Every year, for over 40 years, my good friend Dr. Eli Markovich, and his childhood friend, Dr. Dean Griswold, would go on a ski trip the first weekend in February. About 20 years ago, I was invited to join this group, now consisting of about 15 guys. It is always a great trip and mostly we go to Big White near Kelowna, BC. However, 2009 was the 40th anniversary for Eli and Dean and they wanted to go somewhere special...Vail, Colorado.
We went and it is an amazing ski area. Great ski hill, massive in size, phenomenal village with amazing restaurants, galleries and more. A memorable weekend.
On a late afternoon stroll, after a hard day of skiing, I came across an art gallery called "Cogswell Gallery". In dentistry, there is a surgical instrument called the Cogswell (A and B). Intrigued by the name, I went in to the gallery. Sure enough, John Cogswell, the proprietor and owner, is the grandson of Dr. Cogswell and we shared many stories. Coincidentally, he also had an Artist-In-Residence that day, one Jeff DesAutels.
I loved Jeff's work. It displayed motion and emotion and resonated well. After talking to Jeff, he agreed to do a painting of me skiing through the glades at Vail...and the resulting image is the January, 2011 ad. Below is a picture of me, Jeff Desautels and John Cogswell taken at the gallery in February 2009.
