Wednesday, February 22, 2017

The Small Things ...

Sometimes the smallest things make or break a day.

This has been the hardest Spokane winter I've experienced since moving here in 2011. I'm told it actually has been a typical Spokane winter, and the other winters I experienced here were very mild. The ice has been challenging to my aging lack of balance and nonexistent recovery capability. Shoveling snow hasn't been on my list of fun things to do.

Admittedly, conditions are/were far worse in other locations. I suppose I should be grateful for what I experienced. And that's where small things have made my day. Today I didn't have to clean snow and ice off my car. I didn't have to shovel any snow. I was able to walk across the parking lot without falling on icy asphalt, and I was able to walk across the street without having to climb awkwardly over an accumulated berm of ice and snow. It made my day!

I safely and successfully made it to the gallery, where I've been working on the incoming March exhibit; the last exhibit of my LITTLE DOG Art Gallery, which will close the end of March.

I've been thinking about the year since opening the gallery. I had grand ideas. Some turned out well, some flopped, but I had a great deal of fun with all of them, with the artists, the gallery visitors, the neighborhood ... the awesome experience gained and lessons learned!



Long ago, a dear friend gifted me a lovely hand-marbled paper mobile she had made. After all of my moves and inconvenient locations, I finally found a huge window--at the gallery with its 9' high walls--in which to display the mobile. Every day I've enjoyed watching it move on the slight breeze from the gallery door opening and closing, or from the winter heat register just below it. The 1" brightly marbled paper circles have danced and entertained me.

Having the gallery experience was incredible and I'm sad that it is coming to an end, but those small dancing bits of paper made my day every day for this past year!

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Inquiring Minds Want to Know?

Well, you'll notice there's a gap of about a year since my last post. Hmmm where, oh where has Kay West been?

Mid-March of 2016 an opportunity inexplicably presented itself, and I leaped on it! I opened LITTLE DOG Art Gallery, a brick and mortar fine art sales gallery in Spokane, WA, along with my silent partner sister, Mel.

Everything moved very swiftly and before I knew it I was scheduling upcoming art exhibits, hanging shows, arranging for in-gallery activities and artist receptions, lots of bookkeeping and paying out of commissions, meeting people, talking with gallery visitors, up to my eyebrows in art biz, et cetera.

It has been an awesome, invigorating, growth experience! I've met so many cool people and talented artists here in Spokane! Initially I was only showing other artists' work, but in the last couple of months I've started exhibiting some of my own paintings. You can check out Little Dog Art Gallery on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, plus our website at www.littledogartgallery.com.

Yes, I've continued painting and taking photographs. I had a dozen of my Bondo Series photographs in a summer exhibit at Liberty Building Art Gallery in Spokane. I was invited to exhibit work in a December group show at Marmot Art Space in Kendall Yards, Spokane.

"Red Lamp" in Liberty Bldg Art Gallery, Summer 2016

"Golden Nut" in Liberty Bldg Art Gallery, Summer 2016

"Frontal, Bondo Series" Marmot Art Space, December 2016

"Golden Curve, Bondo Series" Marmot Art Space, December 2016

Yup, Here I am posing in front of my displayed work at
 Marmot Art Space, Kendall Yards, Spokane, WA

I've pushed forward with my painting, so my work is becoming more loose, playing more with movement and pattern rather than realistic rendering a specific object.







It's been a fun year, with more growth and exploration to come!