Autumn Calls Along the Blackfoot by Randy Van Beek
Mixed Media – Enhanced in Oil – Artists’ Proof – Edition 75
20″ x 30″ $950.00 – 29″ x 39″ overall with frame
16″ x 24″ $645.00
Autumn Calls Along the Blackfoot
Autumn Fields
Autumn Fields
by Randy Van Beek
24″ x 36″ Framed
“Watch the painting at varied times of the day. The natural light changes the clouds like they are moving, the shadows adjust to reflect the time of day. The magic Art of Randy Van Beek!”
“Whenever I travel I carry my painting equipment and camera. When I discover a scene or an effect that excites me, something unique, I attempt to capture what I feel or the impression of my visual experience.” Later in the studio Randy refers to the outdoor study paintings as well as the photographs to execute larger works. When he composes these more complex versions, he may incorporate figures, children, or wildlife, sometimes creating a story.
Randy enjoys a broad range of subjects and painting styles. “I don’t want to limit myself to a theme in subjects, or a repetitive formula in techniques. I need to continually challenge myself. The creative process is over once I’ve accomplished something, and it’s that process I’m most passionate about. I think the creative mind is one of God’s most fascinating gifts. I see it as a responsibility to explore and develop my gift, but mostly to share what I’ve created.” We can seek solace in the appreciation of beauty. Art, music, and literature can elevate our spirit providing relief from the common place. A work of art is passed on for centuries, communicating one’s personal insights in a particular era.
Randy is concerned with the preservation of natural areas of the earth and hopes his work will inspire others to share in the responsibility of maintaining balance between conservation, economic, and social needs. He annually contributes to over thirty local and over twenty national non-profit organizations which either preserve wild habitats or aid humanitarian efforts. A partial list of memberships include: World Wildlife Fund, National Park Foundation, Wilderness Society, Children’s Compassion International, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Whatcom Land Trust.
Spirits in the Wind Gallery, 1211 Washington Ave., Golden, CO 80401
www.spiritsinthewindgallery.com 303-279-1192
Great Importance of Haying in Colorado
Hayfield Sunset by Randy Van Beek, Oil on Canvas
Magpie Morning and Summertime by Gary Huber, Pastel
Spirits in the Wind Gallery’s artists: Gary Huber and Randy Van Beek’s
paintings reflect the importance of our hay fields.
“Hay is a very important crop in Colorado. According to state agricultural statistics for 2010, non-alfalfa hay production for Colorado was 1,700,000 tons on 780,000 acres. Jackson (North Park) and Grand (Middle Park) counties combine for 75,500 tons on one cutting a year. That is a lot of hay.by Tony Bruguiere Ft. Collins, Colo.”
View on-line www.spiritsinthewindgallery.com
Spirits in the Wind Gallery
1211 Washington Ave., Golden, CO 80401 303-279-1192
Founding Members of the prestigious Russell Skull Society of Artists
Month of March 2016
Spirits in the Wind Gallery, Golden features founding members of the prestigious Russell Skull Society of Artists.
Jerry McKellar’s, sculpture work is his realistic style, use of movement, and impeccable detail. His subjects range from wildlife to human figures that focus on an accurate depiction of the culture, ritual and tribal affiliation.
One of many sculptures include:
Sun and Moon – Plains Indian Legend of Sun and Moon: Sun made a daily journey across the horizon to the West where he entered his lodge to pass the night. Moon, his wife, also dwelt in Sun’s lodge, but they would only see each other in passing each morning and evening.
Monumental Bronze “Bow Stringer” once displayed in front of gallery. His sculptures have been purchased for permanent collections of museums, corporations, and communities.
Randy Van Beek, Landscape Oil Painter
Randy enjoys a broad range of subjects and painting styles. He continually strives to improve in composition, which is the most intellectual aspect in painting. Its the design arrangement of dark and light masses, the harmonious union of line, form and color to which a viewer is attracted He develops composition to communicate a message or a sensation. Artwork seen at National Geographic Society, Smithsonian Institute, Charles Russell Museum and in major collections.
1211 Washington Ave. Golden, CO 80401 303-279-1192
Randy Van Beek featured at Spirits in the Wind Gallery
Designing His Own Inspiration
unique education or a road trip itinerary, Randy Van Beek meticulously crafts the conditions where his art can thrive
Written by Jenna Vandenberg
January 2016
In 1976, two weeks before classes were set to begin at Western Washington University, Randy Van Beek decided to go for the degree without going to class. He knew that professors would push Abstract art, so Van Beek designed his own curriculum centered on the traditional Realist and Impressionist styles that had always appealed to him. While his would-be peers wrote essays on Reinhardt and Kandinsky in order to maintain GPAs, Van Beek checked out stacks of works on the Hudson River School. Four years later, he was painting full time.
Now, 40 years on, Van Beek continues to chase increments of artistic growth by challenging himself with new ideas and seeking inspiration throughout the West. Part of that inspiration has come from seeking out surroundings conducive to the art he wants to create.
When it came to designing his home studio, Van Beek was as thoughtful as he was about his education. One morning, out on horseback near their home in Bellingham, Washington, Randy and his wife, Marlene, climbed up above a valley to find Mt. Baker visible above the treetops. They gazed over the 45 acres of hills, valleys, streams and trees and knew they’d found their home. The land belonged to a local beef farmer and when he was ready to retire, the Van Beeks were ready to buy. Both artists (Marlene Van Beek designs jewelry), it was natural for the couple to draw out the plans for the house together, spending a full year carefully designing where each outlet, light switch and side table would be placed.
“My surroundings are really important,” Van Beek says. “It’s our creative space. The surroundings of the studio, the yard, the view definitely fuel the creative process. Just being surrounded by beauty is inspiring.”
Van Beek’s designs were not limited to the architecture of the home. His gliding easel with interchangeable counterweights is his own invention, as is his setup of brushes suspended in thinner, perpetually self-cleaning. His palettes of paints and drawers of supplies are all clustered around a big picture window that provides north light and jawdropping views.
The yard, where the Van Beeks spend most Sundays, rain or shine, was carefully constructed as well. “I’m thinking about landscaping on a daily basis,” he says. “Every window I look out, [the landscaping] will catch the corner of my eye and I’ll plan for Sunday, wrestling with rocks and placing the latest additions to my conifer tree collection. Knowing those trees that intimately, knowing those rocks that intimately definitely helps me paint rocks and trees.”
Van Beek’s intimate knowledge of landscape and setting is what draws many to his art. “They gravitate toward his work,” says Pam Eggemeyer, owner of the Spirits in the Wind Gallery in Golden, Colorado. “Not only to view the style, the color and the lighting effect, but because his work has a calming effect.” Eggemeyer describes how clients often feel as if they have been to the exact spot depicted in a Van Beek. While his paintings do represent specific sites, there is something recognizable and familiar in all his work, whether of an unknown cluster of aspen trees off a deer trail in Colorado or the iconic peak of Mt. Rainier.
The intimacy with his subjects comes neither by luck nor accident. Van Beek returns again and again to the majestic sights of the West. He knows every switchback on Glacier National Park’s Going to the Sun Road. He has more than a thousand photographs of the Grand Tetons. Almost everything he reads is about early American history, particularly the West. Details about the Blackfoot and the Shoshone pour out in his paintings of Native encampments.
The couple’s frequent road trips from Washington to Montana, Wyoming or Colorado are stop-and-go affairs. Van Beek may pull over for an hour or two to complete sketches and plein air paintings, or to take photographs. In the dawn and twilight hours, he is prepared for the frenzy of zooming in, panning out and changing lenses that is required to capture subjects in rapidly changing light conditions. “I need to know my subjects intimately, through different times and seasons, through my whole life,” he says.
Van Beek’s love of place creates an intimacy in his work that collectors respond to. Scenes of serrated mountain peaks and sunlight glistening over Northwest harbors hint at his appreciation of Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran, but more than that, they show his appreciation for a place that he has both loved and been shaped by.
1211 Washington Ave., Golden, CO 80401 303-279-1192
www.spiritsinthewindgallery.com
Click on Image to Enlarge
esigning His Own Inspiration
her mapping out his home, his unique education or a road trip itinerary, Randy Van Beek meticulously crafts the conditions where his art can thrive
Written by Jenna Vandenberg
January 2016
In 1976, two weeks before classes were set to begin at Western Washington University, Randy Van Beek decided to go for the degree without going to class. He knew that professors would push Abstract art, so Van Beek designed his own curriculum centered on the traditional Realist and Impressionist styles that had always appealed to him. While his would-be peers wrote essays on Reinhardt and Kandinsky in order to maintain GPAs, Van Beek checked out stacks of works on the Hudson River School. Four years later, he was painting full time.
Now, 40 years on, Van Beek continues to chase increments of artistic growth by challenging himself with new ideas and seeking inspiration throughout the West. Part of that inspiration has come from seeking out surroundings conducive to the art he wants to create.
When it came to designing his home studio, Van Beek was as thoughtful as he was about his education. One morning, out on horseback near their home in Bellingham, Washington, Randy and his wife, Marlene, climbed up above a valley to find Mt. Baker visible above the treetops. They gazed over the 45 acres of hills, valleys, streams and trees and knew they’d found their home. The land belonged to a local beef farmer and when he was ready to retire, the Van Beeks were ready to buy. Both artists (Marlene Van Beek designs jewelry), it was natural for the couple to draw out the plans for the house together, spending a full year carefully designing where each outlet, light switch and side table would be placed.
“My surroundings are really important,” Van Beek says. “It’s our creative space. The surroundings of the studio, the yard, the view definitely fuel the creative process. Just being surrounded by beauty is inspiring.”
Van Beek’s designs were not limited to the architecture of the home. His gliding easel with interchangeable counterweights is his own invention, as is his setup of brushes suspended in thinner, perpetually self-cleaning. His palettes of paints and drawers of supplies are all clustered around a big picture window that provides north light and jawdropping views.
The yard, where the Van Beeks spend most Sundays, rain or shine, was carefully constructed as well. “I’m thinking about landscaping on a daily basis,” he says. “Every window I look out, [the landscaping] will catch the corner of my eye and I’ll plan for Sunday, wrestling with rocks and placing the latest additions to my conifer tree collection. Knowing those trees that intimately, knowing those rocks that intimately definitely helps me paint rocks and trees.”
Van Beek’s intimate knowledge of landscape and setting is what draws many to his art. “They gravitate toward his work,” says Pam Eggemeyer, owner of the Spirits in the Wind Gallery in Golden, Colorado. “Not only to view the style, the color and the lighting effect, but because his work has a calming effect.” Eggemeyer describes how clients often feel as if they have been to the exact spot depicted in a Van Beek. While his paintings do represent specific sites, there is something recognizable and familiar in all his work, whether of an unknown cluster of aspen trees off a deer trail in Colorado or the iconic peak of Mt. Rainier.
The intimacy with his subjects comes neither by luck nor accident. Van Beek returns again and again to the majestic sights of the West. He knows every switchback on Glacier National Park’s Going to the Sun Road. He has more than a thousand photographs of the Grand Tetons. Almost everything he reads is about early American history, particularly the West. Details about the Blackfoot and the Shoshone pour out in his paintings of Native encampments.
The couple’s frequent road trips from Washington to Montana, Wyoming or Colorado are stop-and-go affairs. Van Beek may pull over for an hour or two to complete sketches and plein air paintings, or to take photographs. In the dawn and twilight hours, he is prepared for the frenzy of zooming in, panning out and changing lenses that is required to capture subjects in rapidly changing light conditions. “I need to know my subjects intimately, through different times and seasons, through my whole life,” he says.
Van Beek’s love of place creates an intimacy in his work that collectors respond to. Scenes of serrated mountain peaks and sunlight glistening over Northwest harbors hint at his appreciation of Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran, but more than that, they show his appreciation for a place that he has both loved and been shaped by.
1211 Washington Ave., Golden, CO 80401 303-279-1192
www.spiritsinthewindgallery.com
Click on Image to Enlarge
