Celebrating 25 Years!!

In 2 weeks, Simpson Gallery will be starting our 25th year in business. That's alot of painting of pictures, selling pictures, and framing pictures, selling gifts, pottery and jewelry too. If I had thought I'd be doing it for this long I might have done it differently, but I can't say for sure.

For several years we even sold dog food and dog gear. We were running sled dogs at the time in addition to working the shop and I was having the dog food delivered to the shop by the pallet load. We had 39 dogs at one time. Customers coming in to get their pictures framed would see the dog food and ask about it. I told them it was good for our dogs and they started buy it for themselves. Soon I devoted have of the shop space to several different brands of dog food and a wide selection of "working dog" gear. Back backs, harnesses, carts, sleds, all kinds of unique gear that you couldn't find in the regular pet stores. That was alot of fun. I used to bill the shop as the only gallery and frame shop in 7 western states that sold dog food. Diversification I guess you could call it. Those were some good times.

I've been doing this so long now that I'm starting to frame pictures for the kids of my first customers. That makes me feel old. A few changes over the years are a computerized mat cutter, a pneumatic joiner for joining frames and just this week I got in a "visualization" system consisting of a digital camera that will be positioned over the design counter and along with the included software, customers will now be able to see what their picture will look like framed in the selected mats and frame choices.

The current state of the economy has taken it's toll. I started out as a small shop with an employee. Gradually over the years we expanded into two adjoining store fronts and at one time I had 6 employees. Right now it's me, myself and I doing it all. Fortunately I have the bookkeeping farmed out and my lovely wife Kathy cuts the checks and keeps tab on how much money we have or need. The good news is that we are still here. I'm thankful for that.

In celebration of starting our 25th year, I had the above commemorative stamp made. It features a watercolor of mine. They are the old fashioned, perforated kind of lick 'em and stick'em stamps. For you  collectors and enthusiasts out there, I am offering them for sale. A sheet of 24 is $9.95 and a block of 4 is $2.95, both plus postage. Let me know if you'd like some.

I imagine I will continue painting pictures and framing pictures for folks for some time to come. Stop by sometime when you are in the nieghborhood and say hi! I'll be here. Thanks.

Buck Taylor

If you are of age, you probably remember Buck from the TV series Gunsmoke. He was Matt Dillon’s deputy, Newly O’Brien. The only reason I bring this up is that through local resident Judd Redfield, I learned that Buck is quite an accomplished watercolor artist. How Judd knows Buck is fodder for another story and a very interesting one but I’ll leave that for another time.

I looked Buck up on the source of all knowledge (the internet) and found his website. I have to admit that he is pretty good. He’s been at it awhile too establishing himself quite nicely in the Western Art circles doing all of the big name western event shows, selling his prints and posters. Whether he’s actually in the booth doing the legwork or not I don’t know but he’s got a presence. You can check him out at www.bucktaylor.com

There are a number of celebrity types that have had their hand in making art, taking a stab at painting as an alternate career or just a past-time. Most of them rely on their celebrity status for any success they can claim in their attempts at the visual arts. For many, the fact that they are a good actor or performer doesn’t necessarily qualify them as a good painter but then that leads us into the age old discussion of what qualifies as good art and as you well know…I’m not going there. Just because a celebrity smears a little paint on a canvas however, doesn’t make it good art anymore than my serenades in the shower don’t qualify as good singing. Yes I know that isn’t a pretty picture but I had to make a point. Sorry.

Tony Bennett, Jane Seymour, Tony Curtis. John, Ringo and Paul have had their hand in it. Even Grace Slick, Jerry Garcia and Jimi Hendrix. The list is long. Apparently for some, if you excel in one arena, it seems natural to think you will be good in others too. Don’t get me wrong. Some of these celebrities are pretty good at making a painting. Really. Go to www.poplifeart.com. You can see for yourself. All I ask is that while you are there admiring the good art these folks are producing, at least admit that some of them would be better off keeping to what they are better known for.

OK. I can see that this is going to get me into trouble if I keep it up so I think I’ll just move on. To each his own I suppose. So how about those Broncos, eh? No…that’s probably not a good topic either. Well, thanks for stopping by. See you next time.

This is a column I write that originally appeared in the Montrose Daily press on Friday, December 10, 2010

Covered Bridge

When I was in North Carolina a couple of years ago my sister Mary took our Mother, myself and my wife Kathy out on a little excursion into the countryside. Down a lonely little traveled dirt road we came across this covered bridge. The brush and trees were thick and here was this little bit of country charm. I knew one day I would do a painting of it. This 8x10 oil painting has sold. Thank you!

Whiskers

This is the 3rd painting in the Stars of Sturgis 2010 series. It is a 12x12 oil I 've done from a photo I took in Sturgis this summer. This guy was parking his bike on Main St. and had obviously just arrived from somewhere. He sure looked road weary. The wind in his face had whipped him to the point that his beard was "styled" just as you see here. I saw the guy later in the day and he hadn't bothered to comb it out at all. He was just wandering around like he was in a daze. He was definitely one of my "characters". I've really been having fun doing these and am looking forward to going back next year to get some more material. This painting is framed and available here at the gallery.

I'm Back

No, I haven't been in North Carolina all of this time nor "on the road" nor lost in the Harley dealership. Just been busy...busy framing pictures and busy painting. That's a good thing I guess. I've got some really cool portraits done from the Stars of Sturgis collection I've been working on which I'll post in the next few days, as well as a few more paintings of the the fall colors here in Colorado. Of course they are just a memory now as we have moved on into winter.

This is an 8x10 studio painting I recently finished. It was done from a series of photos I took this fall. The colors this year were just wonderful. I got a wealth of material to paint from. The fall color in aspen trees is best viewed with back lighting...looking at the leaves with the sun behind them. This illuminates the color in the leaves. This scene however was chosen for the long shadows and low light which was just as effective. I used a palette knife to create the warm highlights on the aspen trunks. I love painting the aspen trunks. So much character to them.

This painting is available from my studio. Please contact me if you are interested.

On the Road Again

Dateline: Charlotte, NC.

Warm and muggy although it is sunny. Out visiting my mother for a few days. I love road trips but this one was on a tight schedule which makes it more of a ram and jam trip. I started out with the idea that I'd do sort of "photo travel log" kind of trip but less than an hour into it having stopped to take some shots along the Gunnison River in Colorado where I started, I realized that plan A wouldn't work. It was just going to take too long to get out here if I stopped to take photos along the way. I've got a GPS on the windshield and every time I got back into the carand started off again it would tell me that my ETA was now later than before I had stopped. I couldn't stand to see that the whole trip so I just kept driving amking mental notes of what struck my interest along the way. Fodder for paintings.

 What I hadn't considered is that the days are shorter now, i.e. it gets dark earlier, I'm getting older and it is getting harder to drive long distances straight through like I used to. What is even more rediculous is that I had originally planned to ride my Harley out here. That's still a ride I want to do but not when I'm under time restraints.

I brought a lot of my painting stuff along. I'll be here until Friday (got here yesterday, Saturday). I've got pretty much the next  four or five days to do nothing but paint and draw. Mother doesn't get out much anymore and other than an evening or two out for supper, we've got no plans which is kind of nice. Four or five days with no agenda. Seems kind of like cheating. Oh, it's not that I won't have anything to do. Like I said, I've got lots of paintings in my head that need to come out. It's just nice to have nothing else to do but do that.

I believe I'll get started.

Gunnison River Fall

This is a "little gem" 6x8 oil painting of the fall colors on the Gunnison River down in the bottom of the Black Canyon N.P.. I do paintings in both watercolor and oil for the gift shop at the visitors center for the park where they sell my prints and note cards.

The Black Canyon is an extremely difficult piece of landscape to paint. The lighting varies dramatically from morning to evening and finding an advantageous point of view is hard. With enough effort and persistence however, the rewards can be dramatic.

The gentle flowing waters of the Gunnison Riveer in this location made for an excellent opportunity to work on the reflections in the water which I especially like in this piece. This painting is at auction here.