The couple met in Montana and began an adventure in plein air painting and performing that was to last for twelve years on the road. Traveling in an Airstream trailer with their golden retriever, Elvira and long haired Himalayan cat, Chang, they painted throughout the west from British Columbia to the Baja. Side by side they recorded the activities of the people and landscapes as varied as the ranches of Montana to the last remaining fishing villages on the Pacific coast.
“I love to paint wildlife says Morse and we’ve spent the biggest part of our years on the road visiting every National Park and recording the scenery and animals that inhabit these very special places.”
Both Sime and Morse feel a deep connection with the land and the animals that inhabit it. As a result their artwork encourages wildlife conservation and the preservation of open space. Morse depicts a herd of elk studied in Rocky Mountain National Park in her oil painting: “Royal Gathering”.
Instead of painting in a studio they prefer to paint on location such as the deserts of Arizona, the Grand Canyon, the Tetons of Wyoming and the west coast. Each area they visit provides them with new artistic stimulation and a variety of subject matter from landscapes and seascapes to wildlife and portraits. For many years, nature has been Connie and Dave’s instructor and the outdoors their studio.
Feeling the urge to settle down they chose Durango, Colorado as the perfect location because of the varied landscape painting options available in the Four Corners region. They continue to paint en plein air and return to their Red Cliff Studio to complete finished works of art.
Connie and Dave’s most recent endeavor is the completion and publishing of “Lonepine” a historical, erotic, western romance set in Montana, 1962. Autographed copies are available
on their web site and the e-book can be downloaded from all major providers.
Dave Sime and Connie Morse are accomplished musicians. Dave plays several instruments including guitar, mandolin, fiddle, harmonica and dobro while Connie plays guitar, keyboards and bass fiddle. They have recorded two CDs: “BORDERLINE” and “OLD OUTLAW”
As a musical duo Connie and Dave call themselves “Borderline”, a fitting name, as in the 90’s they traveled from state to state entertaining audiences with their country and contemporary music. They have played in lounges from Fairmont Hot Springs and Grouse Mountain Lodge in Montana to the Bright Angle Lodge at the Grand Canyon. Resorts throughout the west have also enjoyed this couple’s unique and exciting concerts and dances. They perform in many different locations and situations. They may be dressed in buckskins playing around a campfire at a dude ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming or you could find them wearing Hawaiian colors for an outdoor concert by the pool, in Mesa, Arizona. They have even played in a few honky tonk bars along the way! Plein Air painting was worked in between the gigs.
Connie L. Morse was born in a booming mining town called Rio Tinto, Nevada. Her mother and father owned the Mountain City Hotel and one of her fondest childhood memories was of going to sleep at night with the sound of music drifting up through the hardwood floors of the old hotel for
the Saturday night dance. A ranching community Mountain City consisted of eighty people, eight bars and a general store.
Having an artistic father also had a lot of influence on Connie and at an early age she completed her first painting using his oil paints. What makes an artist? Is it heredity, environment or just lust
for life?
Connie’s bold brush strokes and brilliant use of color make her style distinctive and appealing. She has been in the “Arts for the Parks” competition top 200 in 1995 and 1996. In 2004 she was juried into the top 100 for the miniature show and contest. She was a guest artist with the Plein Air Painters of America in 2001 and again in 2003 for the organizations 18th gathering on Catalina Island. She was interviewed for the book, Enchanted Isle which includes a full page image of her painting “Corona” an old sailboat anchored in the bay. She was also a guest artist with the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters in 2003. Her plein air painting, “Beaver Meadows” 18 X 24 oil, won the Collectors Choice Award as well as one of the top eighteen and top three awards out of over 450 paintings. Juror: Ed Trumble, Leanin Tree Museum of Western Art.
Connie won the “Best Painting” and “Best of Show” awards for her painting entitled “First Snow” at the Visions of America show at the El Presidio Gallery in Tucson, Arizona. Jurors: Richard Iams and Greg Wallace.
Dave Sime, has spent a lifetime studying, sketching, painting and sculpting his landscape, western, Indian and wildlife subject matter. Some people find their calling in life early on and through many different directions the journey ends right where it started. As a young boy Dave carved small birds which were correct in every detail and mounted over driftwood found on the shores of nearby lakes or streams. Today he incorporates natural driftwood into his clay sculptures which are then cast in bronze. He states, “The wonderful forms found in nature cannot be duplicated by man so I find satisfaction in the inclusion of these forms with my sculptures.”
Sime conveys the gentler side of a Montana grizzly in this limited edition bronze sculpture, “Something in the Wind”. While working for the Forest Service, he encountered this bear in the north fork of the Flathead River near Glacier National Park. Here he shows the large bear, an almost silver tipped grizzly alerted by something in the air.
Concerning his “Silent Watch” sculpture he states, “When I was sixteen I spent the summer of 1956 on a United States Forest Service, forest fire lookout called Cougar Peak in northwest Montana. While on a hike I saw a mountain lion about thirty feet away and never forgot his intense look and attitude. After all these years I created this sculpture from that encounter.
Dave Sime’s deep sense of feeling, knowledge and enthusiasm for his subject matter, whether it be wildlife, Indian, western or whimsical themes allow him to paint or sculpt clean lines and fluid forms. They declare their presence with expressive emotion and gestures capturing the feeling and attitude of the subject to involve the viewer in a visual adventure.
He owes a great debt of gratitude to watercolorist, Harold Olsen and sculptor, John Coleman for their knowledge and instruction.
Dave Sime’s sculptures and watercolors have been juried into Gilcrease Museum, Mountain Oyster Show, Charlie Russell Show, Arts for the Parks and the Briscoe Museum of Western Art.
Together, Connie Morse and Dave Sime have found the true meaning of their creative lives.
Web Site: www.redcliffgallery.com
Email: info@RedCliffGallery.com
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