Helldorado- Call For Art and a History Lesson Too!

 Every year the Elks Club sponsors a rodeo and fair here in Las Vegas and along with those two events is a western themed art show and auction that has become a showcase for some really nice artwork.  This will be my 2nd year of entering and I am excited to get together with my fellow artists and enjoy the artwork.  Maybe I will even sell something!  I've included a link to the festivities if you’re interested and in the area. Helldorado 2014

This event has a long and interesting history including ties to an old local outlaw Indian named Queho. One thing I know...I love learning about Nevada history ALMOST as much as I like painting it. I encourage you to take a minute to read about this bit of Southern Nevada History.  

On a personal side note....I have on a number of occasions visited the area that was once called Cathedral Canyon located on the "Hidden Valley Ranch" off the Tecopa Highway.  This is the final resting place of the infamous Queho.  I even had the pleasure of sitting at the ranch one afternoon and having a short visit with the elderly Mr. Roland Wiley.  Cathedral Canyon was his personal project and it was amazing place to see.  He had converted a ravine on his property into a place where you could sit, meditate and think about things.  It was complete with running water and 2 working restrooms.  There was even a suspension bridge hung overhead that spanned the canyon and it is near that bridge that the marker for Queho's grave can be found.  Sadly, when Mr. Wiley passed away the desert quickly reclaimed the canyon and vandals have done their share to speed up that process.  Queho-Renegade Indian

The artwork is due April 23^rd, so I've been working on these two pieces for the past few months.  I apologize that I am breaking a very important blogging rule by posting less than perfect photos of my artwork but in reality I am more interested in just taking a minute to talk about each of these pieces and their obvious western flare.

"Best Friends"- 16x20 Oil

This first piece I’m calling “Best Friends” and my inspiration for this came from an old public domain photo of a little girl from the Navajo Nation taken in the early 1900’s.  Her smile just grabbed me nearly as tightly as she has grabbed on to her puppy.  This piece is painted in oil and is on a 16x20 canvas.

"Riding the Buckskin"- 18x24 Oil

The second piece is very personal as I painted it from an old photo of my dad, Gerry Diveley as a young rodeo cowboy.  Usually he would ride bulls and I even have a photo of him riding a buffalo but here he is riding in a bare back bronco category.  I don’t know if he made it the whole 8 seconds but I loved the action I’ve attempted to capture here and painting it was therapy for my soul.  Miss you Dad!  I’m leaning towards calling this piece “Riding the Buckskin” but like naming your children, sometimes you have to really think about the best name that fits the piece.

How Do I Put the Rose in the Cheeks?

Almost 2 years ago, I had the pleasure of spending the day under the instruction of artist, Colin Pringle. He was conducting a color seminar and I even took a day off from work so I could attend.  We only painted swatches on canvas panels, but I learned so much.  I'm so glad I took that effort because a few months ago, Colin passed away and it turned out that was my only opportunity to paint with him.

This week I started a new piece of a little Native American Girl holding a puppy dog.  My first attempt last week at the flesh-tone recipe for a Native American portrait I thought lacked a realism and a glow so This morning I dug out my notes from that day long ago.  Colin gave us the base recipe for each skin tone and so I thought I would just share that information today.

Caucasian:  1 pt Cad Red lt

                   2 pt Cad yellow lt and wash with burnt umber

Asian:          1pt yellow ochre

                     1/2 pt Cad Red med

                     1/4 pt burnt umber

                     white

Dark Skin:   2 pts burnt umber

                  1 pt blue

Mexican:   1 pt burnt umber

                  1/2 pt cad red med

                  1/4 pt yellow ochre and wash with burnt umber

Native American: 1/2 pt burnt umber

                         1 pt cad red med

                         1/4 pt yellow ochre and wash with reds

Initial sketch based from a photo retrieved from the public domain library of photos on a Facebook page I follow

Rough draft of my current painting that I'm working on.

This is how the piece looks with just rough blocking in. Of course I know that there are many different opinions but I thought I would start here and experiment with these to see what I come up with.  I do know that I need to work on the coloring of my little girl because she has no glow.

More detail added but still have a long way to go before she is finished

I've worked here on glazing the face and adding more highlights.  Over all I think this piece has potential and hopefully I can pull of the beautiful handwoven blanket and bring life to her fuzzy little companion.  As someone who adores jewelry I am amazed and the pieces this young girl is wearing.  Bracelets of silver and large adornment hanging from around her neck.  It appears to be made of silver, shells and turquoise.  There are even large silver buckles on her little belt.  I'm working from a old black and white photo so I'm really guessing on the colors for this piece.  I'm sure I will be blogging again about this one before she is finished.

 

Do Art With What You Got

This past weekend, I got the privilege of taking a road trip to Reno, Nevada to celebrate the first birthday of my beautiful granddaughter.  The drive takes a solid 7 hours and that is if you only stop once for a quick purge and fill up.  This trip was unusual because we were stuffed to the trunk hinges with all the necessities to stay a few days for the 5 of us.  The only thing is, when one of those five is only 10 months old, then the amount of luggage and baggage is multiplied exponentially.  That was the case this weekend, but I managed to squeeze amongst the diapers, toys and high chair a sketch pad and my sketch box.  It might not be oils and a canvas but you do art with what you got.

I found a few peaceful hours to complete this little sketch of a Navajo girl from an old photo.  I like how she has turned and I think the next thing for me to do is to head down to the Hobby Lobby for a mat and frame.

Navajo Girl (At' eed)-  8x10 Graphite and Pen sketch