Zienna Brunsted Stewart, Nature Spirit, oil on panel, 18 x 14 in.

Zienna Brunsted Stewart sells four pieces in a pop up art show
“I had a pop up exhibition at a jazz bar in Santa Fe called Tonic,” explains artist Zienna Brunsted Stewart, whose work has been featured in American Art Collector on numerous occasions. “The owner of the place, Winston, I’ve known for some time and he offered the front room of his place for me to do a little show.” The September show, titled Make Believe, only hung for one afternoon. Out of the 25 works on display, four sold. The couple that bought Nature Spirit are friends of Brunsted Stewart. “Blake is a photographer in town that I’ve modeled for a few times…Carrie, the other half of the couple, keeps goats and horses,” says the artist. “My boyfriend and I have gone out to their property to help socialize the baby kids by holding and playing with them. Literally the best thing in the world. The figure in Nature Spirit is a model that Blake recommended to me, who we both love to work with. Blake and Carrie are very involved in the arts community here and they have a really nice collection. I’m really happy I get to add to it.”

Brent Cotton, Retreat, hell! We just got here!” (The Battle of Belleau Wood; France 1918), oil on board, 16 x 20 in.

A collector commissions a unique historical painting by Brent Cotton
“My friend Kevin Thomas, a World War I enthusiast and military collector, commissioned this painting from me,” explains artist Brent Cotton. “I’d never taken on a project like this before and was initially hesitant, but I decided it would be a fun challenge.” The piece depicts a scene from the June 1918 Battle of Belleau Wood in France. Upon Thomas’ request, the piece was titled “Retreat, hell! We just got here!,” a famous quote reportedly spoken by U.S. Marine Captain Lloyd W. Williams during the battle when a French commander advised his company to retreat. His defiant words became a Marines motto. “After doing some research, I started with a few rough pencil sketches to explore the composition,” explains Cotton. “None of them really excited me, so I decided to dive straight in with brushes and paint to see what would happen. Sometimes those spontaneous projects turn out to be my most successful—the less planning, more intuitive approach can be risky, but in this case, I feel it really paid off.” 

James ‘Kingneon’ Gucwa, Colonial Motel, acrylic, 30 x 40 in.

Scottsdale’s Xanadu Gallery sells another painting by James ‘Kingneon’ Gucwa
James ‘Kingneon’ Gucwa is best known for his signature contemporary-realist paintings of America’s vintage neon roadside subjects. In this case, Colonial Motel found a home and now relocates from the West to the East. Gucwa’s new collectors first saw Colonial Motel in the Xanadu art catalogue several months ago. Gucwa explains, “They considered it for a time, and then, while visiting the Scottsdale gallery from Massachusetts, they fell even more in love with it and made the purchase. They mentioned that it reminded them of their time spent on the road in their youth.”