PORT TOWNSEND — Artist Todd Horton carries a studio around with him. Contained in a kind of tackle box, it comes out for events such as those planned at Northwind Art’s Grover Gallery this weekend.
“Painting Live: A window into the secret of making” is the name of Horton’s two appearances, which are open to passers-by and comers-in to the gallery at 236 Taylor St. The painter, who lives in rural Skagit County, will step up to his easel at 1 p.m. and continue painting until about 4 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
He’ll produce paintings that are smaller — and priced less — than the ones on the gallery walls. Horton’s exhibition, “Act 3, The Mystic West: A journey beneath the glimmering moons” showcases 11 large canvases, all inspired by the natural and mythical worlds.
It’s “Act 3,” Horton said, because he’s responding to two other works of art: “Amerika,” Frank Kafka’s incomplete first novel, and “Dead Man,” Jim Jarmusch’s movie starring Johnny Depp. So while Horton usually paints animals, this exhibition features his depictions of people from that film as they travel the far Northwest.
When the artist did two live painting events in January, he drew a number of curious spectators.
“People like to watch,” he said, adding they tend to lean in when he uses a dry brush to create a particular effect on a his oil paintings.
Horton’s “Mystic West” show will stay on display at the Grover Gallery through March 14, and he plans two more live painting sessions from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. March 12 and 13.
The gallery itself is open noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays. For more about this and other nonprofit Northwind Art activities, see www.northwindart.org.
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
Evangeline Landry, 5, and her escort watch Todd Horton paint a coyote at Northwind Art’s Grover Gallery in January. Horton, whose show, “The Mystic West,” is on display at the downtown Port Townsend gallery, will return for more live painting this Saturday and Sunday afternoon. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News)
