"Garden of Delights" by Carolyn Counnas

2011 Indian Wells Arts Festival Commemorative Print 36"x48" Oil on Canvas Print size: 18"x24" standard frame size “When I’m not painting, I’m driving race cars,” says Carolyn Counnas, the artist selected to paint the image for the 2011 Indian Wells Arts Festival. “It gives me the strength to make me brave enough to paint.” “Garden of Delights,” Counnas’ 36 x 48 oil on canvas, combines her love of nature with her confident, magical color palette. She proves fearless with her use of color. The expectant barrel cacti rest gently, basking in radiant desert glow, awaiting dazzling blooms. Butterflies amuse. The prickly pear stands guard and shimmers upstage while the more distant ocotillo, brittlebush, and palm oasis share the Santa Rosa Mountain silhouette. This is Indian Wells. “There is amazing life in the desert. The more I go there, the more I fall in love with it,” she says. “I find the sculptural forms and pattern a perfect opportunity for my expression of artistic license. These are survivors with whimsical attitudes.” Using a method called color orchestration, Carolyn combines many variations of a single color – in this painting featuring lots of warm reds -- to create rich, luminous effects. Growing up on a horse farm near Potomac, Maryland and a self-taught artist, Carolyn ventured out to new horizons. Travels around the world included living in India, Africa, Japan, and Europe, where she was captivated by ethnic influences and vistas. She started as a printmaker, renting a printing press, becoming a full time artist. The award winning artist and popular instructor is well known for her landscapes and monoprints, a complex process which is essentially a printed painting. Carolyn now participates in 22 shows a year, in a 300-400 mile radius from her home in Thousand Oaks, CA. For the past 18 years Carolyn and her husband George have been enjoying competitive racing. As a members of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), she has ranked 2nd in the region in the Solo II men’s class. . George also handles the technical side of things, producing high-resolution scans of original art creating high-quality giclee prints. Counnas received the First Place Ribbon in the Oil Painting Category at the 2010 Indian Wells Arts Festival where she has been exhibiting for several years. “The Indian Wells Festival is definitely a place where art is happening,” Carolyn adds. “Patrons love to watch the artists at work, and the Indian Wells Arts Festival always has something new to captivate the audience.” Festival Producer Dianne Funk feels “Garden of Delights” is the perfect image for the 9th annual Indian Wells Arts Festival at the Tennis Garden. “Our visitors always like to take home a commemorative poster from the event, particularly one that depicts the beauty of the Desert. The Indian Wells Arts Festival promises to delight, and the hundreds of one-of-a-kind pieces of art makes a very enticing painted garden, indeed!”