Stephen C. Datz - Living Memory (PLV90469-1220-009)

22" x 30" framed. "While most of the work I have sent down to Medicine Man Gallery deals with desert subject matter, and I do love the desert deeply, the truth is that I am first and foremost a fourth generation Colorado soul and the Rocky Mountains are in my blood and my bones. They have been since I was very young, as my family would often make day trips up into the mountains. So this kind of view produces a unique exhilaration in my heart. And, hey, it’s near Telluride in southwestern Colorado, so it qualifies for the show theme. That’s my story and I am sticking to it. Anyway… autumn in the Rockies is my favorite time to be out painting in the mountains. The heat and bugs of summer are gone and the first hints of winter begin dusting the high peaks and ridges. And on the slopes: color. Glorious, magnificent color. It is sensory overload for an artist. It’s almost narcotic. This particular day was one of the most spectacular displays of fall color I had ever seen, in the midst of a painting tour that yielded many such moments. So, the title references that in sort of an oblique way, but it also I think describes the colorful leaves on the trees, which are, to me at least, sort of the living memory of the mountain sunshine that nourished them through the warm season." -Stephen C. Datz