I was excited to be one of 24 artists who painted in the Colorado National Monument and McInnis Canyon Natural Conservancy October 1 through October 8, 2023. We were all able to display 6 works for sale at the Carlson Vineyards Tasting Room in downtown Grand Junction, CO. Three of my works sold! It was a great experience!
2023 Governor's Art Show
Every year for the past 30-something years, two of Loveland’s Rotary Clubs have sponsored the Governor’s Art Show featuring Colorado artists. The show is juried by a committee and only 62 Colorado artists were selected for this year’s show held at the Loveland Museum Gallery from May 6 - June 12, 2023.
I have been accepted to this show before and also rejected a few times! So, it is an honor to have been accepted this year!
I have four works that will be hung. Two of the pieces were inspired by the amazing seascapes that Deb and I saw in Maine this past September 2022. I have always wanted to paint in the places where Winslow Homer painted! The other two smaller works are inspired by the scenery in northwestern Colorado near Rangely.
2022 was a great year for travel!
Having finished the camper van in October of 2021, we began to travel and paint! From the time we purchased it till January 2023, we have put 28,000 miles on it!
It has been a wonderful experience! This painting< “Bear Run Above Falling Water” was completed in the front seat of the van while traveling home from Philadelphia at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water.
Augenstein Arts has a VAN!
In March of this year, my wife and I purchased a Ford Transit Cargo Van to convert into a traveling art studio camper! We drove it to Atlanta where my son, Justin, converted and outfitted it with all of our needs for trips around the country to plein air paint! I will start posting works here but also on my Instagram account: @augensteindaniel
SPRING CLEANING!
I’m going through my figurative paintings and drawings from the past hoping to make room for more inventory. Check out my Instagram account @augensteindaniel to see what needs a new home! All purchase can be made through Columbine Gallery in Loveland, Colorado.
Read MoreLate Spring 2021!
Our lives are beginning to open up following the past 14 months of COVID. I have had work accepted to the 2021 National Fine Art Show at the Lincoln Gallery in Loveland Colorado. In March ‘21, I had the chance to travel to Pismo Beach with friend and fellow artist, Travis Krause, to work with Bob Burridge in his studio! Pushed my skill level with acrylics! My wife and I bought a cargo van that we are converting to a camper so that we can do painting trips around this amazing land.
Works that are seen on this website or on my Instagram and Facebook accounts can be purchased through my gallery in Loveland, Colorado, the Columbine Gallery.
Read MoreJune 27, 2020 - Loveland Museum Foote Gallery Show opens today!
This past 4 months has been an unusual experience with the Pandemic impacting our lives. Many art galleries have been closed down and art shows rescheduled or canceled. However, my solo art show “Daniel Augenstein: Educating Vision / Challenging Technique” at the Loveland Museum Gallery in the Foote Gallery opens TODAY!
64 paintings and drawings which illustrate my artistic journey for the past 13 years can be seen. I have written explanations about what my intention was for each piece. Specifically how the work either was educating my “vision” or challenging my technique.
To celebrate the reopening of the Loveland Museum Gallery, all but the small ink and pencil drawings are on sale for 15% discount. Drop in to see what you might want to hang up in your home. The show is up till September 13!
Inktober 2019
It’s October 29, 2019 and I have two more days to go to complete the Inktober challenge of creating an ink drawing every day of the month. This is the second year I attempted this. Last year i didn’t follow any of the optional prompts. This year I did! It was a great learning experience to plan and consider all of the possibilities for each word. I think the quality of my work also improved. Take a look at the work on the Inktober 2019 page of this site.
Surfaces - Above and Below Show is Hung at UNC!
The “Surfaces - Above and Below” art show features 58 works by Travis Krause and Dan Augenstein at the University of Northern Colorado’s Michener Library’s Mari Michener Gallery in Greeley, Colorado from August 26, 2019 through September 27, 2019. Both artists are UNC alumni.
The theme allows the artists to exhibit works that interpret the actual surfaces of their media, the relationship of their subject matter to a physical surface, and the metaphysical meaning that the subject has both with the artist and life in general.
A reception and artists’ talk will be held on Friday, September 13, 2019 from 4pm to 6pm at the gallery.
June 2019! Finally Summer!
Six months ago I had a rotator cuff surgery! Not being able to even lift up large canvases or even operate the saw to frame the pieces finished was a real mental challenge. But as of next week, I am cleared of all restrictions physically! Back to work in earnest!
Travis Krause, my good friend and my daughter’s life-partner, invited me to participate in a two-man show at the University of Northern Colorado in the Library gallery. The show gets hung August 24, 2019 and will hang through the end of September! We have titled the show “Surfaces - Above and Beneath.” The theme can be interpreted in so many ways. We hope to push it along into as many aspects as possible.
Check out Travis’s work on his website: www.traviskrausestudios.com
November 2018
“La Marree Basse” Oil on Belgian Linen - 16 x 20 inches
Read MoreApril 2018
This past four months has passed so quickly.
The Principled Art Show at the Tointon Gallery in Greeley was hung exhibited and taken down! We, the artists, feel it was a success! There were discussions about taking on a third part of this exploration into design. We'll see if the group decides to pursue it. I for one really appreciate the incentive to produce that results from having some pending event on the calendar.
I was accepted to show at the 2018 Governor's Art Show! This is a great honor as over 350 some artists applied and only 56 were accepted. Some amazingly talented people were rejected. I'm feeling extremely blessed for this opportunity.
The National Greeley Art Exhibition is happening again in April this year. I no longer sit on the Board of Directors for this 501 C 3 event. So other than volunteering to hang the work, I have some freedom to participate as an artist. I was also honored to be juried into this show again this year.
November 2017 - Almost Winter Again!
Where did summer go?
The early summer began with a great painting trip with fellow Elemental artist, Berndt Savig and his college art buddy, Saul Maurer (www.saulmaurer.com) to western Colorado near where the Colorado River gets ready to pass into Utah. The quiet beauty was inspirational and I have many studies and paintings that will be showing up in galleries and shows in the near future.
But then, summer got really busy. And now I check the calendar to realize that fall is here and winter approaches!
The result is that fall has been a bit like when my palette gets messy! After the May trip, the summer was filled with an intensive 8 week online training class on how to teach - you guessed it! - an online painting class at Aims Community College. That didn't leave a lot of time for painting but it did help me be ready for the Fall Hybrid Painting class! However, some of the painting and critique activities I planned weren't quite right. Either too extensive or too much time required away from the students' painting.
To add to the "messy palette," this Fall has brought with it the final steps and painting for the next stage of the "Elemental" art show. This time we have turned our creative focus onto the principles of design. Each of the same five artists has produced one work for each of the selected principles. Again our curator will tie all of the parts together with descriptions and commentary. As in last time, we have been a bit innovative with what we are considering to be the design components. But no "spoilers" here! You'll have to check in when the show opens.
"Principled" will be hung on December 15, 2017 and stay up through February 3, 2018 at the Union Colony Civic Center's Tointon Gallery in Greeley, Colorado. We are hoping to send the show out to other venues again as we did with the Elemental show. (For a review of the past show, check out www.elemental2015.com )
Spring 2017
This spring has brought a frantic pace to my work days!
The jury for the 2017 Governor's Art Show honored me by accepting my work. The show opens up on April 28th. Mark Bailey, also showing work and who has received awards at the Governor's Art Show in the past, was selected as the juror for the National Greeley Art Exhibition. As a board member for the NGAE, I have enjoyed working with Mark. I chair the scholarship committee for this organization. The NGAE show also opens on April 28th! So after I award the NGAE scholarship choices and Mark awards the ribbons for the art show, we will make our way to the Governor's Art Show in Loveland.
The following two days, I will help my co-curators hang the 30th Garden Show at the Madison and Main Gallery (the coop gallery in downtown Greeley). That show opens on May 5 and will feature work by 11 of my advanced students from Aims Community College.
But wait, spring isn't over yet! On May 12 and 13, the Columbine Gallery in Loveland will host a "plein air" painting event. The works will be hung wet on a "clothes line" and sold directly to visitors! I will be painting in the garden both of those days. www.columbinegallery.com
On the following Saturday, May 20, the Governor's Art Show will have its annual Plein Air Event. These paintings will be auctioned off later that day at 3:30PM at the Rialto Theater at 222 E. 4th Street, Loveland. I will also be painting in that event. www.governorsartshow.org
Along with all of these activities, I am still working on the pieces for the Principled Art Show due to hang in December 2017 at the Union Colony Civic Center in downtown Greeley.
Hope you will check out these events!
-Dan
Winter 2017
It is the final weekend of January! There is a flurry (notice the snow reference) of art activity!
My teaching schedule at the local community college has resumed with two drawing classes and an evening painting class.
I have been working to produce the next seven pieces for Part II of the "Elemental 2015" show called "Principled" which will be hung in December 2017 at the Greeley Tointon Gallery located at the Union Colony Civic Center.
I was honored to have been accepted into the 2017 Governor's Art Show opening April 28 at the Loveland Museum Gallery. My studio schedule also includes producing 4 pieces for that exhibit.
On top of all of this, I am on the Board of Directors for the National Greeley Art Exhibition which opens on April 28 at the Union Colony Civic Center in Greeley, Colorado. I am in charge of coordinating the awarding of scholarships and fellowships funded by the sales at the show.
Yet one more thing happens in late April, Madison and Main Gallery the small cooperative gallery that I am a member of will have its 28th Garden Show. Katie Caro and I are co-curators for that show!
Read MoreFall 2016 - About the Business of Art!
Between teaching 4 3-credit hour art classes at Aims Community College, painting works for the second chapter of the "Elemental" show - "Principled," and participating in a few small regional shows, fall has been busy! (This doesn't even include making 23 gallons of wine from the grapes in our backyard and struggling through the loss of our crippled German Shepherd, Lazarus. Image: "Seeing with His Ears" - Pastel - Not for Sale)
We are taking the "Elemental" show on the road and will hang it in January of 2017 at the Parker Arts, Culture, and Event Center (PACE). I have new pieces hanging at the Madison and Main Gallery in Greeley and the Columbine Gallery in Loveland, Colorado.
This summer was filled with a 17 day trip to Alaska to celebrate 40 years of marriage with my best friend and companion, Deborah! Needless to say, a great number of the images that will show up on my canvases this coming year will be inspired by the spectacular scenes of that portion of our world.
Read More
National Greeley Art Exhibition
Yesterday, I helped hang some amazingly gorgeous art work for the 50th Anniversary show of the NGAE! We have hung 100 pieces from approximately 60 different artists from across the country. Additionally, there are works from 9 past featured artists on exhibit. I happen to be one of those! The 4 watercolor pieces displayed by Don Weller, the show's juror, are spectacular. Wow!
The show is a fundraiser for scholarships and fellowships awarded every year. This year we increased our scholarships and fellowships from $1500 to $3400. Even the awards for "best works " of art increased in amount! I am hoping that there are a lot of sales so that next year we will be able to fund even more scholarships.
Salon des Refuses
That's French for "What you won't see at the Governor's Art Show!"
Having not been accepted into the 2016 Governor's Art Show at the Loveland Museum Gallery, I was one of the artists who chose to submit work to be shown at the Salon Des Refuses show held at the same time as the Governor's Art Show - May 2 - 31, 2016.
My painting, "Glenwood Canyon in Morning Light," will be hung at Dicken's Alley at 238 E. 4th Street in downtown Loveland. Thanks to Carolyn Pearce and Billi Jean Colson for all of their work in putting this show together.
Dicken's Alley is an antique shop that is one of the 6 businesses in downtown that are featuring the refused works! The store is open Monday through Saturdays 10 to 6. There will be an opening reception on the Second Friday of May, the 13th, from 6 to 9:00pm
Springing into another surge of PAINTING!
It is snowing outside! Classes at the college I teach at were canceled today! But this gives me a chance to get caught up on this blog!
January 2016: I was very focused on the "Elemental" art show which was hanging in the Tointon Gallery in the Greeley, Colorado's Union Colony Civic Center. The show, which was five artists re-examining the "elements of design," was well received! We tried to make the show interactive by having "QR" codes which allowed visitors to go to the show's website. After we took the show off the walls in February, we began to look for other venues for the show. We have tentative bookings in Parker and Loveland. Additionally, we have agreed to do the next exhibit in this series which will be about a new look at the "principles of design" called "PRINCIPLED." www.elemental2015.com
March 2016: There are quite a few art shows opening up this spring. Not having been accepted to the 2016 Governor's Art Show (bummer) I was accepted to the "Salon de Refuses" show in Loveland for the many people who were not accepted. The National Greeley Art Exhibit (NGAE) will celebrate its 50th Anniversary this year. They have invited past "featured artists" to submit two pieces to this show on the first weekend of May. As a past featured artist I have submitted the smaller works from the 2015 Governor's show, "Cactus and Flowers" and "Things Fall Apart." Both of these pieces can be seen on the "works" section of this site. I have stretched 3 large canvases that are ready for gesso. They will be a vertical triptych intended to replace the large "Cairn at Long's Chasm Lake" work that was sold from the "Elemental" show.
Cairn at Long's Chasm Lake - Oil - 48x73 inches
I'm not sure that visitors to this site know that works seen on this website are for sale. Contact Alyson Kinkade at the Columbine Gallery in Loveland, Colorado to inquire about purchases. www.columbinegallery.com
Plein Air Painting at the Osborn Farm in Loveland
As part of the 2015 Governor's Art Show, this Sunday morning from 9:00am to 11:00am fifteen artists from that show will paint on location at the Osborn Centennial Farm located just north of Colorado highway 502 on Boise Avenue in Loveland, Colorado. I will be one of those artists! We will have two hours to paint, one hour to frame the piece, and then the works will be auctioned off to benefit the Loveland Rotary International organization.
I encourage you to make your way out to see how fifteen different artists can approach a similar subject matter in a variety of ways!