Sixteen years after the first show, the annual Miniatures by the Lake event at Coeur d’Alene Galleries still draws excitement from both artists and collectors.
“Our collectors have always loved the variety of styles, subject matters and artists,” says Buddy Le, owner of Coeur d’Alene Galleries. “Every year, collectors comment on how they love the price points of smaller works and they can always find wall space for them. For the gallery, we love the opportunity to work with so many different artists that we don’t normally get to feature.”
Dolores Purdy, Huntin’ Supper, mixed media, 10 x 14¾”This year’s show will feature around 125 new works from 75 different artists.
Huntin’ Supper by Dolores Purdy depicts a group of young men on an early morning hunt. The piece is drawn with colored pencil on a sheet of ledger paper from 1847. “Ledger art represents a Native historical art form, but recently has taken on popularity as a contemporary Native art form,” explains Purdy. Historically, warriors marked their conquests on teepees, but when Europeans arrived, paper, colored pencils and watercolor became coveted items. “This gave the men a portable means to keep their important war honors and daily life diaries that is a pictographic language for the Northern and Southern plains people.”
Ott Jones enjoys creating miniatures because of the challenge of capturing both anatomy and artistry. “I want my work to be anatomically accurate while at the same time having a sculpted quality, revealing my fingerprints and tool marks,” he says. His sculpture Hookedwas inspired by the flying fishing trips he took with his father as a child. In it, a rainbow trout takes an acrobatic leap out of the water after being stung by a fly.
Abigail Gutting, The Yellow Ear Tag, oil on linen, 12 x 12”
Sharon Standridge also drew inspiration from fly fishing for her painting Pocket Water, which shows a fisherman standing with his line in a cool mountain stream. “When I saw this stream overshadowed with the brilliant fall colors against the towering pines I was overwhelmed and had to capture this on canvas,” she says. Her husband and son—both avid fishermen—are her most frequent models, and she often has them dress in her collection of vintage fly-fishing gear.
Ott Jones, Hooked, bronze, 9 x 3½”
In Ropes & Rays, Terry Cooke Hall portrays a Pop Art cowboy with a retro-inspired color palette. “The angle of color adds a sense of the sun’s rays hitting this cowboy, so I designed the bands of colors to integrate into areas within the cowboy as well as highlighting the cowboy’s focus on his ropes,” Hall says. She adds that she likes creating miniatures because it makes art more accessible for new collectors. “It’s important that those who have never collected before are able to purchase originals, which kindles the fire for adding more originals to their collections.”
Sharon Standridge, Pocket Water, oil, 12 x 9”
Collin Bogle enjoys painting miniatures because they allow him to focus in on the details that might be overlooked in larger paintings. In his Autumn Buck, the animal stares directly at the viewer. “I wanted to paint this beautiful large buck wandering into a spot of golden low sunlight engulfing him in the warm vibrant colors of autumn,” he says. “Notice his obscure friends in the distance.”
Miniatures by the Lake opens on September 1 and closes with a draw and sale on September 23 from 6 to 8 p.m. —
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