working western

I'm still painting western! Getting ready for the event next month in Ellensburg, WA. Here's one of my most recent fellows checking things out. The size is 24" x 24" oil on canvas (framed of course). If you're interested drop me a line --I have no problem selling it before the show LOL!

Artist in Action

Heading Back 30" x 24" oil on canvas

Come see an oil painting demo. I'll be doing it at the Fountainhead Gallery (625 W. McGraw St., Seattle, WA) this Saturday, March 20th starting at 3:00 pm. I plan on painting a cowboy from a photo reference I took last year.

Now that spring is here I look forward to getting out to the shows and taking more shots of cowboys for reference. I had planned on doing so this weekend, but had the wrong dates for the reining show. But there will be plenty of more opportunities coming up this summer. The same actual cowboy, just different shots, can be used many times. I just change the color of clothing and horse.

Above is my most recent cowboy titled "Heading Back". This fellow will be framed in the next week or so and then shipped to one of my new galleries -- the Philinda Gallery in Edwards, Colorado (in the Vail valley). I have several new paintings going there, so if you live in that neck of the woods drop me a line and I'll keep you informed about when they'll be available.

Figures and Friends

Curious & George 20" x 24" oil on canvas

Okay so there were other things I forgot on my fall recap, like a solo show called "Western Life" in the Ballard area of Seattle. But I'm anxious to post newer things. So here are a couple of posts to catch bring things up to date. I'll break them up so they are not as lengthy as that one.

Naturally my big focus is on my one woman show coming up in March at the Fountainhead Gallery. Here is some of the press release info.

Award winning artist Karen McClelland will have a solo show of her original oil paintings titled "Figures and Friends", featuring people, cats, dogs and horses, at the Fountainhead Gallery, March 4th through the 28th, 2010. There will be an opening reception and a chance to meet the artist on Saturday, March 6th from 5-7p.m. The fountainhead Gallery is located in the Queen Anne area of Seattle, at 625 W. McGraw St., Seattle, WA 98119. For more information contact the fountainhead gallery at 206-285-4467.

The painting above will be featured on the front of the postcard. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come to the reception and say "hi" to me. If you want your very own invitation, send me your snail mail address and we'll mail you a postcard.

Salute painting

To finish up my "Salute" painting story. These are the deep gallery wrapped canvas, because obviously I didn't want a frame on them. When Salute is hung the canvases are spaced 1 1/2 inches apart. So I made block thing (from tapping several house paint type stir sticks together) that was 1 1/2 inches.

Then I could work on a couple of the paintings at a time. I'd have them stacked on my large floor easel. Naturally I couldn't work on the entire painting at the same time, although on occasion I did try. The painting was hung in my gallery from the very start, then I would take down the sections I wanted to work on to my easel. Then put them back up on the wall. Well naturally I kept seeing something I wanted to work on when standing back looking at the over all painting. So I'd forget and go up to make the stroke. Of course that didn't work. They paintings where hung, so they would tip and move all over.

I'm the kind of a artist who works a painting all at once. I also like to work alla prima (wet into wet) and with such a large piece I couldn't do that as much as I would have liked. Areas would dry before I could get back to them. Anyway I had those canvases up and down off the wall so many times. LOL

The one downside I did find to doing such a large piece was when I went to take a photo at the Parklane Gallery (in Kirkland, WA) so that folks could see it. Obviously to fit the entire thing in the frame I had to stand quite a ways back. And therefore the viewer doesn't get to see the brushwork that went into the piece. This always happens when trying to share small jpgs, but certainly I'd never encountered it to this extent.

So for your viewing pleasure (and to show that brushwork). This blog entry starts off with a portion of one of the panels - the nose.

Hope you enjoyed my "Salute" story. I'm on to jockeys next . . . . .