STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

A bevy of affirmations hang on the wall of Dorothea Cheney’s studio near the Big Wood River in West Ketchum.

“I don’t want to be a witness to a path that’s overgrown,” says one.

“Don’t hanker after some illusion of a golden moment,” says another.

And her favorite: “What is meant for us flows freely in harmony with us, not against us.”

Cheney, whose paintings are included in private and corporate collections from coast to coast, takes her affirmations seriously.

And that’s why those who visited her during this past week's Wood River Valley Studio Tour were privy to her latest works featuring wispy feathers created with very fine paintbrushes.

“I’ve been thinking lately about letting go and the feathers symbolize that,” said Cheney.

Cheney was one of 50 artists who opened their studios to the public from Ketchum through Bellevue as they showed them how they tooled saddles, stitched together custom made cowboy boots and fired fine porcelain in kilns.

Those who ventured up the spiral staircase outside Deborra Marshall Bohrer’s home may have been surprised to have a furry greeter stick his nose in their faces as they neared the top.

Once Fido had shown them safely inside, they could see the new line of impressionistic mustangs and three-dimensional art created with junker car parts that Bohrer is taking to an arts fair in Florida..

They also got a chance to see the first in Bohrer’s new line of work looking at the world from the eyes of critters, including that of a spider.

Judy Whitmyre, meanwhile, told visitors how she had started creating what she calls “assemblages,” or ornate doll figures.

“It started after my husband’s death. I needed something fun,” said Whitmyre, whose assemblages filled the wall amidst her paintings of landscapes and bison.

Whitmyre noted that she buys many of the recycled “treasures” with which she creates the assemblages at the Gold Mine. They include pearls, ornate flowers and hearts that she dresses her dolls with, as well as graters and other found objects that she uses for the bodies. She’s even bejeweled small toy Volkswagens.

“Every once in awhile I end up returning a solid gold piece or even diamonds,” she said. “The families that donated them often don’t know what they have.”