My painting partner Shannon and I have been working hard on building our portfolio in an attempt to establish a business for our collaborative paintings. Last week we sold our first painting and secured our first commission, and over the weekend were able to realize another big dream of ours, to have an office or studio space to display and sell our paintings. Shannon's husband and his business partner have recently purchased an amazing office in downtown Pueblo for their publishing company and alternative newspaper. They guys were generous enough to allow us to display our paintings for sale in the storefront.
With a $0 budget we spent most of Saturday stringing lights and wracking our brains to come up with titles for all our paintings, both collaborations and individual works. I may be biased, but I think they bring quite a bit of life to the cool old building.
We are also working on establishing a local artist guild in Pueblo. There is another guild downtown but is quite exclusive and not at all open to work that doesn't fall neatly into the esteemed "fine art" category. Especially for a town its size, Pueblo has thriving art, music, and film communities but most of the art you find locally is very dark. We are hoping to bring a little color, joy and light to this city we have grown to love, not to mention connect with some of the incredibly talented artists and artists-to-be that also find their homes here.
If you ask any native Southern Coloradans, you'll probably find Pueblo doesn't have the best reputation. But having not lived here all our lives, we have a completely different perspective than many locals and are blown away by the potential of such a undervalued city.
Twenty minutes from the mountains, 350 days of sun per year, vibrant artist community, thriving local businesses, victorian architecture, charming neighborhoods, ethnic and social diversity, one of the least expensive cities in Colorado--what's not to love?
Next we will be working on our website and establishing a screening process for other artists who would have their work displayed in the office. Such an exciting time!
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In case you haven't heard, Shannon Ganshorn is hosting an awesome mixed media postcard swap on her blog with sign ups starting tomorrow! You can find all the information and join in the fun here!
those paintings are BEAUTIFUL. and that town sounds amazing! recently found your blog and love it, very inspiring!
Posted by: camille | December 15, 2011 at 07:42 PM
I love it! I'm so excited for you both! Might have to do an errand downtown tomorrow (wink)!
Posted by: JenCozz | December 15, 2011 at 09:08 PM
congratulations on this new endeavor! Your paintings and collaborations are awesome and I know with rock the house in CO. I hope you and your family have a beautiful and joyous season!
Posted by: pilar | December 15, 2011 at 10:04 PM
EEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK! Love, love, love! I'm so excited for you guys!Keep posting pics!
Posted by: Misty Kirkland | December 21, 2011 at 09:27 AM
Love the paintings, especially the more abstract ones. Unfortunately I've got no spare pennies to buy one,
but I'm sure you'll have no problem, they're awesome.
http://www.artoyster.com Paintings for Sale
Posted by: Paintings Sell | July 15, 2012 at 01:04 PM