Auction For The Arts

This spring I was lucky enough to be included for a second time in the silent auction at this year's Auction For The Arts held by the Arts Council of Big Sky. Last year's event was held at Lone Mountain Ranch and I was thrilled to be a part of it for my first year and was very pleasantly surprised when my painting "Bighorn Dreamcatcher" was sold in the silent auction for $1500. This truly was

an incredible milestone for me as an artist.

In creating a piece for this year's auction, I chose to stay with a similar subject matter but with a more expressive and textural approach. The piece I chose to paint was titled "Ghost King" and is an image of a bull elk bugling. Wapiti or Elk are known as "the ghost kings" of the high country by Native Americans due to their ability to vanish into the trees and stay hidden from humans. Living in Big Sky, elk have an incredible presence in the wilderness that surrounds us and I feel lucky to have such amazing creatures around as a source of inspiration for my work.

This year's event took place at the beautiful Moonlight Lodge where the large amount of space allowed for an extensive amount of art, fantastic food, and a general jovial and open atmosphere. My favorite part of the event is the "Quick Finish" portion where a certain group of professional and regional artists work on a piece of their choosing that will be finished by the time the auction begins. It truly is amazing to see each artist's process and how they create the images and specific style that are attributed to their work. Among the artist's included in this live painting area of the auction, Carol Hagan was my favorite to watch. Her colorful and stylized images have always spoke to me and the way she creates the texture of her pieces was thrilling to watch. I feel incredibly grateful to have had my art among the other talented artists in the silent auction and to have witnessed such an amazing array of artists display their style and work for all to see. Unfortunately my painting did not sell, but just being a part of such an event was a great experience. A big THANK YOU to everyone who helped organize the event and to the Arts Council of Big Sky for including me!