hi! i’m doing something rare and posting these here on my website before the small works show opens on friday, december 6th. in it’s 6th year, this holiday exhibition has become a wildly popular place to shop for unique holiday gifts with the added bonus of supporting local artists. over 100 artists and hundreds of paintings hung floor-to-ceiling- all under 24″ in any dimension. it is a truly beautiful and impressive show to see.

if you are interested in any of these, get to the gallery when the doors open, as the crowds will be waiting and my work usually sells out pretty fast at this opening.. [forgive the photo quality, they have not yet been professionally photographed!]
[also, if you are wanting an inexpensive gift from my sold-out fluff show, consider heading over to my print page- i can have these beautiful giclees wrapped and delivered to your loved ones by the holidays!]

‘the difference between night and day’
oil on panel
16×20

‘sip’
oil on panel
16×20

‘i wish i knew how to quit you’
oil on panel
16×20

‘sit’
watercolor
5×7

‘read’
watercolor
5×7

‘beer’
watercolor
5×7

‘tire’
watercolor
5×7

‘closed’
watercolor
5×7

‘tent’
watercolor
5×7

in august, my town below pikes peak experienced the worst of the summer’s floods caused by the giant waldo canyon fire burn scar above us. it was more like a giant mudslide that raced through manitou springs, primarily on the street where i lived. many were displaced, homes were destroyed, life lost, and 42 of my neighbors lost their cars. because my building is built directly on top of fountain creek, i lost everything in our old brick building’s giant basement. after not being able to live there for two months- compounded by the anxiety of predicted floods for the next decade- i had to leave this beautiful home of eight years.

this painting was done for our show ‘fire fire flood’ at the modbo. this show aimed to provide local artists the outlet of expression of our two summers of devastating fires and floods in the colorado springs area. the home in this painting is down the street from me near the mouth of the canyon that unleashes it’s flow down into town. it was absolutely destroyed- knocked off of it’s foundation and filled to the ceilings with debris- much like my basement, which took a month to remove the thick mud and debris that filled it to just inches from the ceiling..

though it was an emotionally taxing summer, i noticed something in all of us who’s lives had been changed by it. we all came together. we all saw what was truly important. and we all carried on.. rather than focusing on our suffering and pain in this painting, i decided to show this beautiful ‘thing’ in us that never dies.. [the frame is from the basement of my neighbor the artist charles rocky, badly damaged amongst hundreds of others by the mud.]

‘on the street where i live
[there’s a light that never goes out]’
oil on panel in flood-damaged frame
SOLD

eggman and walrus

santa fe

march 1st 2013

icarus’s big day

24×36

oil on panel

sisyphus and the conflict of hope

24×36

oil on panel

 i was recently asked to be part of a show at eggman and walrus in santa fe, along with brett andrus and nina peterson. i decided to create a series of greek myths told by stuffed animals. i am currently working of hypnos and narcissus.. more photos soon..

prometheus- a little bit of history repeating

24×36

oil on panel

part of the life of an artist is finishing one deadline and immediately beginning work on the next deadline. yesterday i delivered six small paintings to the gallery, and today i am in the research/drawing stages of a new series of paintings that will show in santa fe this march.

i’ve always loved interactive art, and these two paintings are actually functional pinball games! these [along with four others from my previous stuffed animal and science posts!] will be part of the modbo/SPQR’s incredibly successful annual holiday show. this popular salon-style exhibition gives people the fun opportunity to buy and give the unique gift of art for the holidays- supporting local artists and local galleries. this year will feature over 400 works of art by 100 colorado artists- all under 24″x24″.

‘the stories they tell
a varied cast of characters’
6″x12″x1.5″
oil and acrylic on functional
toy pinball machine

‘security vs freedom’
6″x12″x1.5″
oil and acrylic on functional
toy pinball machine

‘trinity II’ oil on canvas 24″x72″ [sold]

i try to be grateful every day, but today i am especially thankful to live the life of a painter. i am deeply grateful to those of you who share their homes with my paintings and for those of you who encourage me and keep me moving forward in this sweet little life.. YOU have made it possible for me to continue and grow in this passion that consumes me. i wake up thinking about painting and go to sleep thinking about painting- and many of the moments in between i am inspired to paint- to capture this amazing and odd world that i experience with all of my senses..

YOU have made a difference in my life. THANK YOU. happy day of remembering gratitude..

sending you all the warmest of thoughts and the biggest of smiles..

‘when i was younger’
oil on canvas
8″x10″

this stuffed monkey was my very best friend as a little girl- i brought him everywhere with me. i even chewed off a few of his fingers and also part of the banana that he held..

‘fusing imagination and memory’
oil on canvas
8″x10″

this painting makes me smile as if this bear’s extreme joy is viral. it is also a little unsettling somehow..

i love how emotionally animated these paintings turned out to be- carrying the foggy, magical memories of the years when we so much younger..

[if you have a favorite childhood friend that you would like painted, email me at lorelei@loreleibeckstrom.com]

i’ve chosen to work unusually small for an upcoming show, with the average size being 8″x10″.  this is a challenge as i normally work much larger, but i’m taking the opportunity to practice working swiftly and directly- or alla prima [Italian for ‘first attempt’]. there is an intimacy with small paintings, which invite the viewer to come closer. i like that.

these two paintings are studies for some future larger scale pieces that i want to do. i LOVE everything science, and want to explore the history and mysteries of wonder and discovery in greater depth.

‘no promises
no answers’
oil on canvas
8″x10″

‘the fabrication of meaning’
oil on canvas
8″x10″

it is time to break from my break, after taking a month off from painting large canvases.. i am learning [slowly] that periods of intensity [such as working on deadline] invariably trigger a mood episode. the cycle usually begins with an elevated [hypomanic] state- frenetic, driven, spinning, and primal.. this state has always been a huge part of my successes, and most often carries me through to the end.. but then- adrenalin depleted- brain chemistry shifts and i begin a slide to the opposite end of the spectrum. this time i experienced an unusually gentle fall, while allowing myself to rest- something i am realizing the necessity of in order to keep myself stable.

unfortunately, this also involves a struggle to get going again. it involves working through fear, which we as artists do again and again and again. i believe if we are not often outside of our comfort zone, then we are stagnating and not truly growing as an artist.

so now i begin.. a new body of work swirls in my brain, slowly solidifying and coming to life.. as my paintings are a profound expression of the things that exist in my mind and my heart, i have decided that i want to use myself as my models, and will begin the photo shoots this week. groups of me will interact- the many pieces and aspects of me coming together. what they will mean, i do not yet know, but they always reveal their stories as or after the paintings are completed.

i will share some of these new paintings as they progress..