The Art of August

August has been filled with art and artists.

The first part of August all of my time and energy went into producing the annual Artists' Charitable Fund auction which raises money for this non profit which provides financial assistance to artists in medical crisis.

For the nine years I have been responsible for this outdoor auction in Loveland, CO I am impressed with how generous the artists are - such as Joshua Tobey who donated a beautiful bronze sculpture of a antelope to painter Nancy Guzik's lovely portrait Silver & Gold - more than 60 original paintings and sculptures were auctioned off - which raised more than $36,000 --- once again everyone who attended had a ball eating and drinking under the stars while sculptor George Lundeen as auctioneer kept everyone in stitches.

Later in the month, the Rocky Mountain Plein Air painters were in Estes Park for a couple of weeks -  I, with Lynda Vogel, director of the Cultural Arts Council had juried the artists who came from several different states, Canada and Germany  into the show so it was great fun getting to meet them. As in previous years I hosted all the artists at my ranch for an outdoor picnic -- Ten artists arrived early so as to paint the views from the horse arena - and also made paintings of my horses Rio and Raven - Then thirty artists arrived for the picnic - lots of fun, which my dogs Cheyenne and Kody enjoyed being part of. The horses enjoyed the extra attention also.
A week of attending artist parties, breakfast and the opening reception where awards were given out....now that the artists have gone home, Estes seems quiet - but their works will remain in the CACEP Gallery until Oct. 2, 2011.