The Zapata Show in Denver

 The Zapata show was this last weekend in Denver, Colorado at the Design Center.  The Zapata/ Medana paintout took place last June and we painted  the beauty of the ranch which is a conservation land trust area- the artists are there to portray life in the wild west- bison, cowboys, cows, and horses.
The paintout lasted for three days and the artists lived in the bunkhouses of the ranch.  Artists didn't have to paint while they were there but the three days were primarily an information gathering time for photographers, printmakers, and studio painters to immerse oneself in the beauty of the ranch in order to present art for a later show. A few of us did paint at the ranch since we are plein painters but the paintings I presented for the show were studio paintings.

The show was in the Columbine showroom- a beautiful venue with great food and company. The show lasted only three hours which makes it hard for patrons to just think about it for awhile.

A group of artists and Patrons at the Design Center in Denver

My small buffalo painting on a table in the show-  I don't normally paint wildlife but I do like to do small wildlife paintings- this was 5x7.

Lots of food!! 

My large buffalo painting- this was a little too contemporary for this show- I will definitely keep the traditional thought in mind next year for this show- lesson learned.

Bison at the Zapata Show

The Art Show from the Zapata-Medano paint out will be at the Chico Basin Ranch Saturday, September 4, from 1 to 4pm - and is called "The Artists Gathering". Chico Basin Ranch is located Southest of Colorado Springs.  This is a painting that will be in the show- "Bison with Dunes" 18x14 - painted from the Medano Ranch area....

This is a 16x20 painting called "Lone Bison".  This great creature knew I was taking pictures and posed quite well for me- I should have done some small paintings on site- well, maybe next time.

This 12x16 painting was completed "en plein air" above the Zapata ranch one morning.

I painted this from the Zapata Ranch- mostly in the dark as it was a little later than we had thought- this is a 9x16.

This was a small plein air that I did - it rained, the sun came out, then it rained, very confusing on shadow patterns.

Well, I hope there is a great turn out for this event- I want to go so badly but they changed my sons football game to the exact same time in Walsenburg- so I'm really torn- I'm going to have to be a little creative here to work it out...... the Chico Basin Ranch has a great website and has a good explanation on "The Artists Gathering"- check it out!