CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. — Crested Butte is known for its beauty. During the summer months, it touts itself as the ‘Wildflower Capital of Colorado’. The town sparkles so much with color in June and July, it’s hard not to be blown away by its stunning images.
Some of those images lured Shaun Horne to the area many years ago.
“This spot picked me. I moved here for this spot. I made 40 or 50 paintings here,” said Shaun Horne, a Plein Air Artist.
Shaun is referring to a spot just north of town, where the valleys intertwine with the mountains.
“Monet painted a cathedral like 40 times. I kind of think of it as my cathedral painting,” he said.
A Plein Air Artist will spend days working on one painting in the same exact area.
“It’s basically a form of painting where you’re having a direct conversation with nature,” Horne explained.
Horne’s wife Dawn Cohen is also a Plein Air Artist. The couple owns two galleries; one in Crested Butte, the second in Telluride.
“I love the challenge to make it as pretty as it is,” Cohen said as she painted a canvas from a scenic spot in Telluride.
Cohen and Horne share a similar passion. But their love of painting didn’t brush off on their daughters as much as some figured it would. Instead, their kids prefer a different form of art.
“I think playing guitar is less difficult but more creative,” Linda Horne said in regards to her parents’ profession.
That’s right, instead of painting, Linda and her younger sister Essie like to jam out. Linda plays guitar and Essie plays drums.
“With landscapes you’re kind of copying something down instead of doing what you want,” Essie Horne said.
Despite their differences, the girls find a lot of similarities with their art and their parents’ art.
“They’re both a way of expressing yourself,” Linda Horne said.
Regardless, the Horne family is a family of artists. Shaun and Dawn say they’re learning how to play music with the help of their daughters, and at the same time, they’re continuing to teach their kids how to paint — when Linda and Essie feel like it.
“I hope that translates to their lives that whatever they want to do they go out and do it,” Dawn said.
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#COroadtrip
Anne and Kevin will be travelling traveling 800 Rocky Mountain miles in all this week, visiting some pretty gnarly small towns. Along the way they’ll give their best recommendations and introduce you to some memorable characters.
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