Who is the mystery Totem Pole Painter? Her name is Molly Parkes, and she visited Westcliffe regularly since the age of 12, frequenting Sky Ranch and Horn Creek. In 2017 she decided to make Westcliffe her home and moved in “for good”.
Sarah Handy, co-owner of Valley Ace Hardware in Westcliffe, Colorado, had been following Molly on Facebook and came up with the idea of commissioning her to paint a Totem Pole, of sorts, on one of the building’s supports. Sarah contacted Molly via Instant Messaging and they worked out a deal to get it done! It turned out wonderfully and added a lot of ‘Cool’ to the store.
Interestingly, Molly only discovered her talent about three years ago, discovering her aptitude quite by accident after the passing of a friend. Despondent, Molly borrowed some supplies from another friend, hoping to paint away the pain of her loss. She painted her Chihuahua – Boston Terrier mix named Chuy, as a joke at first, hoping to capture “that funny ‘worried’ look he gets.” The results impressed her, her friends, and her family. This was the start of a new adventure as she began doing pet portraits for friends and acquaintances.
Now an accomplished artist, Molly says that once she accepted her talent and felt comfortable calling herself an artist that “all of her weirdness made sense”. Her friends and family concur, saying that her artistic talent explains a lot! Whatever that means to Molly, we at Valley Ace Hardware are thrilled to have a bit of her weirdness in our store.
While Molly can paint just about anything, she really enjoys painting images of animals in bright colors. In fact, one could say that’s her specialty. Molly has a small gallery at 401 Main St. in Westcliffe, called Molly P Custom Art. Unfortunately, she’s going to have to move soon so keep up with her at:
https://visitwetmountainvalley.com/directory/listing/molly-parkes-custom-artist
