through with new works in a new way!

"You are so gracious. Thank you so much for the wonderful workshop and ALL that you shared. It was a great weekend."  Suzanne

Sign up for the Ken Elliott Houston workshop April 6-7, 2013  $225. per person. more info/sign up and the Casey Klahn and Ken Elliott Color Breakthrough! Workshop, July 20-21, $280 per person. more info/sign up

Susanne had the smallest canvas at the time but the attacked it with the biggest brush in the house....really!