Over the past year I have gradually started to think of myself as an art collector. I have a list of artists that I follow; I regularly go to visit the galleries where my favorite artists tend to exhibit; I love to go to opening nights and I struggle to go home without buying anything. To help me enjoy more and spend less, I have a focus for my collection: "I buy paintings of mountains I can see from my house, painted by living artists that I have met". Of course, I cheat on both accounts: Often I don't meet the artist until after I have bought the works. And some of the pictures I drool over are not actually of the peaks behind my house, just some that look similar.
But this one really is the cluster of mountains that I can see from the panorama window over my kitchen counter. It is titled "San Roque Canyon" and is painted by John Iwerks (grandson of Ub Iwerks of Disney animation fame - the artist who actually drew "Steamboat Willie, the first Micky Mouse movie). I spent the middle of Thanksgiving Day hiking up this canyon with my beagles on a leash, putting 15,000 steps on my pedometer.
I first saw a larger version of it at the Easton Gallery last spring. It was a show with about 30 paintings by each of John Iwerks and his wife Chris Chapman. The only problem was that it way way too big for my house, measuring about 40 by 50 inches (100 by 125 cm). So I wrote to ask John if he would be willing to make me a smaller version, which he graciously agreed to. This one is just 12 by 16 inches.
Sometimes I find something I like at a less prestigious venue. This one called "Little Red House" by Paul Edwards was hanging in a church where I attended a folk music concert, and the pastor had invited his parishioners to bring in art for display. Paul Edwards is 93 years old, retired from a career as a Disney artist. I liked the masculine feeling despite it being a watercolor painting, and this looks very much like a compound I can see halfway up the mountain when I look out my window. It is 16 by 24 inches, and I had it reframed in a blonde natural wood frame with no matte to look moare at home with my other paintings.
Marcia Burtt is the most prestigious painter in my collection. This 18 by 20 inches piece is titled "Mountain Overlook #1". It was the beginning of my serious collecting. When I got it home, I thought it made the landscapes I had bought before look bad in comparison, so I gave them to my ex-wife who fortunately still likes them.
I have written about this painting "Peace, a quiet evening" by Karen Feddersen in an earlier post.
Each of the three panels is 20 by 20 inches (50 by 50 cm), It holds the place of honor in my living room, and I love it as much today as when I first saw it. Every night when I come home and turn the lights on, I draw a deep breath of admiration.
So what is next ?
Last week-end I was gallery hopping with a friend who loves the Oak Group painters as much as I do. At the Sullivan Goss gallery we saw a couple of breathtaking pieces that fit neither of my rules, but still tempted me greatly. One was by Ray Strong, the other by Angela Perko. Both of them scarily expensive (the Strong one especially) so I let them stay there, but I will probably go back and visit them again. I have also been very charmed by the recent work of another Oak Group member, Jeremy Harper. Jeremy has not painted "my mountains" but I think I might commission him to give it a try.
Watch this space!!
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