Trina and I drove down to Mesa, Arizona, yesterday to give an oil painting demonstration for Spectral Artists. Spectral Artists is a well-organized group, and we really enjoyed spending time with them. For my demonstration, I painted a Sedona scene from a photo in a 12x16 format and talked about my process. Not many of the group had ever indulged in plein air painting, so I also did a bit of proselytizing for this time-honored practice.
Afterward, we drove up to Scottsdale to check out the galleries. I haven't been to Scottsdale in a few years, and to be honest, I don't think Scottsdale is as good a gallery town as I had remembered. There used to be more representational landscapes; now I'm seeing more decorative, contemporary pieces in galleries that were once solidly "fine art." However, we did find a few favorites that include:
The Legacy Gallery, where we were pleased to see work by Michael Stack, Jay Moore, Dan Gerhartz, Sherrie McGraw and David Leffel;
Gallery Russia, where we saw many, many fine examples of Russian impressionism and realism from artists both living and deceased;
Trailside Gallery, where we saw a great sampling of work by Matt Smith and some nice pieces by Curt Walters; and finally,
Amery Bohling Gallery, which was a very pleasant surprise indeed. This is an artist-owned working studio gallery, and we got to meet Amery herself, busy at work on a mid-size painting of the Grand Canyon. Amery said she's been open only two months, but she's in a good spot. I can't think of any other studio gallery right on Scottsdale's Main Street.
