Capturing colorful Colorado
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- Ani Espriella, Vanilla Frosting, oil, 8 x 10.
This story was featured in the October 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art October 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
ANI ESPRIELLA was 5 years old when she moved with her family from her native Colombia to Miami, FL. The move proved to be a fortuitous one for young Ani, whose next-door neighbor happened to be future singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan. Back then, Estefan was a child herself—just a handful of years older than Espriella—but her musical skills were already flourishing, and she coached Ani in both singing and playing the guitar. Those lessons helped launch Espriella into her own successful, 20-year singing career.
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- Ani Espriella, Let the Sunshine In, pastel, 14 x 11.
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- Ani Espriella, Autumn in the Valley, pastel, 16 x 20.
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- Ani Espriella, Hall Ranch Chamisa, pastel, 12 x 9.
“It was a crazy business, with traveling and nightclubs,” recalls Espriella, who—by the time she reached her early 40s—craved a slower, quieter pace. Back then, she was also in family-raising mode as the mother of two young children. So, in 2003, she left behind her singing career and moved with her children and husband to his native Colorado. Little did Espriella know how quickly she’d fall in love with the striking mountain scenery around her new Longmont, CO, home. “Having grown up on flat land my whole life, suddenly coming to Colorado was just like, Wow,” she says. “I thought I was on vacation every day for the first five years I lived here.” Even now, she adds, “I’m always driving around looking at everything—the snow on the mountains, the color of the sky, the clouds.”
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- Ani Espriella, Headed to the Meadow, pastel, 9 x 12.
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- Ani Espriella, Mud and Snow, pastel, 16 x 20.
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- Ani Espriella, On the Beach, pastel, 9 x 12.
It was these dazzling focal points and other scenic subjects around her adopted home state that Espriella turned to when she started painting under the tutelage of plein-air artist Jake Gaedtke in 2005. As she began logging hours at her own easel en plein air and in her studio, she realized her lifelong interest in photography was a boon. As a photographer, she explains, “Just knowing what catches my eye, I was instinctively able to figure out what would make a good painting.” Distilling a scene’s information, on the other hand, has been a more challenging endeavor, but one that she enjoys undertaking in both oils and pastels. For Espriella, a successful painting boils down to one key principle: “Simplify, simplify, simplify.”
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- Ani Espriella, Ristras and Adobe, pastel, 16 x 20.
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- Ani Espriella, Shadows on the Bank, pastel, 9 x 12.
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- Ani Espriella, Sunrise, Sunrise, pastel, 16 x 20.
“By the way,” she notes, “I did start singing again. Now I do it just for fun. That’s totally what feeds my soul—singing and painting. And they are both connected. It’s what makes life bearable—music and beautiful things to look at.” —Kim Agricola
representation
Mary Williams Fine Arts, Boulder, CO; www.aniespriella.com.
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- Ani Espriella, The Water Bearer, oil, 20 x 16.
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- Ani Espriella, Winter Bouquet, pastel, 9 x 12.
This story was featured in the October 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art October 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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