New Workshop 2018: Casey Klahn - Ken Elliott October 1-4

4-day Mentoring / Intensive Art Workshop

Casey Klahn   Was this Where?  pastel, 13 3/4 x 11

Ken Elliott   Hidden Sunset oil on canvas, 60 x 60 inches

Announcing Our Next Workshop:

Castle Rock, CO  2018
Mon - Thurs, October 1-4

Casey Klahn and Ken Elliott 4-day Mentoring / Intensive Art Workshop

Limited to 6 artists 

$750 per person
Sold out Another Workshop will take place in Spring 2019

Flyer   Complete info and registration   Contact Ken

Open to artists in all media. This is a two-instructor workshop for artists wanting to make advancements in their techniques and strategies. Casey and Ken will have ample time to give very focused attention to individuals and offer a number of provoking ideas to the group.

Also, Ken will present simple Photoshop techniques for taking your works to the next level and creating better pathways for finishing your artworks. You will be given a Photoshop instruction guide and have access to Ken's personal photo file of over 1500 inspiring images by various artists.

Ken Elliott  Forest Sequence oil, 48 x 120 on two canvases Casey Klahn  Front Barn  pastel, 7 1/2 x 12 3/4 Comments from some of the workshop attendees:

"Thank you so much for the wonderful, thought compelling workshop. You rekindled my love for making art. Your enthusiasm is contagious and felt throughout the room. You set up a stimulating environment that provided continuous visual images. Your generosity in sharing your own photos was much appreciated. I found you to be humorous, supportive and kind. I would recommend you as an instructor to anyone who would like to take their art to the next level."

"Yours was exactly the kind of workshop I had hoped it would be to give me the focus I needed. I can't thank you enough for coming all this way for such a small group...but I think you got the students who needed you the most!

"The Workshop was amazing. It made me get out of my way in terms of a different painting method and expanded my vision. Also, the friends I made from that weekend are wonderful. My eyes were opened and I can't go backward from that."
R.

"Thank you for sharing all your stories. I think you have a great way of helping people grasp and put into practice the principles of manifesting. Cheers!"
Anita Mosher www.anitamosher.com

"Thank you so much for lighting up our lives and our paintings at this past weekend’s workshop! I loved hearing about your time with Wolf Kahn, your thoughts on painting, the beautiful demo, and of course the great feedback you provided us on our own paintings. You really reignited my desire to paint freely. I hope to spend another weekend painting with you sometime soon."

"Thank you for our workshop! It was a great two days. You are an amazing host and instructor, (two things that don’t always work together). You pulled something from each of us and it was wonderful to be a part of it. Thanks to the moon and back."
V

"So, when my friend, Ken Elliott, told me he was co-teaching a workshop on color with Casey Klahn, I immediately said sign me up! Ken's work is simplified impressionist landscape with an emphasis on bold color like reds and yellows. Casey's work is influenced by the cloudy days of the northwestern part of the United States, and his paintings are simplified, abstracted landscapes. Casey uses subdued colors like blues and purples. Both artists' style and color sense are so dramatically different than mine that I knew I would be challenged by this workshop. And indeed I was! I have to smile when I see the work I produced in this workshop. It's so unlike my usual work."
Lee McVey website

I so enjoyed meeting you and being part of the workshop. You got me on fire!!!!!
Ed

"Wow! My weekend of private lessons was fabulous! While I was there I stepped into a whole new world that my soul was calling for. Wonderful conversations, a beautiful time with great art everywhere and artistic success!"
Kate

"Thank you so much for including me in the wonderful weekend workshop at the Castle Rock Artist "Retreat" :D I found all of you to be a delight and am so happy to meet each of you! Ken, you are a wonderful teacher & inspiring person!! The one day with you in your B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L home & "artist sanctuary" was "exactly" what I needed on so many levels !!! Thank you for your generosity, great color sense, sharing of your artful knowledge & supply resources. I came away with a renewed art spirit and also w/ some new artistic ideas for applying paint to the canvas! Very inspiring indeed!
Jeannie Paty website

"When I signed up for a painting workshop, who knew that it would be so much more. Thank you Ken. For your kindness, generosity of spirit, and sharing your knowledge and skill of painting with us. And thank you to everyone for making our time together a magical weekend which will be cherished. Fortunately the universe provided me with what I needed, whether I knew it or not."
Linda

"Your workshop changed my whole outlook on what I might be able to do with my art career and gave me the confidence to really go for it. It was also huge from a creative standpoint, helping me focus on color and having that be the lead/primary solution to my paintings as a colorist and abstract artist - but also from the manifesting angle it was my introduction to the whole idea and what set me on my course as a professional artist."
Kirsten McGannon website

"It was a fabulous workshop! I know we all had a lot of fun and really enjoyed having you here. We would love to have you come back again next year!"
Donna

"Just wanted to thank you again for a very inspiring, informative, and fun workshop. I worked LARGE today!
Maxene

"Thank you for all your inspiration!"
Deb

"Hey, I DEFINITELY recommend this! SIGN UP for Ken's class! Take your art further than it's ever been!"

Nanette

"You are a wonderful, vibrant instructor!"
M.J.

"Thanks SO VERY MUCH, Ken, for such a fun, informative, and energetic workshop. Your enthusiasm is contagious. What a wonderful weekend!!"
Christine

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

"Love the class, you are a great teacher!"
Betsy

"I feel so enriched and on fire to paint big and glowing colors. If you ever get a chance to study with Ken Elliott, I highly recommend him. If you need help getting to his workshops just read his book Manifesting 123"
Francine "

"Great class Ken! Thank you for all the good tips and inspiration. So glad you came to Houston."
Kay

A good time was had by all! Thank you!
Barbara, Workshop organizer and attendee

"Thank you Ken for a awesome workshop, picked up some new tools to advance forward. Looking forward to using them tools. I had a great time meeting everyone and working together."
Scott

New Work: Forest Sequence I, oil on canvas 48 x 120 inches

Forest Sequence I, oil on  two, 48 x 60 inch canvases, total size, 48 x 120 inches  $2400 unframed

Sometimes you just want to go bigger with an idea. With this oil and the 10' expanse, I was able to create an expressive forest view where all is simplified and surrounded in a soft, colored atmosphere.

Care was taken to keep a limited color selection and also to subtly move the color across the canvas from left to right. There is a lot of atmosphere here and it becomes more obvious when the foliage is reduced on the right side. As the oil developed, I became more aware of the lateral possibilities and seeing back into the forest.

Staged installation

It became a painting of nuances, a sweeping view of trees plainly seen and many others receding into the background. It was a joy to watch this come to life on the canvas.

Grateful Notices: Light Diffusing, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches

Light Diffusing   Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches
private collection
Exhibited: Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM

I started this oil while I was doing private lessons. The idea being presented was to grey down all of the colors and create a sunlit piece without the need for saturated colors and bright effects. Parts of the painting still appear to be bright but it's a nice illusion. The brighter colors are in reserve - they are not used here, but more vibrancy could have been brought in if needed.

Since the colors are not a full strength, it allows for the delicate purples and blue-greens to play a prominent role here and there, breaking up the line of trees and making this part of the forest more interesting. It's a good strategy for making every color count and creating a softer mood.

The composition went through numerous changes, simplifying each time with the end result being a painting equally focused on color and composition.

My thanks to the collectors that purchased this work. It's always an honor.

Article and Video: Did a Deceased Couple Steal a de Kooning and Get Away With It?

Here's a very interesting headline from the Washington Post, August 3, 2018 by Antonia Farzan.  This is an excerpt, so check out the full Washington Post story here and scroll down to see the video documentary.

A small-town couple left behind a stolen painting worth over $100 million — and a big mystery

Woman-Ochre” by Willem de Kooning.
(Courtesy of University of Arizona Museum of Art)

More than 30 years ago, that same painting disappeared the day after Thanksgiving from the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson
Jerry and Rita Alter kept to themselves. They were a lovely couple, neighbors in the small New Mexico town of Cliff would later tell reporters. But no one knew much about them.

They may have been hiding a decades-old secret, pieces of which are now just emerging.

Among them:

After the couple died, a stolen Willem de Kooning painting with an estimated worth of $160 million was discovered in their bedroom.

More than 30 years ago, that same painting disappeared the day after Thanksgiving from the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson.

And Wednesday, the Arizona Republic reported that a family photo had surfaced, showing that the day before the painting vanished, the couple was, in fact, in Tucson.

The next morning, a man and a woman would walk into the museum and then leave 15 minutes later. A security guard had unlocked the museum’s front door to let a staff member into the lobby, curator Olivia Miller told NPR. The couple followed. Since the museum was about to open for the day, the guard let them in.

The man walked up to the museum’s second floor while the woman struck up a conversation with the guard. A few minutes later, he came back downstairs, and the two abruptly left, according to the NPR interview and other media reports.

Sensing that something wasn’t right, the guard walked upstairs. There, he saw an empty frame where de Kooning’s “Woman-Ochre” had hung.

At the time, the museum had no surveillance cameras. Police found no fingerprints. One witness described seeing a rust-color sports car drive away but didn’t get the license plate number. For 31 years, the frame remained empty.

In 2012, Jerry Alter passed away. His widow, Rita Alter, died five years later at 81.

After their deaths, the painting was returned to the museum. The FBI is investigating the theft.

Did the quiet couple who lived in a three-bedroom ranch on Mesa Road steal “Woman-Ochre” and get away with it?

Something else doesn’t add up. Jerry and Rita Alter worked in public schools for most of their careers. Yet they somehow managed to travel to 140 countries and all seven continents, documenting their trips with tens of thousands of photos.

Also included in the Post article is this documentary from WFAA, Dallas

And yet, when they died, they had more than a million dollars in their bank account, according to the Sun News.

“I guess I figured they were very frugal,” their nephew, Ron Roseman, told WFAA.

Roseman couldn’t be reached for comment on Thursday evening. But not long after “Woman — Ochre” resurfaced, he told ABC13 that he couldn’t imagine that his aunt and uncle had stolen the painting.

“They were just nice people,” he said.

Read the rest of this Washington Post story here