The Snowmass Plein Air Art Festival brought 20 Colorado artists to the Roaring Fork Valley this week for a program immersed in the outdoors.
They took their easels and paint brushes to bustling hubs and peaceful retreats alike, and their work was judged in a contest on Saturday morning.
“Some people may call it a competition. To me, it's just painting with friends all week,” said Dan Marshall, one of this year’s participants, during an interview in the field on Thursday.
The Denver-based painter said he finds inspiration in the shape of the landscape, and the quality of the light, so he can make something “elegant” out of the ordinary.
“I'm not looking for these beautiful things,” Marshall said. “I'm looking for everyday things that I can sort of bring my own attention to and sort of develop into something beautiful.”
Even so, he managed to locate a pretty nice spot along Castle Creek Road, where he painted the vast mountain range that towers over a lush green meadow.
Reporter Kaya Williams spoke to Marshall there, and produced this audio postcard about his creative journey. Marshall’s work will be on display alongside that of his fellow Plein Air artists in Snowmass Base Village this weekend; the public fair runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
I kind of just stumbled upon watercolor and said, "Oh, I think this is my thing.” And it just became an obsession.Artist Dan Marshall, on his passion for watercolor painting
Dan Marshall: I went to art school, and I wanted to be an illustrator.
It was at a time when everything was going digital, so I was being trained traditionally, but then also digitally. And I didn't want to get into the digital world, so I started tattooing. So I've been tattooing for 30 years, and I had an international career that took me all over the world. I had a shop in New York City for a long time, and maybe about 12 years ago, I just kind of had this burnout epiphany thing of moving more into fine art.
So that led me into, one, my sort of love of drawing, and then that ultimately helped me through my tattoo career, and then, I kind of just stumbled upon watercolor and said, “Oh, I think this is my thing.”
And it just became an obsession. So I've been painting professionally for, I guess, 10 years. And that's kind of what brought me here, and ultimately to Colorado and to the fine folks at the Snowmass Plein Air Fest.
The type of tattooing I'm doing was not like American traditional. It was more black and gray, rendered, charcoal-kind-of-look drawings.
So when you're tattooing that, you have to pre-vision the whole thing, because you can't just keep working on top of things. So you kind of have to know where you're headed.
It's a chess match, in the sense of, you see the finish, and you then backtrack, and then you work towards it, and there's no erasing or correcting in tattooing.
So coming into painting and plein air painting, and especially painting in watercolor, it's the same chess match with different pieces.
You can't wipe a canvas and start over, like (with) oil (paints). You can't rub something out and put it back in, like an oil. So it is a much more, kind of, “When it's done, that's it.” And that's kind of with tattooing, you know, if you know what you're doing, it's just done when you're done.
So I have to envision the finished painting and then figure out what comes first, and kind of set up my dominoes in a row.
What I really like about the watercolor is the immediacy. And every painting takes me maybe two hours at the most. So I can be very prolific in what I do. And I don't have that fear of overworking or, you know, going back and working on something that is just — when it's finished, it's done.
I love that gratification, and the sort of dopamine hit of, like, “Oh, I did it. Good job.” You know?
Update: During the judging period Saturday morning, Marshall was one of the artists who earned recognition for their work. His second-place piece, "Cool Whispers," depicts an old ranching building in soft shades of brown, green and blue.
