HOW IT ALL BEGAN...
Hmm...You never know who you'll meet! |
Friend's condo in Jackson, WY |
HITTING THE ROAD...
Heading into Colorado from New Mexico in our Ford Transit! |
So,
with art and bags loaded and an ice chest on the back seat, we left our
home in the Texas Hill Country early on the morning of Friday, June
7th, with a goal of making it to Santa Fe by evening, which we did.
Since we were scheduled to be in northern Wyoming by Sunday, we resisted
checking out Santa Fe for this leg of the trip and got back on the road Saturday
morning, setting our sights on Vail, Colorado, for the next layover.
Along
the way we enjoyed the amazing scenery, driving through deserts, then
mountains, and back into deserts, making a few stops along way but
trying to stay focused on our destination. We did visit a lovely gallery
in downtown Alamosa that might be an option for my work later this
fall.
We made it to the Vail area that evening and booked a room in Avon, which is a few miles west of Vail. We
even had time to check out a few galleries in Vail but kept our visits
brief since we still needed to get to Jackson Hole to check into the
condo before dark the next day. We decided to return on our way back to
Texas.
NEXT STOP: JACKSON HOLE AND THE GRAND TETONS!
Enjoying the great outdoors, wildflowers and the Tetons! |
Our friend's condo made for the perfect jumping
off point to explore the area, including the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone
and more. But our focus for the first few days was on the galleries in
Jackson. Almost three dozen art galleries are listed on the Jackson Hole
Chamber of Commerce website (plus many others that are not listed so
there's about 50 total), so we had our work cut out for us.
For
this and all of the towns we stopped in, we did as much advance research online
as possible, trying to find a "good fit" for my work. However, there is
only so much you can learn through websites and it really does take
walking in, looking around and observing the staff and customer service
to get a feel for any gallery. Our aim was to narrow down a list of
galleries as possible candidates, while still looking for others that we
have missed in our research.
Ian McLennan, Grand Teton Gallery owner. |
A GRAND SETTING FOR MY PAINTINGS ... AT GRAND TETON GALLERY!
After visiting
several
galleries in Jackson Hole, we settled on about 3 as the best fits.
Timing is everything, as they say, and one of those was ready to talk
about taking on my work now, while the others were already set for the
summer but expressed interest for later in the fall. We were
delighted to accept an invitation from Grand Teton Gallery! Owner Ian
McLennan and Katie Tufte, gallery manager, were both warm and inviting.
Ian shared his story with David and I of how he brought his family over
from Australia and opened the gallery about 3 years ago. He started out
specializing in Western Art, like many of the other galleries in the
area. However, he has been seeing more interest in contemporary work and
decided to make a shift in that direction, making the timing perfect to
add my colorful wildflowers to the gallery! I left seven of my paintings on
consignment, two of which were on display in time for a special
reception on Friday night for the launch of a slick new magazine for the
area. We enjoyed attending the reception, meeting guests and talking
about my work with some potential collectors! Even though others
galleries may ask us to join them later this year, we are committed and
happy to call Grand Teton Gallery our exclusive agent for the Jackson
area. They had their chance :-)
Although
we spent the first three days in Jackson totally focused on gallery
visits, we were able to "play" toward the end of our stay. My sister
made plans to fly up for a few days to spend the weekend. Highlights
include a tram ride to the top of Rendezvous Mountain, whose peak is at
10,927 feet, and a day spent driving through Yellowstone National Park,
where we got to see Old Faithful shoot up in the air. Although I did the
tram, my fear of heights kept me on the ground on our last morning
there when my sister and David took a balloon ride at the foot of Tetons. I've seen the photos
and they are spectacular! Maybe someday I'll get the courage to join
them!
We took a tram to the peak of Rendezvous Mountain...and this is what we saw. Ahh-Mazing!!! |
LEAVING JACKSON HOLE, HEADING TO PARK CITY...
We checked out Sunday morning, dropped my sister at
the airport and took one last stroll, for this visit, through downtown
Jackson. Then it was back on the road, heading west into Idaho and then
south to Park City, just east of Salt Lake City.
At
the beginning of the trip we had not yet made firm plans for how we
would spend the week returning back to Texas other than making
arrangements to be in Odessa by Friday night or Saturday morning at the
end of the 2-week trip, before driving back home. However, by the time
we were on the road after our week at Jackson, we had a plan to make the
most of the time left and the miles between there and home. Next stop
would be Park City, Utah, home of the Sundance Film Festival and another playground for the rich and famous.
Not that I want to
advertise for them, but I did find that using Expedia while on the road
to book our next hotel a good way to go. However, I learned early on
that it was much easier to book online rather than call (I tried but was
unable to understand the woman on the other end of the line and she was
not seeing the same price that I was seeing). Before leaving Jackson I
was able to secure a nice room in a really nice hotel in Park City for
two nights, giving us time to spend all of Monday checking out the town
with plans to leave bright-n-early so we could stop over in Moab on
Tuesday.
Park City has one of the most charming downtown
areas I've been in and I plan to return someday. And there are plenty of
galleries! Most, however, seem to fall to one side or the other of my
work: either much more traditional or western or much more contemporary
or modern. I did find 2 or 3 galleries as potential fits and I plan to follow up.
Just some of the many wonderful rock formations in Arches National Park. |
Having done our homework, we knew that
Moab would not have much for gallery options but we could not resist a visit
and grab some lunch, and decided to make time for a drive through the
Arches National Park, which offered awe-inspiring views of red-rock
formations and other-worldly landscapes. Once we were back on the road,
we set our sights on Vail, again.
BACK IN VAIL, AGAIN....
We scheduled two
days for exploring galleries in beautiful Vail and the surrounding the area,
from Beaver Creek to the west and Breckenridge to the east. In the
course of visiting several galleries, we found at least three potential
fits. None were ready to take on my work at this time but I feel strongly
that I will be in at least one of them by this time next year. You can
bet that I'll be following up and staying in touch!
YES, THEY HAVE WILDFLOWERS AND BLUEBONNETS HERE, TOO!
Lupines are cousins of our Texas Bluebonnet! |
Something
I have not mentioned yet that I found very inspiring were the many,
many fields of wildflowers we saw blooming in Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho,
Utah and even in New Mexico. While our Spring is over, theirs was just
peaking and I took great joy in seeing the patches of color, which
helped to reinforce the fact that, yes, my wildflower art is a good fit
for these galleries! They even have bluebonnets, which they call lupines.
We left the mountains of northern
Colorado early Thursday morning, enroute to Southern New Mexico, with a
room booked in Alamogordo, just outside of Cloudcroft. It had been a long
trip and now it was mostly about sightseeing, getting to visit some new
places, and delivering the painting to the Odessa client on the way
home.
Again, having done some preliminary
research, we knew that neither Alamogordo or Cloudcroft would offer much
in gallery options for my work but we for some reason were
both being drawn to the area. A friend and fellow artist had mentioned
to me the previous week that Cloudcroft was place for me to check out.
We checked out of hotel in Alamogordo and headed up the mountain to check out Cloudcroft. Leaving the desert behind, it was had to believe that we were driving back into pine trees. Breathtaking views were waiting for us around every bend. The town itself, mostly located on a main drag only a few blocks long was charming. We had a great brunch of biscuits and gravy before heading out. Another place on our "must revisit" list!
LAST STOP: RUIDOSO, NM, AND A NEW GALLERY FOR MY WILDFLOWERS...
Judy, Me and David at LongCoat Fine Art, Ruidoso, NM |
Before arriving at Alamogordo, neither David or I had taken time to look into surrounding towns for gallery potential. When
we checked into the hotel, I picked up a brochure listing galleries in
the county. I went online, started doing some research and was very
impressed with one gallery in particular. You can call it "gut feeling,"
but I just knew we had to stop over in Ruidoso on the way out of the
area and visit this gallery.
Judy hanging "De-Lovely" |
From the minute we walked
into LongCoat Fine Art Gallery, David and I felt that my work would be a good
fit. An introduction to the owners was followed by an interest in seeing
not just some of the work we had with us, but my entire collection. The
owners Judy and David, were an absolute joy to talk with. Turns out
they are former Texans, having moved from Houston. The four of us hit it
off and felt like old friends although we had just met. Soon, they were
selecting paintings and Judy even began rearranging the gallery and
hanging them before we left!
"Burst of Joy" in its new home in Odess! |
PERFECT ENDING TO A PERFECT TRIP...
As the day passed quickly
and we'd be pushing it to make it to Odessa by nightfall, we booked a
room for the night in odd little Roswell (another town I want to spend
more time exploring when I get a chance). Saturday morning we headed for
Odessa to make the delivery, where we were welcomed with open arms.
David and I both took great pleasure in seeing how much joy my painting
brought the new owner, who could not wait to see it hanging in its new
home! We had lunch with this sweet lady, then it was back on the road
for our home in Hill Country.
Me and my sweetie! |
No comments:
Post a Comment