I’m so happy to announce that my cozy cabin piece has finally found itself a new forever home. This piece was created back in 2018 before I ever even contemplated selling art. It was born during my short-lived Fort Collins stint. Back to when I was working at a local pizza place wearing a multitude of tie dye shirts and feeling quite a bit of shame to be slinging the ‘za at the ripe age of about 26.
At the time, we were living in a cozy apartment that featured a lovely fireplace that would kick smoke inside instead of out. Our furniture consisted of one coffee table, one hammock chair and a ten foot metal based barstool. As you can imagine with options such as these, seating was mostly limited to a cushion on the floor; exactly the position I was in while transporting my colorful cabin from the world of imagination to life as I knew it. As each part of the puzzle was developed, shaded and highlighted, I was shifting positions to fight the deadening of one or another limb 10 minutes at a time while also training a beautiful slouch into my back.
I created this piece in a single sitting on a particularly cold night, while bundled in blankets and sweaters, fireplace kicking in a happy haze and the thermostat set at a low and lazy grade. Perhaps it was the chilly air that imprinted this colorful oasis onto my canvas— a window into the dream of having a fully heated house. Or, perhaps, a pool of inspiration was filled by recently discovering the colorful works of the artist Montana based artist Rachel Pohl. Either way, I decided it would be a fun task to create a whimsically warm cabin in the heart of winter.
I decided to first grace my blank canvas with a medium, neutral brown to create the pillars of my window panes. Next, I enlisted the help of painters tape to guard my newly minted frame while I ventured on to create my whimsical background. I blobbed a bunch of colors straight onto the canvas, arranging it so that the center of the cabin would hold the warm colors that would slowly fade out to the cool of the night. I let my paintbrush circle around itself until the spherical color loop was created. Once my background was set and dry, I was able to grab my fine tip black sharpie and do some freehand sketchwork to build the bones of my winter cabin. I made sure to add some romantic yet dangerous icicles dangling down the edges of a very snowy rooftop while the walls of the cabin sat in a tight embrace with the wintery snowbanks below.
Once my cabin stood impressively atop the snow it was time to have the satisfaction of pulling the tape away to reveal the lightly battered brown frame that lay beneath. It was time to makeover my slightly splotchy frame with a remedy of shades and highlights to add an element of depth and realism to the very surreal scene. The added effort made a lovely contrast and I was quite pleased when our friend Duarte thought it was a real frame that I had glued to the painting.
I proudly hung this piece in our fast-changing apartment, gracing the walls of 3 different houses before I created my art business. It didn’t occur to me at first to take the possibility of selling this piece since its birth has been so innocent and natural. One day, when I came home from work, I was sitting in my room looking at this painting and decided that I would try and see if perhaps someone would like to adopt my colorful creation. I began to showcase this piece in late 2021, putting it up on my Sunday markets at the brewery I was working at. Though I got positive feedback and many an “ooos” and “ahhhs” it wasn’t until this year, 2024, that it found its new forever home after being hung up at the local cafe called Red Canyon Cafe. I think it is so cool to see this piece find a new home, and a new wall to light up. I feel honored to share a little piece of my life with people that can find an appreciation for what I make. So thank you to any and all that have ever supported this little dream of mine.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s offbeat anecdote, and will perhaps tune in with me again next Sunday.
As always,
Keep it offbeat!