“What draws me is super bright colors – what the eye does not actually see,” says artist Mickey La Fave. “Color is my whole thing. I couldn’t use a brown to save my life.” La Fave’s paintings employ vivid colors to accentuate her subjects. She uses hydrus watercolors that come in a glass bottle because
Every artist can tell you what inspired them to begin drawing or painting, and Wheat Ridge Art League (WRAL) member Shirley Nakamoto is no exception. “When I was little, I liked to draw from Walt Disney comic books,” she says. “I remember drawing Bambi and Dumbo, the Seven Dwarfs, and Lady from ‘Lady and the
The gnomes and creatures that inhabit Tim Tindle’s ceramic sculptures are sparked by his two young daughters’ imaginations. Tindle calls his style “narrative sculpture.” “The pieces are like found objects that make you wonder, ‘What’s behind that door?’ You look at it and your brain starts making up stories. “Like a knot at the bottom
“Whenever I walk into my studio, wherever it might be, I bring all of my past into it,” said Wheat Ridge Art League member Judy Miranda. With photographs and paintings beautifying most of her wall space, that statement comes to life when touring her home. During a recent visit to Miranda’s home studio, this writer
“I’m flexible when I paint because I don’t know what will emerge,” says abstract painter Paula Weisz. “If you always plan, if you don’t go beyond the borders, how do you know what would come out?” Weisz says she’s drawn to the abstract, whether it be interpreted realism or full-blown non-representational. She says her paintings
“I think trying to be perfect often stops people from learning what they could do,” says Wheat Ridge pencil artist Sandra Davis. “I think everybody can learn to draw, but if people don’t think they can draw, they won’t put in the effort to learn how. When you start drawing, it’s important to love the
“I go into my zone when I’m painting,” says artist Julie Midyett. “I call it my happy place.” Midyett has had a talent for art since she was a child, but she stopped painting seriously as a young adult when “life happened.” Marriage, children and a career in accounting and tax preparation kept her busy
Pardon the pun, but when it comes to making guitars and other string instruments, Francois Vadeboncoeur plays it by ear. The Wheat Ridge man is a luthier, the term for someone who builds or repairs string instruments by hand. While some might not have heard the term, Vadeboncoeur said there is “quite a number” of
Don’t ask Tanner Steed if he’s recently — or ever — finished a painting. The Wheat Ridge artist does not consider any of the many oil paintings he’s crafted in his young life as done. Steed, 25 and a native Coloradoan, grew up in Highlands Ranch and graduated from Thunder Ridge High School, where he
“My specialty is creating,” says Wheat Ridge artist Gregory Block. “I paint everything – figures, landscapes, portraits, still life – because inspiration comes in so many different forms.” Block’s most recent inspiration takes form in the collection of his paintings of doughnuts, now showing through Aug. 21 at Gallery 1261 in Denver’s Golden Triangle neighborhood.
