Week 24 Littleton, Denver and Sydney

Littleton Plein Air event - 3 paintings are for sale at the Art Depot until June 18. Last weekend was the ASLD Summer Art Market - thank you SO MUCH for purchasing & visiting during the hottest weekend ever. I also appreciated the great conversations with old and new artist friends. Saturday night was the Alzheimer's Association Art Auction - I barely had time to race around and get bids in on art and say a fast hello to people I would love to spend more time with, but couldn't.
Tomorrow I'm headed "down under" to Sydney, Australia and can't wait to see my daughter and the beautiful county. I might be the only person in the whole world looking forward to a 14 hour flight. Because I can take endless naps ... and I will.

Downtown Littleton, putting in a watercolor underpainting

Photo credit to Peggy Dietz

 

The two paintings I donated to Alzheimer's Art Auction - very happy to say they raised a lot of money for the Alzheimer's Association. Check out the bags under my eyes ... I felt the need to point them out, they are tremendously large after spending the day in 96 degree heat in a booth.

My booth full of art. Will work on getting unsold stuff uploaded to website later this summer.

A corner where I enticed people to ask about the mittens I make for Alzheimer's

The highlight of my weekend - a small child who loved my soft carpet and crawled under the back table for some relaxation. I loved forts as a kid and I was especially jealous that I couldn't crawl under there myself. I really love kids abilities to just do what the feel like with no inhibitions. I also love that my "kid" who is 23 years old hauled all this stuff for me and helped me set up and tear down the booth. Absolutely could not have done it without my wonderful husband and son. XXOO

Week 23 Absence of Color

I'm still painting all over the place, using different mediums and letting myself go in different creative directions. My art journey is clear to me most days, life on the other hand ... not always.

I intended to paint a simple black and white piece but ended up with all kinds of stuff happening and lots of grays. My art really represents my life; never quite turning out how I thought. Not black and white. Lots of gray areas. Yeah, it's a bit chaotic right now. Yet, I find this painting soothing. Absence of color, maybe? I want to do a whole series on black and white but it will have to wait.

I'm doing my only art fair this weekend (see below) and hope to see some of my friends at SAM on June 10th & 11th. It's gonna be a hot and busy weekend!

Absence of Color

24x24 Acrylic

I'm on Grant Street just north of 3rd - hope to see you!!

Week 22 Littleton Plein Air Event

I've been painting in the Littleton Plein Air Festival this week. I started off with a bang on Wednesday morning at 7 am. I drove around scoping out spots to paint and painted until sunset. I did 5 paintings - all 11x14 or larger. My friends were impressed.

Yesterday I was dragging and painted 2. I skipped the nocturne painting.

Today I will show up for the Quick Draw for one more downtown at 10-12.

I feel like a helium balloon - started off all perky and fresh on Wednesday morning and now I'm slowly sinking, barely hovering above the ground; by tomorrow I'll be flat.

I must learn to pace myself.

Below are the two paintings that will be for sale at the art opening tonight at the Art Depot from 5pm - 8pm during the First Friday art walk, they will be there until June 18, unless they sell. And the one I'm headed out the door to paint soon - headed to downtown Littleton to get inspired!

Early at the Courthouse 

11x14 pastel

It's All about the Dress

8x12 pastel

Week 21 Wonder View Tower

 PAAC planned the best paint-out for today - a tour and painting of Wonder View tower in Genoa, Colorado. Thanks Debby McAllister for arranging and rescheduling this unique opportunity. Here is some interesting info on the tower ...

http://kdvr.com/2016/01/10/making-the-wonder-tower-wonderful-again/

https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/world’s-wonder-view-tower

It's A Wonder

12x18 pastel

PAAC painters - all recognizable by the backs of their heads

"Artists"

we oooh and ahhhh over crumbling paint - because we see the art in it

Treasures all over; even though much of the interior collections have been auctioned off

Why do we love old stuff so much? Just because ...

More treasure that is creepy and funny all at the same time

I'm so glad that there are people trying to save the history of this intriguing place

Room after room made from stone with imbedded geodes and indian art

Thanks Plein Air Artists of Colorado and Colorado Preservation Inc. and especially

the current owners for the fantastic tour and trying to save this bit of history.

Week 20 Christmas in May?

We did have a blizzard about a week ago, it melted fast of course. I'm framing, matting and pricing artwork for the ASLD Summer Art Market in June. I found this painting in a pile - I have lots of piles and it's always fun to rediscover a painting. This was done in the Highlands neighborhood with PAAC last December, about a week before Christmas. It was on Lowell near 31st street.
There is a Christmas wreath on one of the doorways and a cute fluffy black & white dog that was lounging on the front stoop. It was a really pretty day and I wanted to go play with the dog.

So, onto the art fair - it's the only one I'm doing this year; June 10th and June 11th, 10 am to 5 pm (come early; I'll be there by 9 am) and get a head start on parking and shopping. With 265 local artists - it's a fantastic fair to see really great art.

I haven't counted yet but I'm anticipating at least a couple hundred paintings - half of which will become "bin art" meaning it's deeply discounted. Mostly because they are small studies, older works or just because I really don't want this much of my own art hanging out in my house. I'm a prolific painter and this art needs to go live somewhere.
My website is mostly functional (no paypal buttons yet, but soon) and I'm now posting daily on Instagram rather than my blog. Go check out the art there - less wordy.

www.lisahut.com
@lisahutart

Thanks for following and I hope you stop by to say hi at the Summer Art Market!

The Highlands in Winter

8x10 pastel

Lisa Hut

lisahutart@gmail.com

http://www.lisahut.com

"Let the beauty of what you love be what you do." Rumi

Week 19 Is it Art?

I've had lots of fun conversations with my friends regarding art lately. Illustration vs. fine art or craft vs. art? Even talent vs. training. What makes good art and always ... what sells and why?
Coming from a graphic design career I had no idea that there was a bias towards "illustration" not viewed as fine art, or that there was even a difference. It was all art to me.

The thing is, I've always done all forms of art. Rug hooking, quilting, paper crafts, scrapbooking, (I'm still dying to try stained glass) card making and spent many years with giant rolls of craft paper decorating elementary school doors and hallways for holiday events. It was still art.

Check out this amazing person, Simon Beck here I so very much want to do this.
Or this one that I admire, Liza Lou who beaded a whole kitchen here.
Finally, didn't you just love your Etch a sketch as a kid? I did here.

So I enjoyed spending hours making this beaded palette and yes, it's pretty blingy. Like super, duper blingy. But I like shiny things and hopefully someone else will too. For sale at the Alzheimer's Association Art Auction. See my last post for the numerous links I embedded here.

Peonies I

Beaded artist wooden palette

Here is a diagram of some origami toilet paper designs you can work on at home

... if you feel inspired.

Week 18 Paintings with a Mind of Their Own

This was painted as a donation for the Alzheimer's Association Art Auction on June 10th. It's a great fundraiser with lots of amazing art for sale, you can read about it here. I was inspired by this sweet, bright, bold (and purple, my favorite) abstract painting by a participant in our MIM art classes, which you can read about here. I'll try not to blather on about how amazing this art program is - you've probably already heard it before from me on my website here.

Can you tell I've mastered a new skill ... links?

Anyway, I intended to paint an abstract but something about that painting made me think of my trip to the Matazanas Creek Winery last year. It's in Santa Rosa, CA and they also grow lavender. I spent one wonderful afternoon painting in their field here. So, sometimes a painting leads you in a completely different direction. One of the reasons I love abstracted art is that it can mean so many things to different people. This one grabbed a hold of me and screamed lavender. Not kidding.

By the way, other generous artists donating artwork include Cheryl St. John, Margaretta Caesar, Duke Beardsley, Martin Lambuth, Madeleine O'Connell, Jeanne Echertnach, Cora Wheeler, Jean Shom, Jeanie Gebhart, Deborah McAllister, Karen Spotts, Pat Carney, Eric Matelski, Anita Winter ... the list goes on to include 35+ professional artists along with 100+ paintings from memory impaired individuals. Beautiful stuff.
I'm very grateful that so many other artists see the benefits of keeping art in your life as long as possible.

I See Lavender

Acrylic 24x24

My painting on the left next to the one that inspired me - both for sale together at the Alzheimer's Association Art Auction on June 10, 2017.