The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

In the past few months Susan and I have traveled a bit, visiting some magnificent museums filled with masterworks of landscape oil painting.

The collections at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City focus on preserving and interpreting the heritage of the American West.  

The End of the Trail sculpture at the entrance of the museum.

Susan and "the Duke"

Each year they hold the Prix De West Invitational Art Exhibition and Sale. The museum purchases the top juried painting each year for their permanent collection. These are some of the greatest  American western landscape painters: Wilson Hurley, Clyde Aspevig, James Reynolds, Clark Hulings, Tom Lovell and many others. These are premier paintings representing the artists at their best. Most are large paintings, they probably average 5 by 6 feet. Then inside the Sam Noble Special Event Center, resides 5 massive triptychs painted by Wilson Hurley. Each are 18 by 46 feet!

Notice the size of the paintings compared to the folding tables.

There is so much more to the Museum, here's the intro from the web page...

 The National Cowboy Western & Heritage Museum is America’s premier institution of Western history, art and culture. Founded in 1955, the museum in Oklahoma City collects, preserves and exhibits an internationally renowned collection of Western art and artifacts while sponsoring dynamic educational programs to stimulate interest in the enduring legacy of our American West. More than 10 million visitors from around the world have sought out this unique museum to gain better understanding of the West: a region and a history that permeates our national culture.

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum features a superb collection of classic and contemporary Western art, including works by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, as well as sculptor James Earle Fraser’s magnificent work, The End of the Trail. The exhibition wing houses a turn-of-the-century town and interactive history galleries that focus on the American cowboy, rodeos, Native American culture, Victorian firearms, frontier military and Western performers. Outside, beautifully landscaped gardens flank the Children’s Cowboy Corral, and interactive children’s space.

From fine art, pop culture and firearms to Native American objects, historical cowboy gear, shopping and dining, the Museum tells America’s story as it unfolds across the West.

Here's a link to their website.

Arizona painting 2014

 Here is a post collecting six of my larger Arizona paintings from 2014.  If you look back thru the blog you can see individual notes on each painting.

Sabino Canyon

Sabino Canyon in Tucson Arizona, has some fantastic hiking and beautiful views of the Sonora desert. http://www.sabinocanyon.com/trail_bc.php

Recently, I sent an image of this in-progress painting of Sabino Canyon to a friend who was planning to hike Bear Trail to 7 Falls the next day.  The following evening we were talking, when he said he didn't reconize the spot on the trail from the painting. I explained that the painting isn't a documentation of the location, it's more an impression of the experience of the day. Sometimes I do try to reproduce a landmark to a point that others will recognize as in my painting of Cathedral Rock. 

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Even when I'm attempting to faithfully reproduce the scene, I'm still painting an impression based on my experience.  If you Google images of Cathedral Rock you will find many great photos, but probably not one from the location that I painted. And when you see my personal photos, you'll see that the painting isn't a copy of the photo. There are elements and patterns and sometimes colors that are represented, but not always. My paintings are abstract personal impressions. It is satisfying to hear someone say that the painting captures the experience that they had when they were there.

As usual I start digitally, roughing out basic value and color studies.

Next comes a color study in oils. This is about 10" wide.

The final. 26x18

Rib mountain morning

This is a 2nd painting inspired from our visit to Rib Mountain State Park this past fall.

Our morning hike started with heavy fog, and although muted, the fall colors were still on display.

As the time passed the fog slowly thinned revealing more vibrant color.

With my limited photography skills I wasn't able to capture the view of the fog burning away and the filtered sun warming the air.  Instead this photo appears to be later in the day.

Trying to capture the mood and color digitally. This is an exercise in thinking through the process, searching for the right light, color and mood.

A couple other examples of photo reference shot last summer near home, helped me remember the color of the sky from that morning.

Color studies completed in my sketch book.

The finish 14 x 22.

I've been experimenting with different painting surfaces. This was painted on Multimedia Artboard.  The marketing describes it this way, 

Multimedia Artboard accepts both oil and water-based paints without buckling or warping. A new formulation of artboard, it is made with paper and thermal-set epoxy resin, allowing media to adhere to the surface without penetration. Whatever media you are using holds a definite edge, with no bleed.
The surface can be erased, scraped, and sanded, and both front and back are usable surfaces (one side is smoother than the other). Multimedia Artboard is laboratory-tested and is rated archival quality, with a neutral pH factor of 6.5. Boards are 1/32" (approximately 0.8 mm) thick.

I find that oils can slide across acrylic gesso when applied with bristle brushes. Sometimes I like the feel and results, but lately I've been searching for a slightly more absorbent surface.  The Multimedia Artboard is slightly more absorbent. To me it feels as if the oil paint sticks ever so slightly, and is pulled off the brush. I plan to use it for more paintings.

Late fall with fog

Late morning, the temperature is still cool, not warming up very quickly.  Damp air with some lingering fog. Yet there is a small opening in the clouds and warm light makes its way thru to bathe at least one tree with warm color.

Photo reference.

Small color comps.

The painting in progress.

The final painting 14 x 22.

Fall color

I've been working on a series of paintings, attempting to capture the color of fall. Today, December 13th, is gray damp and foggy outside. The trees are leafless, and there are patches of 1/2 melted snow on the ground.  In contrast, this painting has some very intense color. 

This is a series of color studies I created digitally, loosely based on photo reference I had taken this fall. As I worked thru the process, I became more focused on graphic shapes and color, and less on texture.

That direction carried over into the oil paint color study. I'm not thinking about painting trees, grass, and sky as much as I'm painting shapes, values, and color.

Moving on to the final painting, this is the drawing blocked out in acrylic burnt sienna.

Next I refined the shapes with thinned oil paint.

More thin paint in the foreground elements, and thicker paint in the sky.

The final painting 11x14.

Rib Mountain State Park

 It's been a while since I've posted a large new painting. Some paintings are more difficult than others to finish. This painting, inspired from a trip to Rib Mountain State Park in Wausau, WI is one of the difficult ones.  After hiking for 2 days, and taking photos I was inspired and eager to get into the studio to paint.  I did numerous sketches, and color comps, but I wasn't happy with the planning or any of the first studies.  Those first results didn't covey how beautiful and unique the woods are, something was missing. I needed to approach it differently.  The beauty isn't just found in the perfectly shaped trees, the unique rock formations, and the intense fall colors.  It is also found in the rugged, organic trails and the diffused light.  The sunlight is softened as it is filtered through the leaves and branches; it is splashed around on the dead leaves, sticks and rocks on the ground.  I've captured that subtle light and the emotion that we experienced those 2 days of hiking.

This painting, like almost all of my landscapes doesn't depict an exact location. I'm not copying photographs, I'm trying to capture some of the beauty that I personally feel, and hopefully that resonates with others.  The real experience is never completely captured by the photos. Here are 2 that I used for inspiration and reference.  There are a few more in my earlier post.

This is the main sketch that I started with.  I compose and sketch at about 8x10, then using a grid redraw on a board prepared with gesso.

Here are 2 of the color studies.  On the left the rocks were much cooler in color, more blue. I was trying to create drama by using complimentary colors, playing the blueish rocks against the warm yellows and oranges of the leaves.  In the end I choose the softer color harmony of the warmer neutral colors in the rocks. That color scheme better captured the peacefulness of the woods.

I created a grid and blocked in the drawing with burn sienna acrylic.

Working from my color studies, I painted a first pass with oils.  After this stage I can see the direction the painting is going and adjust.

At about this point I photographed the progress and played with the black and white values in Photoshop. This helps me visualizing what I am working toward. I don't always do B&W studies as part of the process but it was helpful here.  I was trying to capture the atmosphere of the defused light.

More progress.

The finish.