Impression Evergreen

"Mountains at Collioure after Derain" Watercolor This watercolor was painted as a study after the French artist, Andre Derain. The original was made in 1905 while he was working with Henri Matisse at the seaside village of Collioure, France. They had developed a startling new style that emphasized painterly qualities and vibrant color over representational depictions. It was a radical shift from the polished salon art that was currently in vogue at that time. Conservative art critics were outraged and labeled the loose group of Modern artists les Fauves (French for “wild beasts”). Fauvists believed the arbitrary use of pure color offered a more expressive way of depicting the subjects they loved to paint. Contemplating the picture above, we can sense Derain’s exuberant reaction to visiting beautiful Collioure. The picturesque fishing port is tucked away between the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees Mountains. The blades of grass are like sticks of dynamite that

The abandoned Caribou townsite The abandoned townsite of Caribou, Colorado is situated high in the Rocky Mountains west of Boulder just below the continental divide. It's the place where the winds are born and if you listen closely you can still hear the echoes of a glittery past. Silver was discovered on the hill in 1868 and a small mining camp was quickly organized. It's less than a ghost town now with just a few dilapidated structures still remaining but it's not the architecture that drew me here. I'm interested in the stories about the extraordinary people who gave Caribou its life. With high-grade silver ore coming out and Eastern investment dollars pouring in, the news spread internationally. A congregation of daring souls from Cornwall, United Kingdom, whose hard rock mining skills were in high demand, risked everything and immigrated to Caribou. The carpenters, merchants and common laborers were American but the heart and soul of the camp were the expert