Quick Draw - Victor Celebrates The Arts # 10

Victorian Model

SOLD

The Quick Draw event during the Victor Celebrates The Arts event was held on the last day..  3 models and a horse were set up in the downtown part and the artists had 2 hours to paint.

  It was a fun event!

Bison Lake -- Victor Celebrates The Arts # 9

Bison Lake

Oil on stretched canvas - ready to hang 8" x 10"

$195.00 + $10. s/h

One morning during the Victor Celebrates The Arts event we headed out to Bison Lake.  This lake is the water supple for Victor, Colorado.

Thought I'd show some of the other artists.

Bison Lake from the side where I wasn't painting.

Old Monarch Saloon Door -- Victor Celebrates The Arts # 8

Old Monarch Saloon Door

Oil on stretched canvas - ready to hang

$195.00 + $10. s/h

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The first thing I did after sketching in the door was to block in the darks.  The sky was overcast, so the light and shadows weren't very strong.

I didn't take any more photos after this point as I ended up talking to so many people.  I was set up right in front of the Lowell Thomas Museum.  Having my car right there makes plein air painting so easy!!

In a previous post I talked about the stores and buildings that I went in looking for an interior scene.  The following pictures were taken in the Marigold Mercantile.

I loved all the brooms this man makes!!

A New Day For Hattie Fay -- Victor Celebrates The Arts #5

A New Day For Hattie Fay

Victor Celebrates The Arts # 5

Oil 11" x 14"

$295.00 + $10. s/h

For the show at the end of the week of painting for the Victor Celebrates The Arts plein air event in Victor, Colorado, each artist could submit up to 5 paintings:  3 plein air, 1 interior, and 1 miniature (no larger than 4" x 6").  Having an interior category was great for painting during the noon/afternoon hours when the outside light doesn't have great light and shadows.  It also allowed the artists easy access to almost any building.  This was the 14th VCTA event and the people in the town are used to artists setting up all over the place during the week.  There were so many great interiors:  old stores, museums, homes, diners.  

My piece was painted in a bedroom (mine) in the Fortune Club.  The Fortune Club represents the bawdy side of old Victor.  It was a famous gambling house and saloon and was reported to be one of the area's most talked about Red Light Social Clubs with rooms available on the second floor...now the Fortune Club Hotel.  The Fortune Club was built in 1899 by Harry Lang with financial assistance from Adolph Coors.  The club continued in operation until 1916 when prohibition came to Colorado and Harry Lang disappeared.  

I stayed in room #4;  my friend Rosemary stayed next door in room #3.  These rooms were hosted by sisters Cleo and Hattie Fay who were eventually run out of town as their burlesque act was "so indecent as to shock the hardened men of the infamous Union Theater."  You gotta wonder, how indecent was it??!!

My room was the right window in the center group of windows.  

The Fortune Club Diner.  They had incredible home made pies baked fresh daily!

Two old timers who ate at the diner everyday!!  I love a town that has a great sense of humor!

Old Friends -- Victor Celebrates The Arts #4

Old Friends
Victor Celebrates The Arts #4
Oil 11" x 14"
$295.00 + $10. s/h

This is the finished painting from a few posts ago done during the Victor Celebrates The Arts plein air event.  I thought that this was a great title for this piece.  The houses are old and look like friends sitting together.  They've been friends for a long time, so can just sit and enjoy the view without saying much.  I wondered if the people who used to live in these houses decades (a century) ago were friends.  I hope so.  The houses are pretty close!

Victor Celebrates The Arts -- #3

Aspen Shadow

Oil 16" x 20"

$495.00 + $20. s/h

After painting the mine (in the previous post) early in the morning, I headed over to Gold Field.  One might say that Gold Field is a part of Victor, or on the edge of Victor, but in the 1890's it was it's

 own town. 

Recently I posted a piece of an aspen grove painted on a violet toned canvas (click here), I loved the result of violets peeking through.  So, planning ahead I took a similarly toned canvas with me up to Victor.  I rarely paint a 16" x 20" plein air.  I got set up here about 10:30.  And, headed back there at about that time three days in a row seeking the same light.  

Here are some shots of Gold Field:

I guess this would have been the main street.  That's the old City Hall and Fire Department to the left.

This is the view toward Victor.

Victor Celebrates The Arts -- # 2

For another piece I painted early in the morning at the Vindicator Mine.  My first step was to sketch in the old mine and brush in the darks.  Then I painted in the lights.  I found the challenge with the lights was to make them realistic without being too pastelley...is that a word? 

Then next sep was to paint in the darks.  When painting plein air it's always a good plan to block in the lights and darks first, then not to change them.  It's so tempting to chase the light, but don't!

This gives you an idea of my progress up to this point; but the photo is a little too light.

After this I added the grasses and piles of ore and dirt in the foreground, then last put in the sky.

I had planned on posting pretty regularly during the 10 day event, but it took at least 6 minutes to upload each photo, there wasn't service where we stayed, and sometimes there wasn't much service anywhere!  So, I'm home now and will start posting my steps and finished pieces.

This is the Vindicator Gold Mine, one of many historic mines in the Cripple Creek - Victor area. 

Gold was discovered in the area in 1890 and brought thousands of people to the Pikes Peak region.  Over 500 gold mines sprang up across the mountains.  The Cripple Creek and Victor area was linked to Colorado Springs by two stage roads and three railroads all built to carry lumber, food, coal, ore, people and supplies.  

In its' hey day in the 1890's Victor was known as the City Of Mines because the largest and richest gold mines were located just above the city.  Nearly $434,000,000 in gold (in 1890'a value) was produced.

Here are some pictures of the mines:

I had a comment in my last post about all the white (snow) that you can see when you Google map Victor.  That's not snow, it's all the ore tailings from the mine.  CC&VM ie:  Cripple Creek & Victor Mine is still a working gold mine!