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February 2019 Desktop Wallpaper

Some days you need a sunrise. Or sunset? You decide.

And warm lighted windows welcoming you home from the cold.

Love you friends! Enjoy!

For the desktop, click on the image below to view the large size image.

 

For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the image you want. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen or both. I make a couple different ones so that you can use what works best for your device.

iphone wallpapers:

 

My Time as “Artist in Residence” at the Denver Children’s Museum, Fall 2017

Today is my last official Open Studio as the artist in residence at the Children’s Museum in Denver! (If you are in the area, please come say hello!)

The three months have flown by! I still have some finishing touches to do on my leave behind art piece and get to finish off my stay at the museum with a party on the 25th of October. But, I wanted to write this post and share a few of my favorite moments from the past three months with you and also invite you to the closing reception. Getting to be part of the magic that the Children’s Museum staff creates on a daily basis was such a gift and getting to play alongside kids and families and create art together was a dream. I’m still pinching myself that I got the job. Enjoy flipping through these photos!

I’ll see you Wednesday, October 25th at 6 PM! Here’s the info for the event.

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A giant color collage we made on my first open studio day.

Making mountains out of words –

Painting eclipses the day before the great American eclipse with visitors from around the world getting ready to head to Wyoming.

Museum goers’ tiny contributions to my leave behind piece

Painting stars –

Here is a nice little write up they did about me –

Creating a blue zoo –

Working on my “leave behind art” piece

   

A particularly adorable visitor testing out my stage for me

A little corner of the studio –

Planning for my family workshop where we made little table top paper theaters

One of the kid’s finished theaters

A workshop with Kindergarteners making shadow puppet monsters inspired by “In the Hall of the Mountain King”

And more work on the leave behind piece…

“Ghosts for Tinder” Painting Story and Process Photos

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A photo of a wildfire that was about a quarter of a mile from my parents’ house.IMG_5177IMG_5175

My parents’ farm in the Kansas Sandhills is surrounded by hundreds of acres of native prairie. Farmers there are constantly fighting the growth of cedar trees and other invasive species to try to retain the health and beauty of the prairie. One of the reasons why the prairie can be difficult to maintain is because fire is necessary to its life and health. Wildfires burn away dead plants; prevent certain other plants from encroaching; and release nutrients into the ground to encourage new growth. But in our world, we fight against fire.

Where I grew up, prairie fires are a very real concern. My childhood home was destroyed in a prairie fire (thankfully after we had already moved out). I remember many nights where my dad would leave all the sprinklers on in the yard “just in case”  because a nearby wildfire might jump the road and head our way.

Understandably, we don’t have room in our lives for fire. It can be dangerous and destructive. We have belongings and homes that are cherished. But, in our needs for safety and to protect the things we love, we can miss out on some of the restorative benefits. Especially in the sense of fire as a larger metaphor.

So the prairie here is a metaphor. Sometimes the best healing for new growth is a clearing out. This painting is my reminder to myself; that sometimes we need to start anew. Sometimes we need to let pain in and let go and begin again.

Ghosts for Tinder_web

Interesting little side note, this is the one piece in this series that was not started on a new blank canvas. The canvas had a painting on it that I was never happy with, so I painted over it to create this new piece – an act that mirrors the symbolism of the piece. The gray bird in the sky flying towards the past is the one element I kept from the original painting.

The butterflies here represent (as always in my pieces) hope and forward momentum.
The fire has sparkles of the universe within it.
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A 2013 photo of burning cedars in the prairie

 

GHOSTS FOR THE TINDER lyrics by Tim Coons

Come and keep by my lovely fire

I’ve got pieces I’m scheming from the liars with in me

You’ve replayed in my darker mind

You’re re-lived in the days I have assigned without you

Yes, I’ll leave it behind

Yes, I’ll leave it behind

Yes, I’ll leave it behind

Yes, I’ll leave it behind

Burn it down here

burn it down

it will come again

come up, on up from this ground

Up and around

So burn it down

I’ve got ghosts for the tinder glow

I’ve got pages to wash clean as snow to warm me

I’ve got memories for matches now

I will lighten the load so sad and loud for
When I see you

Heaven knows it will light

Heaven knows it will light

 

“Monarch Migration” Painting Story and Process Photos

Over the course of this month, we will be sharing some of the stories behind the paintings and songs in the Becoming series.
You can purchase prints of this piece here.

monarch migration_web
“Monarch Migration”
15X30  mixed media on canvas

The farm I grew up on is in the heart of the prairie in Kansas. It is a 30 minute drive on dusty dirt roads to the nearest civilization. My parents apple orchard is surrounded by 180 acres of native prairie and forests. Their driveway is over a mile long – and because the county maintenance trucks won’t maintain driveways, it was usually in pretty rough shape – horribly muddy in the spring, treacherously icy in the winter, and full of sand pits in the summer. Our mailbox was at the end of the driveway and a daily ritual was to walk and get the mail.

On this particular day in September, when I was probably about 8 years old, I remember turning the corner at the mailbox and feeling like something was different. There was a quivering energy to the air. I looked up and noticed hundreds of monarchs in the sky above me. And then, as I looked closer at the trees lining the roadway, I gasped, because what I had first thought were leaves fluttering in the wind were actually wings. Thousands and thousands of wings. I had happened upon the migration of monarchs.

I’m not sure why the butterflies ended up in KS that year. It’s out of their normal migratory path. After I left home, my parents had them come through one other year. But I have never seen them again.

We are losing monarchs. There are less and less every year. Their main source of food, the milkweed plant is being displaced by fields and housing and mowers. The older I get, the more I am becoming aware of how fleeting everything around us is. How delicate the beauty of these tiny wings. How necessary it is to pause and notice the flutters hidden in the branches.

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“Becoming” Art Series Released

Coming Down From the Mountain_web
“Coming Down from the Mountain”

16X20 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame
Companion Song: Elixers

SOLD

Prints available here



On becoming an artist
“On Becoming an Artist”

24X18 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame
Companion Song: Eventually

SOLD

Prints available here


boxing shadows_web

“Boxing Shadows”

18X24 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame
Companion Song: Boxing Shadows

$350
For purchasing inquiries, email betonycoons@mac.com

Prints available here


Waking Up_web

“Waking Up”

16X12 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame
Companion Song: Please Cover Me

SOLD

Prints available here

 


 

Butterfly Tree_web

“Monarch Migration”

15X30 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame

$375
For purchasing inquiries, email betonycoons@mac.com

Prints available here


Sunrise Sunrise little house_web

“Sunrise”

11X14 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame
Companion Song: Sunrise, Sunrise, Sunrise

$140
For purchasing inquiries, email betonycoons@mac.com




On Becoming Rooted_web

“On Becoming Rooted”

24X48 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame
Companion Song: Will You Stay or Will You Go?

SOLD

Prints available here


 

The universe is in us_web

“The Universe is in Us”

12X16 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame
Companion Song: I Have Waited for You

$150
For purchasing inquiries, email betonycoons@mac.com



we grow up_web

“We Grow Up”

12X16 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame

$90
For purchasing inquiries, email betonycoons@mac.com



moon is won_web

“The Moon is Won”

16X20 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame
Companion Song: Big Sister on the Toy Phone

SOLD
For purchasing inquiries, email betonycoons@mac.com

Prints available here



Leap of Faith_web

“Leap of Faith”

16X20 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame

$250
For purchasing inquiries, email betonycoons@mac.com

Prints available here


into the horizon_web

“On Losing”

16X20 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame
Companion Song: Dust to Dust

$210
For purchasing inquiries, email betonycoons@mac.com

Prints available here


Growing Up_web

“On Femininity”

24X36 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame

$410
For purchasing inquiries, email betonycoons@mac.com

Prints available here


Ghosts for Tinder_web

“Ghosts for Tinder”

12X30 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame
Companion Song: Ghosts for Tinder

SOLD

Prints available here


Cutting through fog_web

“When You Cut Through the Fog”

12X24 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame
Companion Song: You Seem Yourself

SOLD
For purchasing inquiries, email betonycoons@mac.com

Prints available here


Color wheel_web

“Spectrum”

20X20 mixed media on canvas with custom wood frame

SOLD

Prints available here


 

August Calendar Free Desktop and iPhone Wallpaper

It is August! Sometimes I think this month is one of the most unnoticed months of all. The main thing it seems to be know for is “Back to School”. August doesn’t have any major holidays, it isn’t the beginning of a new season, it’s just not that memorable. But (and I might be slightly biased seeing as it’s my birthday month), I think August needs some new PR. Our theme for August is “Newspaper.” This month is going to be about Journalism, telling stories, noticing the little things, and all things “black-and-white-and-read-all-over”.  Enjoy!  For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the iphone images. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen. For the desktop, click on the small thumbnail below to view the large size image. (Technically the first moon landing was July 20, 1969, but I wanted a little collection of feel good articles and clippings for August, and come on, it’s the moon!)

By the way, on a fun little note, we found the “Moon is Won” newspaper in the crawl space of our house when we moved in.

High Resolution Desktop Wallpaper:
August 2015 desktop

Two choices for iPhone Wallpaper:

iphone august_phone

iphone_august_phone1

Sketchbook Project “Spectrum” Collaboration

This moleskin sketchbook was filled up in a color spectrum as a collaboration between Kelly Cook and me. She gave me the book as a Christmas present. We passed it back and forth between us, each adding bits and pieces. We gave each page a loose color theme. It was a fun venue to just experiment and play without worrying about the end result. The book was created to be part of The Sketchbook Project, a crowd-sourced library that features thousands of artists’ books contributed by creative people from all around the world. I am mailing it off tomorrow!

See more of Kelly’s art and process here.

Sketchbook-project

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Sketchbook Project “Spectrum” – Kelly Cook & Betony Coons Collaboration from Tim Coons on Vimeo.

 

Portfolio Items