Art Cocoon is happy to revisit with Gary Michael, a featured artist from 2018. Gary finds much of his inspiration from the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado! Here is his summer story and images:
“Nymph Lake is half a mile up a moderate trail from the Bear Lake trailhead in the Rocky Mountain National Park. The pads and blooms in the lake are at their peak from late June through early July. So of course are the visitors because Nymph is the first of three lakes along the most popular hike in the park. People streaming past might bother some artists but I welcome them: you never know when someone may want to buy what’s on or beside your easel and I’ve been the beneficiary of that phenomenon.
The painting ‘Arrangement in Green, Blue and Brown: Nymph Lake Lilies’ is assembled from works done on the spot at Nymph Lake this past summer. Originally the plan was to go with a private student of mine on the last day of June. Alas, a hip replacement in the middle of June led to a week’s postponement so I’d be better able to schlep painting gear up the trail. The new hip held up while carrying a full easel up the rocky path but the trek was still a harder task than in previous years (age takes its toll). Yet once on the bonny banks of Nymph, I settled into painter’s euphoria. ‘Look at all the toys to play with—lily pads and blossoms arranging themselves in fascinating patterns, muddy lake bottom, blue sky, cloud and tree reflections on the water and two handsome peaks (both of which I’ve climbed) in the background. Oh boy!’”
Gary is an artist, former philosophy professor and ordained minister. With over 50 years of painting, he very much enjoys teaching and sharing what he’s learned—from other artists and on his own. Check out more of what he’s doing at www.Gary-theartist.com.
