Durango Autumn Art Festival

This last weekend I participated in the Durango Autumn Art Festival. Despite unfavorable weather both days right in the middle of each day, I still managed to have a very successful weekend! A lot of Art has been connected with lovely people and forever homes. Thank You for choosing my art!

Shop This Painting: https://www.kasiapolkowskashop.com/product/emerald-summer-night-47-5x35-5-framed/

In this post, I am including some photos from both days at my booth, hence the outfit change =) I'm also including some links to a few of the pieces that I've still got in the studio. Email kpolkowska@gmail.com with all inquiries or questions about my custom payment plan where the buyer receives the artwork after making the first payment.

 

Shop this Painting: https://www.kasiapolkowskashop.com/product/winters-mountain-magic/ 

 

 

 

 Shop this Painting: https://www.kasiapolkowskashop.com/product/mauve-summer-night-47-5-x-59-5-framed/

 

 

Shop this Painting: https://www.kasiapolkowskashop.com/product/mauve-summer-night-47-5-x-59-5-framed/

Shop this Artwork: https://www.kasiapolkowskashop.com/product/aquamarine-mountain-sunset-21-5-x-41-5-framed/

For any artists out there, if you live in Southern Colorado and are looking to participate in an amazing art event that is very artist friendly and full of local art enthusiasts, add this event to your application list. This was my second year participating and I only have positive things to say. Both years were very successful for me and I've met a ton of creative people as the event is full of high end professionals.

The Coming Together of a New Series of Paintings Titled 'Happiness'

Here is a Sneak Peek at my new series of work. Update - the 4 new paintings have now been added to my Online Art Shop: https://www.kasiapolkowskashop.com/product-category/paintings-drawings/

I aimed to paint Happiness. Does seeing these vistas inspire feelings of joy? Nature has such power to nourish the soul, sometimes when we needed it most. It can uplift us with its magic and wondrous hues bursting at sunset. No matter who or where a person is, even if they have nothing left in the world, they can still look up at the sky and see the most beautiful colors and scenery painted above, momentarily engulfing the surrounding landscape into a fairy tale scene, maybe giving a glimmer of hope when it’s most needed. 

Below are some of the early stages of each of the 4 paintings. Further down there is a glimpse into the latter stages of drawing patterns in mountains and in the sky.

 

The Grouting of the Stained Glass Mosaic Sections of My New Steel Sculpture

New Art Alert! Coming to Alamosa today! We will be installing my latest sculpture on Main Street in Downtown Alamosa and it will be up for 12 months. Each year I design a new piece specifically for the Alamosa ARTScape. This is my 8th consecutive year of participating in this amazing program - thank you for choosing my art to be a part of this wonderful community!

For my sculpture, I take inspiration from what I find beautiful, intriguing and mysterious. I aim to add beauty and interest to places I connect with where the passerby can feel uplifted and inspired. With my newest sculpture 'Dream Catcher' I hope to offer the audience the hope of casting away bad dreams. 

I love the idea of stumbling upon a life-sized, colorful dream-catcher during the day, standing there waiting to stir away anything scary or negative that I stumbled upon in my nightly sleep. My hope is that it would be a reassuring omen to other people who come face to face with my sculpture, not be daunted by negative thoughts or feelings but to focus more on the positive aspects of the day. 

My older son Ethan helped me with the grouting process as he is a young artist and loves being helpful. I loved seeing his approval for the finished artwork.

 

Below are a few random photos of gluing and grouting. 

"The Passage" Mosaic Door Sculpture during the 2023/24 Alamosa ARTSscape

 

Flashback to this time last year at the 2023/24 Install and de-installion of two of my sculptures seen below. The above photo of me and the boys is from December 2023 during the 1st Friday Event in downtown.

Thank you to the awesome Alamosa Public Works for your help, friendliness and above all skills with the work you do! My sculpture ’The Passage’ is now officially on the way to be a part of our very slow going sculpture park - more on that later. Check for future posts here to see the installation of this sculpture in our park in Mosca.

 

New Scope of Work - Going Big with 'Mauve Summer Night'

Mauve Summer Night, acrylic on board, 47.5″”x59.5″ (framed), 2024 ~Available https://www.kasiapolkowskashop.com/product/mauve-summer-night-47-5-x-59-5-framed/

This painting is inspired by a clear Summer night in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado where the milkyway is visible above a wildflower meadow.

The painting has a smooth texture and is varnished in satin. It has a hanging wire on the back as well as a signed certificate of authenticity. It is custom framed in a gallery style floating frame made of hardwood and stained in walnut and finished in satin.

This is a new scope of work vs. older, smaller scale. Every-once-in-a-while, I make a decision to discontinue small size art for a variety of reasons but mainly my goal is to only create large art. Here you can see the current WIP which is 5ft by 4ft, compared to the lovely smaller painting which is 1ft by 2ft. My goal is to clear out the smaller works from my studio before my next Art Festival in September and to help me accomplish this, all small works are on a super sweet special  https://www.kasiapolkowskashop.com/product-category/paintings-drawings/

During the WIP phase of the painting, there were definitely a lot of steps I didn't photograph - that's the time the painting was in its 'ugly state' before it finally began to come together after many, many layers. I find myself thinking that my paintings are sometimes full of ugly phases intertwined with fun discoveries. This is one of the reasons I don’t take many progress photos as it’s not a step by step type of technique but rather a colorful, sometimes messy journey.

The biggie eventually started coming along! At 5ft by 4ft it is one of my largest paintings to day. I've only pained one other this size a couple years ago. 

I estimate that this painting has about 40-50 layers of translucent acrylic wash. I did a lot of searching with this one but it was so worth it to finally see it start to emerge as what I hoped it would become.

I worked on this piece to be the centerpiece of my art booth during the upcoming Durango Autumn Art Festival. Below are a couple shots of the completed painting as well as it being custom framed.