Paint Fumes

30 in 30 Day 9 – And Bears, Oh My

Posted on January 8, 2016 | Leave a comment

Day 9’s painting is oil on canvas board, 5″ x 7″

It is available here.

Isn’t he a cuddly fellow?

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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, and bears oh my, bear, cold bear, the gaturs

30 in 30 Day 8 – The In-Between Place

Posted on January 7, 2016 | Leave a comment

Oil on canvas board, 5″ x 7″.

Available here.

I don’t know that I’m in purgatory, but I’m certainly in an in-between place just now, with the end of the month deadline looming for vacating my studio.

But the Sufjan/Gallant below makes me feel better. Beautiful music is medicine.

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

Tagged Blue Bucket of Gold, Gallant, Katie Hoffman, Purgatory, Sufjan Stevens, The In-Between Place

30 in 30 day 7 – On Deaf Ears

Posted on January 6, 2016 | 2 comments

I was ahead and now I’m playing catch-up. Funny how quickly that can happen. Day 7’s painting is “On Deaf Ears,” 5″ x 5, oil on stretched canvas.

OnDeafEars

It is available here.

The song below is the best song, in my opinion, from XTC’s brilliant mid-eighties album Skylarking. I think it has held up very well over the years.

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

Tagged #30 paintings in 30 days, 30 in 30, Dear God, Katie Hoffman, On Deaf Ears, Prayer, Skylarking, XTC

30 in 30 day 6 – A Winter Day’s Walk

Posted on January 6, 2016 | Leave a comment

“A Winter Day’s Walk,” oil on canvas board, 5″ x 7″

AWinterDay'sWalk

Available here.

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

Tagged #30 paintings in 30 days, 30 in 30, A Winter Day's Walk, Joni Mitchell, Urge for Going

30 in 30 Day 5 – Flying a Kite

Posted on January 4, 2016 | Leave a comment

Oil on canvas board, 5″ x 7″

SOLD

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.