It gives us great pleasure to introduce to you ISABELLA's very latest collection....

 

LIGHT

 

Decades in the making, ISABELLA definitely continues to thrive in finding her calling. To Paint. Her mission is unmistakable! To connect us to the awe of nature, of a greater power, via celebrating those moments when we stop and feel we are in the presence of a place that is more beautiful than we have ever imagined...and right here in Aspen/Snowmass.

Their is a certain magic that can only occur when one is in the presence of the work in-person.

 

  This local, self taught superstar pays homage to our surroundings like no other. Her  expressions of Aspen’s Winter are highly sort after. Check out the latest winter offerings HERE


 


 

“Entry” 48 x 60 tall, acrylics on canvas. My favorite artist of all times has being Claude Monet, since the first time I was left in awe when I saw one of his water Lilly pond pictures in an art encyclopedia at my grandmother’s house. I was eight years old. And I remember I thought to myself “one day I will paint something as beautiful as this”. So when I first started painting I thought I needed to adopt the impressionist style that so much influenced my view of art growing up. Consequently I gave it a try but I realize it wasn’t mine. I realized that if I wanted to create something meaningful I needed to find that “thing” that was my own. I started experimenting with abstracts and it was really fun for a while until it wasn’t. I felt I could only go so far with it but if I wanted to transmit what was deep in my heart I needed to go on a different avenue. The art I was about to create needed me to look beyond my place of comfort. And I was ready for more. Though I had no “training” in the arts (because of the circumstances of my life) I knew I was born to create it. Every cell in my body had the will to do it im sure. And little by little and with time and trusting the Lord, I started to see and peel by layers what was that “thing” that I so wanted to give the world. After 10 years of having started to walk on this path, I now understand why I never really cared much about what was my style. Or what people thought of it. Or even how elaborated my technique was (or not). And I still don’t care. All I know and all that I can tell you is that my painting is the last expression of something that started on that trail, that forest, that beauty. All I want is to take you on a trip, where you too can see and enjoy what I saw. And there are no formulas to that. I will do whatever I have to do in order to make it happen. Even if it means that sometimes perfection will be won over by audacity, and realism will be won over by my impression . It’s hard to say. But if you can see it, you are there ! Exactly where I want you to be. And the whole world opens up in front of you, as an entry into the beauty of wonder.

ISABELLA GARAFFA

"Entry" 60x48

“Silence” acrylics on canvas 60 x 72 tall. The view I portray in my paintings is not that of traditional landscapes, I’m afraid to say. I’m not taking you all the way to the horizon so you can see every element that makes up sense of the whole of that nature scene. Like very much in similitude with my personality, I’m much more straightforward in my approach to landscape art. I concentrate on the details that according to my judgment are important in order to make you feel that you are there. The whole painting in itself is the motif of the work I do. As I paint, I think about that final moment when I will be finished with my piece and you, as well as I myself, will be able to finally take it all in and makes sense of all the details that didn’t make a lot of sense at the beginning or when I was half way through. The moment I captured, is the whole painting. There is no point of entrance to the scene. The traditional way of painting landscapes that usually guides the viewer to a main point of focus gets completely lost when I paint because I’m simply not working towards a main central object, but I am centralizing my thrive into every object I consider relevant to the story. And viceversa just brushing through every object that would not impact the story with either its absence or existence. I’m giving you the whole thing. And all at once. That’s why I start to get bored when a painting starts to take me a long time to finish. It’s like I slowly start loosing that feeling of “it’s all right here”. But as long as I can see it in my mind, I can keep painting the oneness of that moment. And I believe that’s why people say when they look at my paintings; “I feel that I’m there”. Like this trail. Is my favorite one. And is where is usually go to find the silence I need so I can keep the creative spark going.

ISABELLA GARAFFA

"Silence" 72x60

"A bluebird day" 36 x 48 inches. I was in my studio finishing another painting when I realized it was 5:15 and I had 20 mins left before the sun went down. I got into my car and drove to my favorite trail, ran up the hill in the snow, a pretty steep one for that matter (about 850ft climb to the top) and went full speed so I could catch the last bits of the sun on the snow, as I knew I only had 15 mins or less. I took a bunch of photographs and then I couldn't feel my fingers anymore . I came back to my studio and couldn't believe all the beauty I caught in my camera. The next day I painted this. It was simple. Easy. It doesn't happen very often but this time it did. The memory was still so fresh in my mind that as soon as 1 grabbed my paint brush I knew exactly where to put it and how. There were no distractions. You know how we all love going to eat to restaurants that serve farm to table menu? Is the knowing that all the ingredients are fresh and were gathered in a farm just to make you the meal, that makes it so special. Well, I'm kind of doing the same with my artwork. Im bringing you something fresh from the woods, with ingredients that I can only get uniquely for each specific meal, and each plate requires me to go find those fresh ingredients. Each blate I serve. is one of a kind. I can't repeat and I won't, because the ingredients I used I can't find them no more. There will never be two exact same sunsets, and therefore I could never give you two exact same paintings.

ISABELLA GARAFFA

"A Bluebird day" 36x48

"Moment" 60 x 72 inches.

For some reason every time I look at this painting I think about the ocean. Maybe is because of those peach tones on the clouds. When I took the original picture I was standing there in absolute awe by the beauty of that sun going down and ever changing colors in the atmosphere around me. And it smelled like humidity in the air. The kind of smell I smell when I'm by the ocean. It was almost as if the clouds were telling me a story; of all the miles they have traveled all the way from the Pacific Ocean to make way here to the mountains and bring us the gift of snow. Way in the distance I could feel the coming of something good, something palpable to my soul. The clouds and the wind were bringing good news from afar, and I could almost hear the rumbling waters and the unstoppable strength of the seas. Maybe the air was filled with particles of water and my body could connect to it. I'm not sure. What I do know is that the mountains and the oceans have one thing in common; a strength that cannot be tamed by men. 

ISABELLA GARAFFA

"Moment" 60x72