Mountain Treasure.

Near her home in Eldora, Colorado, Peggy Warren captures here the Gold Miner Inn, formerly the hub of social activity in the days of her town's heyday, now a gloriously restored bed and breakfast inn.

Beneath the Indian Peaks west of Boulder, Colorado, Eldora is now a quiet village, home to picturesque cabins that serve as summer homes for people from around the western United States. The town itself, now formally disincorporated, is quiet in the winter, just as its hardcore year-around residents would have it. These are true mountain people, proud of their resilience, caring for one another in times of need while protecting and preserving each person's sense of privacy.

Peggy ranges out and around the Colorado landscape these days, capturing the richness and texture of her subjects with the palette knife--as she's done here with the Gold Miner Inn. One would scarcely imagine the twenty five years she spent as a pastel portrait painter of some note In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, before her move to the mountains. From pastels to the palette knife--there's a story of creativity unleashed!

Mountain woman, painting with palette knife, embracing all of life, exuberant in her joy. Yet this is a woman with a deep inner life, well-examined. And shared with us in Very Much a Woman's Book:

She goes through her days

being
what everyone wants
doing
all that's expected

Her soul struggles

unable to release
the bondage
she has created

Wrapped
in the service of others

We are pleased to represent Peggy and some of finest work, for those who understand Colorado and enjoy having a touch of its western spirit in their homes for their daily inspiration.

To touch a heart.

I was in the gallery on Saturday when a woman came in from Indiana--here visiting her daughter, who lives in Arvada.

She drifted around the gallery, and I visited with her gently as she was drawn to works large and small along the way. She got to the wall with Marie Channer's paintings and was transfixed.




The one that first caught her eye was the little girl gazing sleepy-eyed back at the viewer--sorry I don't know the name of the painting right now. From there she started oohing and aahing, left and right, up and down.

It was fun for her to know Marie lives "right up there, on the mountainside," as I described it. She loved the picket fence painting (Waiting), then saw the lace with tiny feet. That was the end of her searching. She sat right down on the floor, holding the image in her lap. Silent.

I thought she was going to cry as she held it close, rocking back and forth. She'd study it, then hold it close again. Then study it some more.

She really wanted it, but her trip had already cost her more than her budget so she didn't feel like she should spend the money. She settled on a postcard--I was so happy we had one on hand!--but I could see it was a less-than-satisfactory compromise for her. You know, you can tell when a painting speaks to someone's heart. That one grabbed her and wouldn't let go.

She took Marie's brochure. I encouraged her to drop the artist a line some time, that Marie would love to hear from her. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to get her contact information. My bad.

Like the work of so many of our artists, Marie's work really does penetrate to the heart. I felt honored to be with this woman when it happened to her.

Bette Ventrella Quilts on Display.

Bette Ventrella has a twinkle in her eye when she talks about making quilts. It is obvious that everything about the process, the art, the completion of a project makes her happy. She also enjoys the colorful intricacies of the finished product, even though she doesn’t have room to spread them out so she can look at them.

So begins Barbara Lawlor's story on Bette, featured in a recent issue of The Mountain-Ear.


It's a great story with all the detail a reader enjoys about the life of an artist.

In this case, detail is the right word to use: Bette's work is Detail writ large. Her larger works are done with hand stitchery, one needlepoint at a time repeated thousands of times, patiently and meticulously.

In a more contemporary vein, she composes mountain scenes completed with machine stitching, the resulting quilts being a warm blend of fabric and landscape, inviting you into the scenes to get lost in our beautiful mountain terrain.

Bette's work is on display these days at the Nederland Community Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, open most days during the week and for sure on Sunday mornings. It's part of the Mountain Community Music and Arts program, which brings the arts to our mountain community through concerts and showings.

We should count our blessings that we live in a community that supports the arts and nourishes the artists among us.

Wendy Cookler show.

In our gallery at the Nederland Community Presbyterian Church, we've mounted a showing of Wendy's paintings from her travels.

What a pleasure for us to see Wendy's talents shown together in a display venue that allows careful, slow appreciation. Some of her work commands your attention from the moment you walk into the hall. Other pieces reward you with deeper, quieter thoughts as you linger to let their power slowly overtake you.

You can see her showing weekdays in the mornings, or Sunday late morning. Feel free to stop by and take a look!

We're coming together.

You've no idea--we had no idea--how much work it is to refinish the walls in a gallery. It seems like we've taken down a thousand paintings, and now of course we get to put them all back up!

Fortunately, the paintings are beautiful--just beautiful--and we're inspired all over again to present them to our friends and visitors to the Indian Peaks area.

An important element in presenting them is our new website, which is almost ready for formal rollout. Want a sneak peak?

You like the new color on our east wall?

Preparing for Spring.

It's been a winter of quiet beauty in the mountains this year, punctuated last week with a 40" snowfall. Today, fog and a gentle drizzle wanting to turn to snow remind us that Spring is on its way.

The colder months are a time our little town sees fewer visitors, neighbors hunker down by their woodstoves, and the gallery is quiet. It gives us an opportunity to review where we are, where we're going, and plan some new directions.

We've also been taking the time to do some much needed sprucing up of our rustic physical space. After two years we've about worn out some of the walls with the fine works we've mounted. Landlord Stu has generously donated some paint for a fresh coat of ivory.

Hoping to capture more of that traffic that eases into town on Highway 119, we're redoing some signage. Taking a break from painting the walls, here's Bette working on the the lettering for a new sign for our 2nd St side, with Phyllis giving considered advice on the layout.

Break-through opportunity.

The Artists Network, from Artist's Magazine, is once again offering its annual competition.

In addition to prize money (5 First Place Awards: $2,500 each), this is an opportunity to have your work exhibited in a national publication. Needless to say, winning or placing in this competition places your work in front of countless numbers of collectors and other artists.

You may wonder whether your work would actually stand a chance in such a field--all artists live and work with the fear that they're "not good enough." We hope you recognize that by choosing to show your work at The Palette Gallery we have already given you our vote of confidence in what you are creating.

I don't think there's any artist of any value who doesn't doubt what they're doing.

Francis Ford Coppola

For better or worse, careers in art are made for those courageous enough to enter their work in competitions. As in doing job interviews, each one you do gives you practice at the process, gives you important lessons on how to do it, improves your chances for the next one that comes along.

Maybe this is the one for you to think about?

Let us know if you'd like to talk about it, and how we can help you polish your jewels and present them in their very best light.