Artistic Voyage » Broadmoor Resort renovation

Broadmoor Rose on Hardwood Floors

Mickey Baxter-Spade — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:08:01 +0000

When the Broadmoor Resort was building their new Golf Clubhouse one of my commissions was to paint a ten foot rose on the aerobic room floor. Now, can you imagine the many directions I could have gone with this concept?

Should the rose be red, white, pink, yellow and then . . . all those different varieties. Tag Galyean, the architect in charge, wanted it to look as though someone had tossed a rose onto the floor albeit ten foot long.

After our meeting I decided to stop by a floral shop to pick up several different types of roses in a variety of colors. What a great excuse to buy roses! When I returned home I proceeded to take photos of each rose from many angles and continued doing so throughout the following week as the blossoms were opening.

My thought process was . . .

1. The rose needed to be recognizable from a distance

2. White wasn’t a good fit with the color of the floor

3. There wouldn’t be enough contrast if the blossom were pale yellow

4. From a distance deep red could look like a huge puddle of red paint or worse.

5. The deep red also seemed a bit too formal for an aerobic room.

6. Pink seemed too foo foo, too feminine.

My decision was to paint a yellow rose with petals tipped with deep red. A bit less formal than red yet still quite elegant. A petal off to the side seemed appropriate if someone were to have tossed a rose onto a floor. After this decision was made it was time to dig in and design the rose.

Just to give you a bit of background . . . When I began working in the marketing department at Fort Carson many years ago I remember being sent to Denver to take a computer class. The entire drive to Denver I heard constant chatter in my head in regard to what a waste of time it was to be taking a computer class when all I wanted to do was paint! Well, someone far more intelligent than we mere mortals was guiding me even though I was kicking and screaming as I went.

You see, after working on a computer designing brochures, flyers, posters, and even wine bottle labels for a few years, when it came time to design that rose for the aerobic room floor at the Broadmoor I new how to save hours of design time. I sketched the rose on legal size paper and scanned it into my computer then made it ten foot long. My software allowed me to tile the rose. Simply put this means that a portion of the rose printed out on many, many pieces of paper which had to be taped together.

After the rose was taped together I needed to adjust the diameter of the stem, making it narrower. You see, roses have very broad woody stems and when it was printed out, although it was proportionate, it looked way out of proportion. If I hadn’t taken the computer class I would have been sketching and re-sketching for several days. My angels were looking out for me after all. So, have you had a time when you had to do something that seemed like a total waste of time but actually turned out to be a blessing?

Here are a few pics of the Broadmoor Rose.

Rose on Broadmoor Aerobic Room Floor, 10 feet long

Rose Petal Painted on Broadmoor Aerobic Room Floor

Thirty-two inch Rose Blossom Painted on Broadmoor Resort Aerobic Room Floor

The Broadmoor Rose can be purchased as a framed watercolor or as a fine art note card. What a perfect gift. Check out the assorted boxed floral watercolor fine art note cards, box of eight for only $15.

Box of Eight Fine Art Note Cards, Eleven Envelopes, $15

Broadmoor Makeover on the Golf Course

Mickey Baxter-Spade — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:52:14 +0000

Several years ago I received a call from the President of the Broadmoor Resort asking if I could paint “something” in the women’s restrooms on their Golf Course. It seems the owner’s wife had made the request and he thought maybe “some simple vines or something”. After looking at the restrooms simple vines would not have been appropriate for the area. This is what I came up with and if you look closely you can see a golf ball hidden in the grass beside one of the tulips. In essence the area was too large for a simple vine. The President received a call from the owner’s wife saying she was very happy with the flowers.

Day Lilies Painted in the restrooms on the Broadmoor Golf

Tulips painted in the restrooms on the Broadmoor Golf Course.

Last summer, in preparation for the 29th U.S. Senior Open Championship, it was decided that the women’s restrooms needed some attention. They decided to paint vertical stripes on the walls in the restrooms on the Broadmoor Golf Course. The painter in charge of the project asked, “What about Mickey’s flowers?” the reply was, “It’s getting late, just paint the stripes.” Again, the owner’s wife was in town playing golf and while on the golf course she made a phone call to ask, “Where are my flowers?”

Another area to be painted at the Broadmoor Resort was already on my schedule but this took priority. After seeing the colors of the vertical stripes I decided on different flowers. The colors needed to be punched up so they would stand out on top of the stripes. I loved painting on top of these stripes, they just added another dimension to the painting. Here is one of them, seems I forgot to take pics of the other restroom. Oops!

While at the Broadmoor checking inventory of my greeting cards shortly after painting the restrooms I ran into the President of the Broadmoor. He asked if I had repainted the flowers in the restrooms and I told him I had. He said he had received a call from the owner’s wife saying how happy she was with her new flowers.

Testimonial:

“As the Broadmoor has gone through many updates, renovations and additions over the past decade, Mickey Baxter-Spade’s artistic talents have allowed us to apply the kind of thoughtful art detail that existed throughout the original 1918 resort, as part of our newly added facilities. Her work has been superlative and enjoyed, commented on and photographed by so many of our guests. Additionally, she is a joy to work with.”

Steve Bartolin,
President and CEO
Broadmoor Hotel
Colorado Springs, CO

Poppies and Lupin painted in the restrooms on the Broadmoor Golf Course.

It is such an honor to be called The Broadmoor Artist. It would be a pleasure to answer any questions you might have. Feel free to leave a comment.

Broadmoor Tile Installation

Mickey Baxter-Spade — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:52:17 +0000

During a renovation at the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs I was asked to paint simple designs on porcelain tiles that were to be in stalled on the risers of a newly constructed exterior staircase.

Having taught freehand design on ceramics and porcelain for many years I thought this would be a pleasant change of pace from climbing scaffold and ladders.

Blueprints were sent to me so I would have exact dimensions. I did the layout on the computer to determine the sizes needed. Then the prototypes were created and scanned into the computer, sized and positioned to fit the staircase. A full color computer printout was also a very professional way to show the layout and design to the architect. The tile installers had an exact layout for installation as well. The project included over one thousand tiles.

In retrospect . . . I remember, while working in the Marketing department at Fort Carson, I was sent to Denver for a computer class. On the drive to Denver I was thinking what a waste of time and energy it was for me to learn computer software when all I wanted to do was paint on walls. It turns out that my computer skills have helped me in every aspect of my business, to include this tile project.

Have you found there have been times in your life when you resisted doing something only to find out that it was a blessing in disguise? Please leave a comment about a similar blessing in your life.