Just Lauren

“Interesting but not surprising” is how I would describe the First Friday Art Walk last night. First, the evening started out how all good evenings should start, with pizza. I took Elisabeth to Pie Hole, a place off Broadway that Gene and I had gone to and which I enjoyed. Happy to say I still like their pizza and Elisabeth enjoyed it too. Pepperoni pizza is still their best slice thus far. On our walk from the car to the pizza, we happened to pass by Rosehouse Botanicals, a plant shop I had seen online but never been in, so of course I asked Elisabeth if we could swing in. The shop is lovely, filled with gorgeous house plants that I would have loved to take home but the prices were out of my range. That’s what you get for a store on Broadway. But, while I didn’t go home with the many plants I desired, I did get myself a mug. It really called to me and I’m pleased with the purchase. I can imagine myself sipping orange juice or apple cider from it or perhaps even sticking a tiny plant or two in it for a make shift pot (perhaps I could get over the lack of a drainage hole this once).

After pizza and Rosehouse, we made our way over to Santa Fe where we wandered the streets for two hours and poked our heads into a variety of art galleries. For the most part, the First Friday Art Walk was not my scene. Too crowded, too loud, and the majority of the art was not in my style preference at all. However, I am still glad that we went and I did enjoy myself when I found art I liked and had a little breathing room. We found ourselves at one point in a gallery that featured art from Lauri Lynnxe Murphy. She’s an artist that, at least in one form, uses honeybees to help her create wax hive art. It really drew my eye and it was one of my favorite exhibits of the night.

Other art I liked involved lots of color and color blocks but nothing quite spoke to me enough that I needed to purchase something. There were a couple of really cool crotchet pieces that I enjoyed too. I was hoping to buy a piece of art so I felt a little disappointed that nothing really called to me. I think the art I like is mostly found online, at DINK, and made by people I know. With that said, the Denver Public Library, which has a branch right at the end of the art walk, set up a free painting station on their lawn and Elisabeth and I took advantage. It was incredible and wonderful and my favorite part. I grabbed a tiny canvas and got to work painting an abstract piece mostly in the dark. It wasn’t until the end that I realized using my phone’s flashlight was a good idea. Eh, painting in the dark was kind of fun anyway. I think Elisabeth is correct when she said my piece is very reminiscent of Monet. Painting last night reminded me of how much I enjoy it so I’m even more determined to take an acrylic painting class this winter through one of the rec centers.

We also stopped by Green Lady Gardens during our walk, the plant shop that’s right off Santa Fe I was hoping to visit. Thank you Elisabeth for supporting my plant obsession! The place was gorgeous and lovely and had loads of pots that I wanted so I’ll have to go visit them again in the future. I was really impressed with the set up of the store but again, the prices for plants were higher than I would have preferred. Turns out Nick’s Garden Center and O’Toole’s, those bigger nurseries, have better priced plants. King Soopers even has decent prices on house plants. While I do like to support local, I also have to watch my budget so I’m thinking these fancier plant shops will be for pots and other random doo dads, and maybe a rare plant or two on occasion.

So it was a fun evening but it’s not something I will likely do again. Well, I take that back. I would go back and paint for free at the library again. And go eat pizza. But walking the art galleries was a bit overwhelming and that’s something I would avoid. I’m glad that Denver does this kind of stuff, it makes me feel happy living in this city and I’m proud that Elisabeth and I finally checked it out. Makes me excited to see what else Denver has going on in the coming months.