PART II: Bernie in the first Santa Fe gallery that represented his work
Bernie in 2005 proudly standing beside two of his watercolor paintings, “Pecos Reflections” and “The Colorado in the Canyon,” on his first day in his first gallery on Canyon Road in Santa Fe (Clicking those links will take you to his separate, dedicated art website.)
Bernie in 2005 with “Santa Fe Scooter,” one of his watercolor paintings, outside his first gallery on Canyon Road in Santa Fe. Bernie and Martha outside that gallery. (Clicking that link will take you to his separate, dedicated art website.)
HERE’S AN EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 17 OF MARTHA MARKS’S Betting on Bernie, A Memoir of a Marriage:
In 2005, Bernie took a chance in selecting his dramatic watercolor “The Colorado in the Canyon” for submission to International Artist Magazine, which was holding a world-wide competition organized around the theme of “rivers.” The magazine published it as a runner-up.
And with that, Bernie Marks was on his way to the top.
Such excellent recognition, plus previous statewide awards and his professionally framed, ready-to-show pieces, landed him precious wall space at a high-quality art gallery on Canyon Road in Santa Fe.
On the day Bernie’s work went on display—the same day [we took these photos], which explains the modestly proud, non-grinning expression on his face—I reminded him how, on our first dinner date forty years earlier, he’d told me of his ambition to become a “superfine artist” selling his work in “superfine galleries in superfine cities with superfine reputations for selling superfine art.” Now, he had done it.
From then on, even in Santa Fe’s competitive environment, Bernie’s lively, colorful watercolors of people and places, including those shown here, sold like fresh-made pistachio ice cream on a hot New Mexico day.
It wasn’t long before galleries in Pinetop, Arizona and St. George, Utah also displayed Bernie’s pieces. In fast-growing St. George in particular, new-home buyers snapped up his wonderful paintings of southern Utah’s national parks and monuments.
And on one exciting day, the owner of a statewide bank in Utah bought five of Bernie’s largest framed pieces to display in his branches.
With that start, less than three years after we moved to New Mexico, Bernie achieved his dream. He was now a full-time professional fine artist selling his work in multiple galleries around the Southwest.
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See the Bernard Marks Art page on this website
Visit the separate website Bernard Marks Fine Art