Recent Paintings

Might Be Home For Dinner Oil 11X14 All Day Steady Oil 9X12

After some time recovering from an injury to my right shoulder I was able to complete a few smaller pieces recently. I had a great time with these cowboy art pieces. Hope you enjoy them.

SPRING

Outside the Lane 9X12 Oil

Strong 11X14 Oil It is getting warmer around this part of Arizona. There will likely be more winter-like weather (let's hope so) but the change is nice for now. This winter produced some good storms in our area and with any luck, things will soon green up. I have been in the field as much as possible lately and I feel lucky. I recently finished these two paintings (above) and I hope to get some more time to paint soon. This time of year always creates a challenge in balancing time afield and time painting. What a great problem to have.

FIRST WORD

We are having pretty good moisture this year in this part of Arizona. Days like today make it easier to paint (in studio) or post on a blog. In my initial post I wanted to discuss the direction that my art has taken. I remain driven to paint wildlife and landscape scenes and anything else of a western nature. More consuming is my drive to paint the contemporary cowboy and the working ranches throughout the west. I am particularly drawn to those impressions provided by the work being done on the big and old school outfits.

I am excited about and grateful for the opportunities that I have gotten in recent years to photograph ranch work in our area. I try to help out when I can but you have to be focused on observations, field sketches and photography if you are going to be effective as an artist. To those friends who have recently given me that opportunity, I am eternally grateful. It is not enough to know the subject of your artwork; you have to have the time to really see what is going on – the subtleties of light and atmosphere, the detail of equipment, form and body language.

My travels this year took me to several outfits in our area that still operate in a more traditional way. These old school ranches may be on the cutting edge of livestock industry practices but they hold on to traditions that have defined the working cowboy for generations. These outfits are having an increasingly difficult time finding the cowboys (legitimate ones) that can work the remote camps on the ranches and work “on the wagon.” Wagon work involves seasonally travelling around the expansive ranches, often for months, living out of a tent. This most frequently occurs in spring and fall and centers on the gathering and working of cattle. There are many who are attracted to the notion but few who are genuinely in possession of the skill set and temperament accompanied by the sand to last on these outfits. I wanted to share just a peek into some of the opportunities that I have had during the past year.

For an artist, there is nothing that is as important as "being there." I want my paintings to capture the authentic light, mood and emotion from all the wonderful experiences that I have had.

Hobbled 12X9 Oil Autumn Passage 12X9 Oil

San Jaun Patterns 12X9 Oil

Brawler 16X12 Oil

Above Cut Bank 10X8 Oil