'A blaze of color'
'A blaze of color'
Ephrata artist's pieces on display at This and Thatz
MOSES LAKE — The question Gail Davis gets most about her work is where her ideas come from.
"I can't answer that question," she laughed. "I get started and that's what it is. I don't think I ever know what color I'm going to do or what I'm going to do until I just start. From there, this thing happens. I love color, and I love trying to make it work together."
Davis' work recently joined the artwork of several other artists available at This and Thatz, located within the Animal Crackers Kennel.
Designer Deanna Brazill-Galfano had heard about Davis' work through Davis' sister, and invited the newcomer to the area — Davis moved to Ephrata from Tuscon, Ariz., with husband Stephen about two years ago to be closer to family — to bring her work to the This and Thatz gallery and try to get her work out in front of prospective customers.
Davis used to have a shop in Tuscon, although she did less painting and artwork, and more basketry and floral arrangements.
"I think the Southwest really influenced me to get going," she postulated, adding that she found her inspiration from the colors she saw while living in the desert. "People don't think of the desert as being like that, but it's just a blaze of color."
Davis' husband does a lot of the woodwork that she and he paint.
"We like the old barn wood," she said. "That's just more Southwest and Mexican than probably most others would do, but we like that. We do a lot of that kind of thing."
Davis' career as an artist began while she was raising her two sisters and working full time in Seattle.
"They needed an outlet for their energies," she remembered with a chuckle.
They set about starting up a secondhand store in the Greenwood area of Seattle, and selling her artwork, but a month prior to opening, Davis' youngest sister died in a car accident.
"Everybody encouraged us to keep going, and so we opened up over there," she said. "We had a shop for about three years. It did quite well, but I found that working full time and running a shop and everything else was too much."
Davis got back into artwork years later, after moving to Arizona with her husband.
"It's just my outlet," she said. "I love color. I think you could call me eclectic. I like a little bit of everything, but I like re-doing and taking old pieces and making them come alive again."
One of Davis' favorite objects to bring new life to are children's chairs.
This and Thatz and Animal Crackers owner Karen Liebrecht addressed the diversity of Davis' work.
"From her masks to her arrangements of dry grass and feathers to her gift baskets that have really unique things put together, there's just so much here that it's wonderful, unique gifts, one of a kind," she said. "Everything that she does is one of a kind. There's no duplication."
Become a Subscriber!
You have read all of your free articles this month. Select a plan below to start your subscription today.
Already a subscriber? Login
