Springfield Artworks Gallery Show

We're back from Nebraska's Big Rodeo in Burwell and are now getting ready for the Sarpy County Fair and Rodeo.   Sarpy County is a local rodeo just south of Omaha, NE.  All during the rodeo and fair this week, the Springfield Artworks Gallery is doing a special show of my western art.  Greg and Margie Trembley are the artists/owners of Springfield Artworks.  Glen does amazing work with glass and Margie is a fabulous milliner (designer of hats) who is busily preparing for Omaha Fashion Week coming right up.  I will be working on art at the gallery each day of the rodeo through Sunday.

The little trailer my brother Robert helped me put together is coming in quite handily for hauling my art gear all around.  Here's the latest shot of it from today:

The Sarpy County 4-H Club does a great job of making the county fairgrounds look attractive!

Happy trails to ya'll !!

My Version of Woodstock

Instead of the Catskills of New York, my wood stock was of a more practical nature this week at my workbench.  All week the whir of drills, ZERRR of table saws, and wratcheting of bolts could be heard.  The familiar phrase, "Thank you for shopping at Home Depot", was ....well, quite familiar.  Almost daily!  I have been building a variety of displays for my art work...both prints and originals. And now I am almost to the the finish line of that project.  Tonight I return to another phase of preparation which I hinted at a month or so back.  

What is all this for?  Well, follow me down the road in your mind to the county fairs and rodeos around the country.  Next week I will be at the Burwell, Nebraska rodeo all 4 days selling my artwork.  Burwell boasts of one of the world's largest outdoor rodeo arenas. The following week I will be at the nearby Sarpy County Rodeo with the Springfield Artworks Gallery doing a special exhibit of my work.  Then the first week in August I will be at the Cass County Fair and Rodeo.  

Here are some photos of my displays:

I love building things out of wood.  The smell of wood is so appealing.  And I am thankful for the ideas that God brings to mind in how to design display systems that will be portable, sturdy, and easy to put up and tear down.  Hard work has its rewards, and part of that is the satisfaction of seeing an idea come together as you work and struggle with it until the final result is what you had in mind.

  It will be a busy number of weeks coming up.  I will miss not being at my easel creating new work, but meeting people and being at rodeos is a whole lot of fun, too!  Maybe I will have the pleasure of getting to see some of you along the way!  

Be strong and courageous!

Studio Work

 My little art manikin Michaelangelo has been having to run to keep up with me in the studio.  You are looking at a stack of 8" x 10" prints that I've trimmed and packaged ready for selling.  That's about 100 right there.  I still am working on the 100 11" x 14" prints.  The 8" x 10" prints are priced at $13.00 and the 11" x 14" prints are priced at $20.00.  Besides drawing/ painting, all kinds of attending work goes along with making a life in art.  I've also been tweaking an outdoor painting easel (plein air in French artspeak)  to fit my needs.  Here's a look at that project:  

I enjoy working with wood as I've watched my dad make many things for us in the shop.  I've saved myself around $200 by making this easel.  The base was from a broken telescope that a neighbor gave to me.  I stripped the hardware and designed a base to fit my paint box.  The paint box was given to me from my sister Robyn whose kids didn't use any more.  It had been an art kit for kids.  I converted it into an outdoor painting easel.  

I drove by a wheat field this week that had just been harvested.  It reminded me of all the summers in Colorado that I drove a grain truck helping farmer friends with the wheat harvest. I always kept a sketchbook handy to record the harvest sights.  Here are a few pages from those old sketchbooks:

This last one is a self-portrait.  When you've been driving all day and have drawn about everything there is to see in wheat harvest on the high plains, you get a little desperate for subject matter.  :)  I used the rear view mirror of my grain truck to draw this.

Be strong and courageous!

Contest of Wills

17.5" x 25"

Fresh off the easel...."Contest of Wills" is my latest in graphite/charcoal work.  This is my son Elijah in the black hat and his friend Kelton endeavoring to overturn the steer.  Were they successful?  I bet they eventually were!  What I enjoyed portraying in this work was the struggle involved shown in the directional alignment of the boys' bodies.  Juxtapose that with the firm planting of the steer's feet in oppostion.  Lots of energy depicted here, but it is not going anywhere fast!

Art is metaphorical.  Not only does this drawing highlight a popular event in rodeo, but it speaks to life as well.  We all find ourselves engaged in a variety of struggles.  Often they endure for extended periods of time.  The point is to not give in, but to find the struggle itself a  noble opportunity in developing character, and to find a grace greater than the struggle available to help.  How we deal with struggles shapes who we are.  I hope this drawing helps viewers gain perspective on their own struggles and encourages them to stay strong in the endeavor!

Be strong and courageous!