Sometimes the cold hard mountains make cold grumpy people (only when they are lacking snow).  Sometimes a drink helps, but I am excited to see people loosen up during the Breckenridge Winter Soul Fest.  We are going to have a rocking band here Saturday 28th to welcome our exclusive Soul Fest artist Tony Roko from Detroit.  Personally, having someone around who can loosen up may be a bit of a shock, but I welcome it as I visit the BAD Art Sale/Silent Auction on Friday [sorry that would have a link but they don't have a website] and then walk around the completed snow sculptures on Saturday.

Please stop by the Teal Art Gallery and personally welcome the visionary artist Tony Roko.

211 N Main Street, Breckenridge inside the Teal Art Gallery

Oil painting like you have never seen it before.

365 day blog of Collodion photography

See more of Strebel’s work

Rebecca Cuming will never cease to amaze me with her skill with paint or her creativity for both semi-representational and abstract art.  I was recently visiting her studio and just wish I could show all of her work all the time.  Here are three new pieces that exemplify one of her recurring themes of the feminine and nature.  The three spotlight pieces actually have pieces of doll clothing on the canvas and then painted over the top with beautiful colors and brush work.  As always with her work, the more I look at her pieces, the more I see and admire. Today, I would like to share her recent show, and some pieces that I have from that show, at Teal.

No, It’s not flair like the kind that Jennifer Anniston hates in Office Space.  It’s just awesome artist flair Gian uses to make a statement.  Working through several mediums including steel sculpture, fashion, furniture and of course, painting, he never is happy to settle but has to ‘wow’ everyone, every time.  His design and art have been recognized in museums such as the Guggenheim and American Folk Art Museum in New York as well as the Museum for Contemporary Art in LA.  His award winning creations have been featured in national and international publications  such  as Landscape Architecture Magazine, People, Ornament and El Universal.

Gian Draws much of his inspiration from his Hellenic culture and implements his knowledge of mythic stories to express ancient truths.  One piece in this show is called “Acropo” featuring the Acropolis as inspiration.

Teal is very excited to feature this charismatic artist. He has graciously decided to donate 10% of all the sales from this show to the Breckenridge Arts District.  So tell your friends, and come visit!

Rebecca Cuming has two major bodies of work.  One is more representational and the other is extremely abstract.  In both of these bodies of work, there is a common thread of colors and textures. In Cuming’s representational art, there is thick and thin paint and dramatic textures that strikingly represent extremely subtle atmospheres, landscapes and other compilations.  The color, texture, line and composition each have their own special meaning to Cuming.  Each brush stroke is a masterpiece.  This same mastery of the paint and painting carries over to her abstract art.

In Cuming’s abstract art, the caution and detail taken for her representational artworks carries over.  It is so extremely difficult to get the depth of feeling in color, composition line and texture when you aren’t actually painting any one thing.  Still, the variety of paint effects and boldness of every painting makes the representational pieces feel constrained by aesthetic.  The abstract pieces are where Cuming can really let out the painting techniques that are bursting to come out in her representational work, but the subject simply won’t allow it.

Placing two pieces, one abstract and one representational, next to each other one can find very similar, interesting color palates and textures.  The similarities prove her deliberateness of every abstract.  Meaning varies dramatically from abstract to abstract, however, Cuming does not share these meanings with us so we are left to create our own meaning.  She says that it does not matter what she attaches to the painting for meaning, like our own reflections, each person will see something different.

Well it is definitely difficult to photograph something that moves with the light and your eye.  That is why you need to come see it for yourself!  Cliff Barvoets works wonders with textured aluminum and ‘candy coat’ which is actually car paint.  He is a custom motorcycle and car painter who is bringing his talents indoors with this fabulous piece.