Category Archives: painting

30 in 30 Day 5 – Flying a Kite

Posted on January 4, 2016 | Leave a comment

Oil on canvas board, 5″ x 7″

This holiday season I watched the old television production of Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” yet again. It is one of my favorite Christmas stories, and if you haven’t yet read it or listened to it or watched it, I envy you. You’re in for a treat. The closing lines:

And when that happens, I know it. A message saying so merely confirms a piece of news some secret vein had already received, severing from me an irreplaceable part of myself, letting it loose like a kite on a broken string. That is why, walking across a school campus on this particular December morning, I keep searching the sky. As if I expected to see, rather like hearts, a lost pair of kites hurrying toward heaven.

I also love Joanna Newsom’s song, “Flying a Kite.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv_-aRopKwE

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Posted in 30 in 30, art, contemporary art, Denver, fine art, new art, painting

Tagged #30 paintings in 30 days, 30 in 30, A Christmas Memory, Flying a Kite, Joanna Newsom, Katie Hoffman, Kites, Truman Capote

30 in 30 day 4 – Djinn

Posted on January 3, 2016 | Leave a comment

In times of turbulence and an uncertain future, my mind casts itself toward magical thinking and mythical creatures. A Djinn is an Arab mythological creature made from smokeless, scorching fire. You have probably heard of the famous Djinn who emerged from Aladdin’s lamp.

If you had only one wish, would you wish for more wishes?

5″ x 7″, oil on canvas board.

Available here.

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Posted in 30 in 30, art, contemporary art, Denver, fine art, new art, painting

Tagged #30 paintings in 30 days, 30 in 30, Djinn, Les Djinns, Lili Fatale, wishes

30 in 30 day 3, Housecat

Posted on January 2, 2016 | 8 comments

Today’s painting is about my black cat, Diablo. His weight this morning, taken despite much indignity but no scratching (this time) is 18 pounds.

He is growing increasingly spherical in shape and has to squeeze tightly through the normal cat-sized door to enter the room where his food is kept. Perhaps this will limit his future weight gain, Winnie-the-Pooh style. We’ll see. (I suspect the neighbors of feeding him on the sly, but only God knows why they would.)

SOLD

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Posted in 30 in 30, art, contemporary art, Denver, new art, painting

Tagged #30 paintings in 30 days, 30 in 30, monsterpussy, the vaselines

30 in 30 Day 2 – Flamingo

Posted on January 2, 2016 | Leave a comment

Oil on canvas board, 5″ x 7″

You can purchase this painting here.

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Posted in 30 in 30, art, contemporary art, Denver, fine art, new art, painting

Tagged #30 paintings in 30 days, Duke Ellington, flamingo

30 in 30 day 1 – Clown College Drop Out

Posted on January 1, 2016 | Leave a comment

I’ve been searching for a reason to keep painting. I found Leslie Saeta’s 30 in 30 challenge and it has given me some steam. Happy New Year to all.

SOLD

Edit:Last year I learned a new word, “Ekphrastic.” My friend Valerie Savarie, an altered-book artist, put together an exhibit with that title in which poets responded to works of visual art with their literary works, then read their poems aloud at the opening reception.

Yesterday, I was thrilled to read poet Ken Smith’s “Clown College Failure,” sparked by his looking at this painting.

Clown College Failure

At the end he had that unconvincing smile, maybe half a tube
Of grease paint, one green shirt with matching pants, a box
Of small hats with massive wigs, and a keen sense of the shocks
That flesh is heir to. On the wide college lawn, after he begged
The dean of clowns for another chance to play the hapless rube,
The world said the role is yours and the world has not reneged.

Ken is a writer and English professor living in South Bend, Indiana.

Check out his Twitter feed here, and listen to him read his Michiana Chronicles essays here.

Thank you for the ekphrasis, Ken!

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Posted in 30 in 30, art, contemporary art, Denver, new art, painting, poetry

Tagged #30 paintings in 30 days, clown college, ekphrasis, ekphrastic, Indiana, Ken Smith, Michiana Chronicles, poem, Poet, South Bend, tears of a clown, valerie savarie

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Posted on December 22, 2015 | Leave a comment

Just over four years ago I lucked into renting an affordable, highly visible studio space in the heart of Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe. It has come to feel like home to me, and my fellow Fresh Art Studios artists – Claudia Roulier, Jon Koenigsberg, Dave Wyzenbeek, Terri Bell, and Anthony Camera– feel like family.

Three weeks ago, we got the sad news that the building has been sold and we are to vacate by the end of January.

I won’t be immediately seeking another public studio space in Denver’s current rent climate. I will be putting the larger paintings in storage for now, and trying to remain optimistic about what 2016 holds in store.

To facilitate this move and the storage, I am offering 25% off of all paintings that are 20″ or larger in any dimension, just until the end of January. You can check out the available works here Katie Hoffman Fine Art, and see a few examples below.

“Crossing the Waters (Flowers for Esmin Green)”

Oil on canvas, 30″ x 40″ ~~$1050~~ $785 if purchased before the end of January

“Chimera”

Oil on Canvas, 40″ x 40″ ~~$1350~~ $1000 if purchased before the end of January

“Elephant”

Oil on canvas, 36″ x 36″ ~~$1250~~ $900 if purchased before the end of January

“This is the Priest All Shaven and Shorn”

Oil on canvas, 30″ x 30″ ~~$935~~ $700 if purchased before the end of January

Wishing you and yours a Happy Holiday!

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Posted in art, contemporary art, Denver, fine art, painting

Tagged Changes, Childish Gambino, Chimera, Crossing the Waters, Denver's art district on Santa Fe, Elephant, Flowers for Esmin Green, Fresh Art Studios, Katie Hoffman, Nothing Gold Can Stay, sadness and change, Studio Closing Sale, The Priest All Shaven and Shorn, What Kind of Love

Majnun

Posted on September 29, 2015 | Leave a comment

oil on canvas, 60″ x 48″

I am happy to have finished the largest painting I’ve attempted thus far and grateful for the advice of my trusted friend Dave Wyzenbeek that helped me see this to completion.”Majnun” will be debuting at Core New Art Space on October 1, in a show titled “Ghosts” that I am sharing with the accomplished and gifted altered book artist Valerie Savarie.

I will be present all three Friday evenings of this three-week exhibit, on the 2nd, the 9th, and the 16th, from 6 to 9 PM. I hope you can come by, share a glass of wine, and let me know what you think of the new work.

If you’re interested in knowing more about the ancient story of the star-crossed lovers that inspired this painting, you can learn about Layla and Majnun here. And Eric Clapton once wrote some songs about them, too.

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Posted in art, contemporary art, Denver, new art, painting

Tagged Art Denver, CORE New art space, Eric Clapton, Ghosts, Katie Hoffman, Layla, Layla and Majnun, Majnun, Qays, valerie savarie

Take Me to Church

Posted on September 1, 2015 | 2 comments

https://youtu.be/z3fjPfTBA40

Today I hung eleven paintings at the Sixth Avenue United Church of Christ at the kind invitation of Joshua North-Shea. I feel an affinity for the UCC, and was involved with the Wheat Ridge United Church of Christ some years ago when my children were small.

The paintings, which will hang there through September and October:

“Brevity & Joy”

“Tread Softly”

“Faith”

“Decent”

“Prodigal”

“The One You Feed”

“Rebecca at the Well”

“Mute Procession”

“The Still Small Voice”

“AndSoButThen”

“When I Am in the Ground and Dream of You Still”

Also, I participated in World Art Drop Day by leaving this little owl outside:

Art Drop Day is when original works of art are left around for strangers to find and take.

I think my choice of location may have been ill-considered, though. The wind is picking up, and this little watercolor may just be ruined by rain and traffic and the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Ah, well.

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Posted in art, contemporary art, Denver, painting

Tagged 6th Avenue UCC, art, Art Denver, artdropday, artdropdenver, Cherry Creek, free art, Hozier, Katie Hoffman, Take me to Church, UCC, Wheat RidgeUCC

A Cup, a Cup, a Cup, a Cup

Posted on August 13, 2015 | Leave a comment

I have paintings at St. Mark’s Coffeehouse through this month of August.

So. Despite this hilarious sketch about coffee house art from Portlandia-

-in an age where there is a Starbucks inside of a Starbucks on every corner, I am delighted to have paintings at this independently owned Denver tradition. Doug Peterson- the guy who curates for St. Mark’s, is an artist himself, and asked me if I’d show there- is really nice.

There will be a sort of reception this Saturday evening, August 15 from 6 to 8 PM.
I will be providing a cheese plate, so if you’re low on calcium that is an incentive to come, fortify your teeth and bones, and have a cup of coffee or a beer with me.
If you’re feeling the need for something harder, you can duck over to the next side, The Thin Man Tavern.

If you simply can’t make it by, don’t want to see me, and/or hate beverages of all kinds, that’s okay too.
You can virtually see the paintings here below and be on the lookout for forlorn redheads.