Shelley Yates Shelley K. Yates grew up painting and drawing in Texas, and moved to Oklahoma, San Francisco and Colorado before returning to Austin in 2006 to pursue art full time. She started by selling portraits, participating in group shows and putting on solo shows in coffee shops and restaurants for the next three years. The portrait commissions done in pencil or acrylic honed her draftsmanship skills, work ethic and artistic discipline. In 2007 she produced a series of paintings called "Nuevos Retablos" that was inspired by the colors and proportions of a large collection of retablos at a local Mexican antiquities shop. Drawing on the history of the area and current events, this series featured small portraits of contemporary Texas personalities in the context of these otherwise religious paintings on metal. In 2007 - 2008 she produced a series called "Creation and Contemplation". These portraits were painted in acrylic on canvas and captured Shelley's friends in the moment of creating art, music, photographs, or just taking it all in. The last series made in Austin 2008 - 2009 was larger scale acrylic paintings on canvas was named simply, "South Austin". This in Shelley's opinion, is the best of her work done in Texas. It begins her exploration of abstracted landscapes, which showed the beauty of Barton Springs, the warm comfort of alleyways behind the bars, and pure Austin music moments. Portraits of people she knew and didn't know populated these scenes. While painting in Texas, Shelley was influenced by the work of Julie Speed, Ethan Azarian, and the many musicians in Austin. Shelley's friends and patrons came to aptly describe the style of painting she developed as Magical Realism. In the summer of 2009, Shelley moved to New Mexico to paint and spend time with her grandparents. Though she had intended to first travel across the country, she ended up staying in Madrid where she felt at home, and became involved with the people of this tiny community. The next year was spent studying paintings in the galleries of Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Madrid, and visiting other artist's studios. Shelley continues to develop her abstracted landscapes, while paring down her palette to capture the light and space of New Mexico. Her latest series (2009-2010), "Dreaming in Madrid", reflects a few moments of magic with the land and people of Madrid, New Mexico. Samples: Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge images. Other Range West artists: Click on the names below for artist bios and samples of their work. Kathleen Casey Yenny Cocq Nigel Conway Sara Crall Matt Crimmins Mike Forloney David Fowler Josh Gannon Marcos Lewis Bill Loyd Lori Swartz

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