Happy New Year! 2011

"Fan Dance" mixed media collage

"Elgee Stalks The Moo Shu" mixed media collage

Oliver Sacks wrote yesterday in the New York Times that one's New Year's resolutions (and here I ineptly paraphrase) should focus on the brain as much as the commonly made self promises to lose weight, eat healthily and work out on a regular basis.

I decided that some art and mind resolutions would be a great idea - after all, why not expand my 2011 goals so at this time next year, I can evaluate my compliance on a range of scales other than that nasty, inaccurate one in the bathroom? Intellectual, Philosophical, Artistic?

1. Since my last post was about my upcoming workshop in Tuscany, I'll start with a realistic goal of getting through all 12 of my Italian tapes before next September. Not that one really needs to speak Italian in Italy - getting completely lost in back alleys can lead to intriguing experiences there - but then, perhaps even greater opportunities exist for those more diligent students of Italian. I'm reminded of a recent trip when a car driven by an "only Italian" speaker left our lodgings, speeding towards Florence with my suitcase, which should have been heading with me to Piza.

2. It's been several years since I began my current series of collages. (Click here to see some examples.) More spontaneous and experiential than my paintings, and occasionally more narrative, I've been procrastinating about translating some of the collages into paint. This has been under the guise of telling myself that I've been reaching for a form these translations could take that would be as spontaneous a process as the one I use for the collages, rather than just using the images and blowing them up to canvas size.

Come on, Sandra, JUST DO IT.

3. We've just watched a film by Bruno Wollheim, "David Hockney, A Bigger Picture", in preparation for a class my husband and I will be teaching during February and March at the Art Students League of Denver titled "Art Goes To The Movies".

Hockney decided to return to England, and for the first time, to eliminate his photo references and paint "En Plein Air". Watching his experimentation with oils and freedom with color , I couldn't wait to get back into the studio. I'll wait until spring for my total "en plein air" experience, but the muddy locales of Yorkshire were less inspiration for me than watching the hand of the artist work.

Today, though at home, I dove into my paints.

4. One more. Being more disciplined with my time would certainly help me with # 1 thru #3. Although my best guess is that this resolution is unrealistic, given my bad record of adhering to a schedule.

I need at least one resolution likely to remain unfulfilled during the coming year. Then I'll have a good start on my resolutions for 2012.

"Tuscan Inspiration" A Painting Workshop in Italy With Sandra Kaplan

above: "Looking West" acrylic by Sandra Kaplan

Announcing my next Italian workshop, coming September 17 to September 27, 2011, near Lucca, Italy. This will be my third visit to Selva, and one that I eagerly anticipate.

Please join me for ten glorious days in Tuscany

You’ll enjoy excursions to charming hill towns, seaside villages, the Chianti region, Lucca, Baroque gardens, Renaissance estates and villas, farmhouses, wineries and olive mills . . . all for 2300 Euros.

The price is inclusive of everything from the time you are picked up at the Pisa airport or Lucca train station until you are returned there with the exception of three lunches to give you independent painting time. Instruc-tion, inspiration and coaching from Sandra Kaplan, as well as meals, wine, off-site excursions with guides, a cooking lesson and gracious accommodations are all part of the workshop fee. Airfare is not included in the course price.

To see complete course description,

details and booking forms, visit www.abbondanzatoscana.com

or contact:

abbondanzatoscana@gmail.com

You’ll be a Guest in a 15th Century Tuscan Farmhouse

The rustic country home of Selva has been lovingly restored yet retains all the charm of its origins on the 1000-year-old Tenuta di Forci wine and olive oil estate, a uniquely preserved property in the Lucca hills. Selva’s old barn, with its traditional latticed terra cotta windows, houses our cooking school kitchen, a rustic room with mod-ern equipment. The grand fireplace and wood-fired oven add to the old world ambience while guests appreciate 21st century comfort with modern bath-rooms, central heating and spacious rooms.

Lucca . . . . its Renaissance walls enclose a perfectly preserved medieval treasure house only 20 minutes from Selva. You can join the Lucchese in their evening passeggiata (stroll) through the streets, sip a cappuccino in Puccini’s fa-vorite bar and enjoy a gelato in a shaded piazza.

Lucca is also a shopper’s para-dise for linens, laces, leather, ceramics and its famous regional olive oil.

The Tuscan Painting Workshop offers you wonderful food for the body as well as the soul. Meals are prepared in the Tuscan style, and you’ll enjoy making your own pizza on our traditional pizza night. Pre-dinner aperitivi and antipasti under the leafy pergola provide time for friendly and helpful critiques of the day’s painting. Some evenings present the opportunity to attend a special event, such as a musical concert in the Duomo or a retrospective of a local artist’s work.

Selva’s shady pergola as interpreted by Sandra Kaplan in her “Terraza”

In the Abbondanza Toscana kitchen, you can complement your painting artistry as you join our Tuscan chef in the kitchen to learn how to prepare regional specialties. Fresh and locally produced ingredients are the key to the wonderful foods you’ll enjoy with us. Whether you are an experienced cook, taste-tester, or wine pourer, all are wel-come in our kitchen.

Painting themes on the estate include vineyards, olive groves, flower gardens, the rustic winery and olive mill, farmhouses, chestnut groves and majestic cypress trees. Plus you’ll find all manner of charming vignettes with overflowing pots of flowers and lemon trees, our gardens filled with herbs and vegetables, colorful ce-ramics and rustic brickwork.

Even the humble orto (vegetable garden) provides inspiration in Sandra Kaplan’s “Selva Orto”

Excursions away from the farmhouse have been chosen with your painter’s eye in mind:

 The jewel city of Lucca with its romantic by-ways, Romanesque churches, and its famous walls that were once a fortification and now offer a tree-lined boulevard for walking and biking. Plus we’ll spend one day at a formal Lucca garden with its statuary, lemon grove and architectural features.

 Enchanting Chianti hill towns will charm you with their piazzas, colorful markets, balcony gardens, and tiny restaurants, pleasing to the art-ist’s palette and palate.

 Seaside visit to our favorite fishing village where an imposing fortress, colorful boats and views of the Gulf of Poets are waiting to inspire you . . . or the fresh seafood lunch you can enjoy.

 Ancient stone bridge, known locally as Devil’s Bridge, the arched structure was built in the 11th century. Find a perfect spot for sketching the unique architecture.

"Best Curated Show"

Many thanks to all who voted for my show as "Best Curated Show".

"I Paint Therefore I Am" was selected as the winner.

I'm especially grateful to the artists who produced such a beautiful show: Suzanne Kramer, Kathy Knaus, Elke McGuire, Terry Buswell, Tina Rowe, Mat Hardwick, Lynn Feiger, and Katharine Smith Warren. And to Cheryl Spector and Denise Robert for providing such an accommodating space and support for the exhibit.

"Best Curated Show"

Those of you who have been reading my blog know that last spring, I curated a painting show, "I Paint Therefore I Am" at the 910 Arts Gallery in Denver.

I recently was informed that I'm a finalist in the category "Best Curated Show" in the " Art District Best of 2010 ".

So if you'd like to vote for me, (and I hope you will) please go to:

http://danacain.com/art-district-best-2010/

and cast your ballot.

Be sure to click on "Submit" when you're finished.

And Thanks!

Art Show and Sale

This Sunday, a number of my small works are included in a show and sale at Denver's historic McCourt Mansion, 555 8th Avenue at Pearl Street, Denver 80203, from 10 AM to 3 PM. Make sure to come, and take one of the scheduled tours of the mansion. Perhaps you'll even see a friendly ghost or two.

Ghosts and Art- a hard combination to beat!

I'll be selling the T-shirt I designed as a fund raiser for the Rocky Mountain PeriAnesthesia Nurses Association. You can see the design above. The image was drawn on my IPhone in the "Brushes" program, my new sketch book and favorite art toy. The cost of the t-shirt is $18, and a portion will benefit RMPNA.

New Collage "Feathered Friends"

Plein Air Painting From Cannon Beach

What summer was that?

It seems as if it was yesterday that I was packing up my bags and art supplies to teach a June workshop in Cannon Beach, Oregon, just two hours from Portland.

I'll spare you most of the gory details, but in the middle of my workshop, I had a silly argument with an exacto knife, finished the workshop, flew home to Denver to have my tendon and nerve reattached at University of Colorado Health Sciences center, and have been re-cooperating and doing physical therapy ever since.

Above is one plein air painting from that trip, still wet from it's finishing touches done in the studio. It's a 12" x 16" acrylic of the coastal rocks as seen from the cliffs of Ecola State Park. More to come.