February Newsletter 2023

February News: "Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is." — Jackson Pollock A lot of what I do has been described as powerful and calm, colorful and poetic, simple and complicated. Apparently, and like so many of us, we are full of contradictions and difficult to describe.  It's nice not to have too many limits! A number of new oils have been started this month and there is the usual crowd of existing canvases in progress, insistently waiting their turn. Two finished oils follow below. It has been a pleasurable month of friends, artists and tasks completed. The world can be a difficult place, but I am fortunate to be able to create a measure of calm in the studio and put it out into the world for you.

New Works: Into the Green Forest Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches Exhibiting: Exhibiting: Saks Galleries, Denver, CO $10500 framed About this oil Winters Evening Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 inches $4400 framed In the studio  About this oil Available Works: Purple Woods Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches Exhibiting: Boston Art, Boston, MA $6650 framed About this oil Sunset Impression, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches Exhibiting: Page + Waterman Gallery, Wellesley, MA $5350 framed About this oil Red Stand Oil on canvas, 40 X 40 inches $6650 framed Currently in the U.S. Art for Embassies program, installed in the Ambassadors Residence, Dushanbe, Tajikistan Workshops and Mentoring Sessions: Take your work to new heights. My Workshops and Mentoring Sessions will focus on strategies for making better paintings, colorist tools, going to new places in your work and making fine art. We will be going deeper into making better and more appealing artworks with a variety of strategies and in some sessions, there will be time for Photoshop insights made easy. all workshop info Here's a video about what happens in the Group and Private Workshops View my newest artworks sign up for this newsletter here Winter Light II Oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches Exhibiting: Bill Hester Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico $8200 framed About this oil This monthly newsletter is the best way to stay up to date with my new works and events. You can also follow me on Facebook and go more in depth with my blog. To view the total of my works in all media and in all my galleries, go to www.kenelliott.com Pass this onto a friend and they can sign up for this newsletter here. Thank you, Ken

New Work: The Light in the World IV

The Light in the World IV  oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches   Saks Galleries, Denver   $6650 framed  

With these Light in the World series works, my goal is to have the light permeate every part of the scene. In this sunset, the light is not a sun glaring through the clouds but instead, a luminous scene.

The painting went through a number of changes and as it progressed, I worked to add more radiance and interest. Many foreground changes were tried and rejected until I came upon the idea of a diagonal movement. It worked nicely with the horizontal cloud bands and gave the painting the added weight necessary and more depth at the bottom on the oil. It was a solution worth working for.

New Work: Saccade XII, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

Saccade XII, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches $10950 framed
Saks Galleries, Denver, CO

It's good to have a number of paintings going in the studio to work with. In this 12th Saccade, a very textural painting developed because I worked over another oil from 4-5 years ago. The heavy impasto that resulted took me back to those Monet works. It was a joy to create a forest with all of that ready-made texture.

The purpose of the Saccades is to create a painting without a singular point of interest. Doing so presents a number of problems, first being that all the areas on the canvas are equally interesting. This is a good practice for most paintings anyway, so this oil puts that idea to task.

There is the additional game in play here and that is depth. The viewer gets the impression of being in the darker part of the forest looking out. The light is there, but nothing much is revealed. 

There is a considerable forest pattern effect across the 4 x 5 foot space. It has an abundance of complexity and just enough depth to be an intriguing presence on the wall.

About the Saccades Series shown here:
"Since the late 19th century, researchers have been aware of the phenomenon of saccades, the rapid movement of the eye as we shift our attention from one thing to another. As a result, vision itself is discontinuous. We construct a “map of reality” from saccades much as a film editor puts together a scene from individual camera takes." From an article by the film maker Errol Morris, NY Times

Video: Ken reviews and comments on some of his works at the Sorelle Gallery, New Canaan, CT

In the studio with works in progress

Ken reviews and comments on some of his works at the Sorelle Gallery, New Canaan, CT

click to view

It's always an interesting exercise to look back on a body of work and take the time to remember the many paths that brought those works to completion. In the studio, there are times when everything falls away and the artist is left with the paints and artistic problems to solve.

Looking at this video, I'm happy to see that all the puzzles were resolved at last and that the paintings are now out in the world to enjoy. After this little break, there are more canvases to make.

Grateful Notices: Soft Forest Blues, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches

Soft Forest Blues, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches
Exhibited: Sorelle Gallery, New Canaan, CT

My thanks to the collector for purchasing my work and to Sorelle Gallery for gracefully making it all possible.

A bit about this oil:

The goal here was to do a forest with blues woven into the composition. I wanted something subtle without the blues being primary. It's easy to use blues to make trees but it's difficult to make them believable.

All of the colors are greyed down, even the darks and lights, allowing the different blues to gently glow in the background. The numerous trunks and branches create a lot of complexity, all to create a veil for the blue hues. The line of trees is bordered with that bit of sky and the muted orange below, a bit of reality to bring it all together.

Finally, the foreground was muted even more, allowing the other subtleties in the painting a chance to be noticed.

Grateful notices: At the Pond's Edge, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

At the Pond's Edge, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches
Exhibited by: Sorelle Gallery, New Canaan, CT
Video: Ken discusses the making of this oil 

This is a painting that was in progress during three seasons, Fall, Winter and then Spring. Each season was represented here at one time and eventually painted over with the following season. The process was enjoyable and a lot of color work was done but this large oil took up a long studio residence in what seemed like the season of perpetual indecision.

Once Spring appeared in the studio window, green solutions presented themselves. Yes? No? The greens were tried and failed but they did work nicely in the lower portion of the blue trees. Spring with blue trees? In this case yes, and when the blues blended into the greens mentioned earlier, the painting began to come to life.

Add the aqua in the background for more drama and for good measure, the yellow tips catching light at the top of the painting.

In the end, what seemed to make this oil work were the contrasts between the darker trees and the light yellow/greens at the top and bottom. Care was taken to soften the sky and foreground, further increasing the effect of mass in the center trees.

Throughout it all, the oil was telling me what to do and I followed along, not being concerned about the time it was taking.

Grateful Notices: All Over Sunset, Study, pastel on paper, 13 3/8 x 17 7/8

ALL OVER SUNSET, STUDY
Pastel 13 3/8 x 17 7/8 Private collection, Vancouver, Canada Exhibited: Page Waterman Gallery, Wellesley, MA

A very good friend in Florida sent me a photo of a sunset through the trees while on her walk. I kept coming back to that image and finally, I gave it a shot in pastel. The trees had a nice vertical aspect and they were very close together, a great set up for a more abstracted piece.

As the image progressed it became a playground for different colors. At first, it was all in warm tones and as the pastel moved forward, the blues and reds created more interest and interesting contrasts.

When it was done, I wanted more of that composition so, I started a 4 x 6 canvas and it worked out to be a very successful painting.

My thanks to R. who supplied the inspiration and to the collector in Vancouver that contacted me. It was very satisfying to make the sale and the conversation that followed was remarkable. Many thanks to you as well.

Commissions

Bight Patterns    Oil on canvas, 48 X 60     Collection, Columbine Country Club, Denver

Throughout the year, Ken is involved in a number of commissions for a variety of clients, private and public, across the country.

He was worked on sizes suitable for residences and as large as 6 x 18 feet for public spaces. 

His works have also been used in major motion pictures and TV productions.

Email Ken to begin the conversation or call 303-995-1611

6 x 18 ft continuous canvas commission for a prominent East Coast Hospital

Double commission for Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

For that special and unique artwork, consider Ken for your private and corporate commissions

Collections: partial listing

Hewlett Packard

Coopers and Lybrand                        

Kaiser-Permanente                    

Ritz Hotel, Denver

Four Seasons Hotel, Denver

St. Anthony's Hospital, Denver

Panhandle Eastern                   

National Dairy Board                

Grubb and Ellis, Denver

Marriott Hotels

Holland America Cruise Line

Stanford Cancer Center, Palo Alto

Tufts New England Medical Center

Pinnacol Denver Hospice, CO 

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

Gaylord Rockies Resort & Conference

    Center Aurora, CO

Vail Mountain Club, Vail, CO

Yampa Valley Medical Ctr, Steamboat Springs, CO

Vectra Bank, CO

Blue Shield

Hitachi

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Glenmoor Country Club, Denver

Project Energy

  St. John’s Mercy Medical Center,

    Creve Coeur, MO

Rose Medical Center, Parker, CO

Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital,

     Grand Rapids, MI

Magnet Bank, Atlanta

Ford, Harrison Law, Atlanta

Lowry Medical Center, Denver

Town and Country Hospital, Houston

Jones and Keller, Denver

Raychem

Birch Hill Investment Advisors, Boston

Avista Hospital, CO

March 2020 Newsletter

Ken Elliott's Fine Art Newsletter March 2020 View this email in your browser March News: About the Virus... since we are all up to date, I would like to simply add this. Sadly, one of the great American artists recently passed. Wolf Kahn was a very big influence on many levels to me. I was fortunate to have studied him for a month at a masters class in Santa Fe, NM. He was instrumental in pointing me, a very green artist, in a good direction with solid advice. I do cherish the many times we had together and his remarkable works live on. His wife, the remarkable painter, Emily Mason, passed three months earlier. I hope they are enjoying themselves!   Here are a couple of his videos: Wolf Kahn Landscape Painter, and Wolf Kahn at Niagara Falls. If you watch carefully, you will see secrets revealed. Also, here is his obituary from The Washington Post Now for a joyful gift While we are in our homes, we can virtually tour 500+ cooperating world museums working with Google.The arts touch us on so many levels - breathe deeply here. And now that there are less distractions these days, I'm finding that many artists, including me, are feeling inspired to dig deeper and further enrich the world with art. It's a wonderful motivator! Please note that galleries everywhere are working on reduced hours or by appointment, but all works are available for viewing online and the galleries are available by phone and email. Give yourself a lift and view the remarkable works of art online. Change your view and see the world as the artists do! My workshop in the Denver Metro has been announced - more info below. Feel free to contact meabout having one in your area. Let's embrace the good in the world and be safe. Ken   New Works: FOREST PLACIDO Oil on canvas, 40 X 48 inches     $6750 framed Saks Galleries, Denver, CO More about this oil on Ken's blog, For the Color In the Galleries:   ALL OVER SUNSET, STUDY Pastel 13 3/8 x 17 7/8        $2150 framed Page Waterman Gallery, Wellesley, MA GLOWING TREE LINE Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches     $5250 framed In the studio BRILLIANT FOREST Oil on canvas, 40 x 40     $6650 framed Gallery 89, Steamboat Springs, CO More about this oil on Ken's blog, For the Color WINTER CONTRAST Pastel 15 1/4 x 19 1/8   $2700. framed Sorelle Gallery, New Canaan, CT More about this pastel on Ken's blog, For the Color FOREST SEQUENCE I Oil on canvas, 48 X 120 inches on two 48 x 60 inch canvases. $23500 unframed    Sorelle Gallery, New Canaan, CT More about this oil on Ken's blog, For the Color Video / Ken discusses this oil SACCADES XIV Oil on canvas, 50 x 50 inches     $9850 framed Saks Galleries, Denver More about this oil on Ken's blog, For the Color About the Saccades Series: "Since the late 19th century, researchers have been aware of the phenomenon of saccades, the rapid movement of the eye as we shift our attention from one thing to another. As a result, vision itself is discontinuous. We construct a “map of reality” from saccades much as a film editor puts together a scene from individual camera takes." From an article by the film maker Earl Morris, NY Times       more on my blog Workshops / Private Sessions /Studio Visits: New 2020 Making it Fine Art Workshop, Denver Metro: Sat - Sun June 6-7 Limited to 6 artists, 2 spaces left More information below. Please inquire $390 per person. Complete info on the Workshops page Private lessons by appointment. Here's a video about what happens in the Group and Private Workshops Contact Ken to arrange a studio visit or Workshop. It is always a pleasure to meet you. Take your work to new heights. These workshops and private sessions will focus on strategies for making better paintings, colorist tools, going to new places in your work and making fine art. We will be going deeper into making better and more appealing artworks with a variety of strategies including Photoshop insights made easy. all workshop info   Ken Elliott American Landscapes coffee table book: This large coffee table book reprises 25 years of my works in oil, pastel, monotype, etching and collage.Large, coffee table hardback version, 11 x 13 inches, 94 color pages with essays. Book and a signed giclee print of the cover image: $150 or just order the book for $115. Also available as an iBook / download on Apple devices for $9.99. You can preview the complete book and how to order your electronic or hardback versions from my website.     My Blog, For the Color Want to follow along in my studio? Come across some interesting art bits and intriguing posts from elsewhere? Check out my artist's blog: For the Color and on the right of the blog under Followers, click Join this Site. Right now you can view vintage videos of Renoir, Degas, a Piet Mondrian video montage, comments about my works and observations about museum artworks from some recent trips. View my newest artworks: This monthly newsletter is the best way to stay up to date with my new works and events. You can also follow me on Facebook and go more in depth with my blog, For the Color. To view the total of my works in all media and in all my galleries, go to www.kenelliott.com Thank you, Ken SaveSave Copyright © 2020 Ken Elliott Fine Art, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Ken Elliott Fine Art Castle Rock, CO  80108 Add us to your address book Contact Ken 303-995-1611 email website Sign up for my Art Blog: For the Color Sign up for this newsletter Image top, cropped here: All Over Sunset, Study Pastel, 13 3/8 x 17 7/8     $2150 framed Page Waterman Gallery, Wellesley, MA American Art Collector Magazine: "Elliott's canvases display the strikingly vivid modern hues in which he chooses to render his contemporary landscapes."  Southwest Art Magazine: Although his paintings loosely reference photographs and plein-air sketches, they refuse to exist within the confines of already-prescribed images. Rather, they stand independent of any specific place or time, the fulfilled pursuits of the artist’s visual and intellectual explorations. Elliott wields color boldly, creating sizzling, vibrant shapes that are at once kinetic and placid, grounded in unifying illumination, and focused compositions. He has a fascination with line structure as well, believing that “edges empower colors.”  Private Lessons and studio visits: I have really enjoyed giving private lessons individually or with groups over the years. It is casual, focused and fun. It is always a pleasure welcoming collectors into my studio, please email me a call to arrange a time. The workshops are very stimulating and you will see a big result in your approach to making fine art and clarity on your career strategies. Let's discuss what works best for you. What they are saying: "I had a clue what might be in store for my friends, but it went WAY beyond. You have a real gift. What a FANTASTIC couple of days!!!’ L. "Your painting demonstrations and the information you gave us  was invaluable- no wonder your paintings are so moving. I so enjoyed meeting you. Thank you for coming to Virginia." S. "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 and your generosity in sharing those 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." "I can't thank you enough for coming to Boulder! Thank you for your clear eye, your hard work, your beautiful color and your careful feedback. I'm now a different Painter...maybe a different person? I loved the weekend. And I can't wait until we get to soak up your love for the work, for Wolf Kahn, for COLOR -- yet again (note that I'm greedy).You are an amazing addition to our lives." M. "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. Thanks also for your generosity in sharing the numerous links." "I hope to spend another weekend painting with you sometime soon." B.H. "Thank you for the 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. "Thank you Ken. It was a wonderment! I learned so much." Kathy "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!" K. "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!" D. "Just wanted to thank you again for a very inspiring, informative, and fun workshop. I worked LARGE today!" M. "Thank you for all your inspiration!" D. "Thanks SO VERY MUCH, Ken, for such a fun, informative, and energetic workshop. Your enthusiasm is contagious. What a wonderful weekend!!" C. "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." "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." L. "Love the class, you are a great teacher!" B. "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 bookManifesting 123" F. Website Facebook Twitter Pinterest SHARE THIS EMAIL