Cannon Beach Artist's Retreat

"Patti's Rainbow", a photo by Patti Spranger taken at Cannon Beach


"Haystack Rock" another of Patti's photos showing Cannon Beach's most distinctive geological formation


A plein air watercolor by Sandra Kaplan of a dramatic rocky coastline


Another watercolor by Sandra of a view of the ocean from a rocky precipice

Join Sandra Kaplan in Cannon Beach, Oregon, June 5 through June 11 for her Artist's Ocean Retreat.

Cannon Beach is a 2 hour drive due west from Portland, Oregon. This quaint village nestled on the gorgeous Northern Oregonian coast, is dotted with art galleries, shops and restaurants. From the long, sandy beach one can see Haystack Rock, rising 335 feet above the water. The Rock is a prime nesting spot for cormorants, sandpipers and puffins. One may find starfish, anemones and hermit crabs while walking along the water, and discover the mysteries of tide pools.

Classes will be held at our accommodations, on the beach, and during field trips. One day will be spent combining objects and found materials (collage) with paint. Numerous side trips to explore, walk and paint on this rugged coast are planned. Artists working in all mediums are welcome. Emphasis will be on expressing a spontaneous artistic response to our environment in a supportive group experience.

We will stay at the Blue Gull Inn, a perfect beach getaway located 150 feet from the water and 3 blocks from downtown Cannon Beach. The cottages / guest rooms are located around a central courtyard with a Spanish style fountain and rose garden. All rooms are smoke and pet free. Wireless Internet access is available for all guests.

The workshop is limited to 12 participants. Non-participants are welcome on a space available basis. The fee for this spectacular setting and time with Sandra is $1100. Included in the fee is 6 nights lodgings, 5 continental breakfasts, 5 lunches, snacks, 2 dinners and 4 and one half days of classes.

Fee and Payment

$1100 - workshop, 6 nights lodging, 12 meals

$800 - non-participant, shared room, 12 meals

$200 deposit required upon sign up, non refundable

1/2 balance due March 30, 2010

Final payment due May 1, 2010


SIGN UP BEFORE JANUARY 30, 2010 AND RECEIVE A $100 DISCOUNT FOR WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS, $50 FOR NON- PARTICIPANTS.


Accommodations will be assigned on a first come first served basis, so sign up soon.

Show Extended By Popular Request

Above: "Tea Time" mixed media collage, 11" X 13" UF; 25" X 27" Framed

By popular request, Sandra Kaplan's Collages at Shaver-Ramsey Fine Oriental Carpets, 2414 E 3rd Ave
Denver, CO 80206-4704, (303) 320-6363, has been extended a week, to Monday, December 7th, 2009.

Click HERE to see the collages.

Shaver-Ramsey's hours are Monday Through Saturday, 10 to 6, and Sunday, 11 to 5.

Please don't miss this most unusual collaborative installation.

A generous portion of sales (collages, rugs and jewelry) will benefit the Eating Disorder Foundation of Colorado. Donations are also being accepted.

Installation Photos by Alexandra Sheremet

The color is so much more luscious in Alexandra's installation photos of my show at Shaver-Ramsey - I had to post them. You can also get more of a sense of the whole space - she used a wide angle lens.

Individual shots of each collage can be seen by clicking HERE.

More from Shaver-Ramsey

Here are some installation shots of the exhibition.

The energetic folks at Shaver-Ramsey re-hung each of their showrooms to emphasize the visually collaborative nature of this show. Subject, pattern, color and designs in the collages and the rugs work together to tell stories and enhance each other.

Click here to see all of the available collages in my show at Shaver-Ramsey Fine Rug Gallery in Cherry Creek.

A generous portion of each sale will benefit the Eating Disorder Foundation of Denver.

My Collages at Shaver Ramsey

My small works from the past several years will finally have a public venue.

My collages will be shown in arguably the most unusual installation ever - hung on top of specially selected carpets from the spectacular modern and antique fine rug collection of Shaver-Ramsey in the Cherry Creek neighborhood of Denver.

The exhibition continues from Thursday, November 12 through November 30.

I will be in the gallery Saturday, November 14, 3 PM to 6 PM and Friday, November 20, 3 PM to 6 PM, but the exhibit can be viewed during normal business hours: Monday - Saturday, 10 - 6, and Sunday 11 - 5.

Shaver-Ramsey is located at 2414 East Third Avenue, Cherry Creek North, Denver, CO 80206.

A generous portion of sales will benefit the Eating Disorder Foundation of Denver.

My ASLD classes Show at The Reserve List

My classes at the Art Students League of Denver now have a group show, organized by our class monitor and artist extraordinaire Elke McGuire.

More than 25 artists have work on display, in a wide range of personal styles.

It's in the tasting room of The Reserve List, a fine wine shop at 1886 S. Pearl St., (corner of Jewell Ave.), Denver, CO 80210.

Phone 303-722-LIST.

The show will run through November 30.

Store hours: Monday 4 PM - 8 PM,

Tuesday through Saturday 12 PM - 8 PM,

Sunday 12 PM - 6 PM.

More on "The Art of Women" at Denver International Airport

Just thought I'd let you all know that the DIA exhibit is on Concourse A, level 3, near the Mesa Restaurant. Unfortunately, you must be ticketed to see it. There is also "teaser" exhibit of 5 cases on concourse C. I don't know where my pieces are.

Women's Show to Move To DIA

Those of you who missed the beautiful show, "The Art Of Women" that Andra Archer and the Archer Concept Group curated for Republic Plaza last summer have another chance, particularly if you're traveling by plane in the next few months.

Most of the show will be on view in a few weeks at the Denver International Airport, on the "A" and "C" concourses. Three of my landscapes are included.

Something to get your minds off those long security lines during the holidays.

"Space Travel","Industrial Man","First Class"."Elsie", and "Beetlebasket"

Here are a few more of my recent collages - the human presence continues to haunt me, plus some bugs. It must be the approach of fall and Halloween.

Human Invasion, Sort Of

Some of my most recent collages, at 11" X 13" unframed a bit larger than previous ones, have incorporated human images. This comes as a shock to me, because for years I've been explaining the flowers in my work as possible metaphoric people. But REAL ones? And is this impulse from my unconscious or a ghost in our house or outer space?

My passion for Sudoku, an unexpected trip to the circus, a garage sale find of Fortune magazines from about 1933, and our family's interest in green tea have provided much of the material for these recent works, but I wonder whether human imagery will soon also crop up in my paintings. Then I'll need to totally re-think what the work is about.

From the top, the titles of these collages are:

Sudoku+

Earth to Kooza

Tea Time

Green Tea

Tea Quilt

More On "Brushes" And My IPHONE

Most of my battery life has been used up painting on my phone. Not such a great "phone" at that, considering the failed and dropped calls, but such an amazing tool in other ways. My new sketch book, address book, calendar, news source, e-mail tool. I feel as if I've skipped a century, technologically speaking. Now if I could just get through a phone call without having to call back and apologize for the lost connection!

Airplanes and IPhones

Four images painted during a recent airplane trip are shown above. It's amazing how my new phone can make the time traveling bearable. The hours speed by. I used only my fingers as a tool, and the "Brushes" application. A stylus would perhaps make the drawings more exact, but I enjoy the clumsiness, which prevents me from being compulsively accurate.

"Out of the Mud"

Just finished this canvas of the waterlily and lotus pond at Hudson Gardens in Littleton, Colorado. I've painted several versions of this pond - the frustration of always looking at it through the reeds and grasses which surround the water seems a metaphor for so much of life - futilely reaching for that object of desire.

"The Blue Tree"

The first painting I've completed from my recent workshop in Santa Fe, a gate in the midst of Mrs. Bobb's garden.

"The Art of Women" In Downtown Denver

Andra Archer and the Archer Concept Group have curated a surprisingly strong show consisting of very diverse images from 31 of Colorado's women artists. I'm pleased to be included. I was unfamiliar with a number of the artists, and enjoyed seeing all of the work, mostly wall pieces but some sculpture.

The show is co-sponsored by Brookfield Properties and the Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce, and continues until August 19th on the main and lower levels of the Republic Plaza, in downtown Denver.

Elspeth Bobbs' Gardens

Thanks to David (owner of Blue Lake Ranch, and the Don Gaspar Compound) Alford's online introduction to garden photographer Charles Mann, my group of painters had the rare privilege of painting for a day in Mrs. Elspeth Bobbs' gardens, La Querencia, just a bit away from Canyon Road in Santa Fe.

The individual gardens, each with its own theme, are visually, intellectually and perhaps botanically challenging. The Funky Shui garden, for example, pokes fun at most of the world's major religions. Under development is a labyrinth demonstrating the theory of evolution. Another garden has at its center King Arthur's sword. Hiding in one of my photos above is a dragon. It's difficult to give a sense of the whole.

Here is a selection from the 400 photos I took during a sun drenched day last week.