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Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Encounters: Doug Dawson, Albert Handell

Trina and I are well on our way east now.  Since we left Arizona, we stopped at some property we own in New Mexico, and on a walk we discovered some potsherds.  This exciting find validated our choice in buying there, since we now know that the Ancients strolled the land long before us.  These fragments are about 700 years old -- well before the Spanish conquistadors wandered through.

Corrugated pottery fragments with a piece of Red-on-Black pre-Zuni.

Our next stop was Santa Fe, where we spent a relaxing week visiting galleries and taking photos of the beautiful, Pueblo Revival-style buildings.  We also had a chance to have dinner with artists Albert and Jeanine Handell.  We've become good friends with them over the years.  Many of my readers already know about Albert, but if you don't, you can read about my adventures with him here.  (His website is http://www.alberthandell.com/)

Here is a photo of where we stayed in Santa Fe, plus another photo of a scene on Canyon Road.

Our lodging in Santa Fe

Street artists:  Keep track of your paper towels!  (Notice the one blowing down the street.)

After Santa Fe, we headed up to Denver to visit Doug and Sue Dawson.  If you don't know Doug, like Albert Handell, he's a master painter in oil and pastel.  I've known the Dawsons for several years now, and they, too, have become good friends.  It was a special treat to finally visit them at their home and studio in Colorado.  (Read my previous posts on Doug here and visit his website at http://dougdawsonartist.com/)

Doug is well-known for his wonderful night scenes and his magic touch for evoking the mystery of dusk and dawn. But for many years, he taught figure painting and portraiture, and it was a pleasure to see some of these other works first-hand.

Doug teaches regularly at the Art Students League of Denver, so he invited me along for a morning.  It was a plein air class, and I enjoyed hanging out with the students and watching Doug's demo.

Art Students League of Denver

Doug demonstrating outside ASLD


 Now we are on our way to Batavia, Illinois, where I will teach a workshop for Water Street Studios.  Right after that, I'll be off to the Art Barn in Valparaiso, Indiana, to teach another.  By the way, I still have room in both of these plein air workshops, so if they interest you, please follow the links.