Painting of the Day, October 25, 2011

By Donna Poulton

Credit: Permission of the artist

Arturo Chavez, Rock of Ages, 2010, oil on linen on panel, 80 x 160 in.

A brilliant colorist, Arturo Chavez paints the West on an epic scale.  His Grand Canyon scene, Rock of Ages, captures the sweeping view that is too much to comprehend at one glance. He offers the light hitting the rock (pictured in the detail below) as an anchor from which to gain entry into the panorama.

Chavez has hit his stride in the last few years winning the West Select Purchase Prize in Phoenix and the Harrison Eiteljorg Purchase Award at the Eiteljorg Museum. He is featured in a number of magazines and books and will be featured in the upcoming book Art Journey America. I look forward to every new painting coming out of his studio.

Painting of the Day, October 24, 2011

By Donna Poulton

Carl Rungius, Silver Tip Grizzly Bear – Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada. 1923, oil on canvas, 22 x 28 in. Collection of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming.

After spending time on a Wyoming ranch in 1895, Carl Rungius (1869-1859) immigrated from Berlin, Germany to the U.S. and never looked back. Fascinated with the abundance of big game in the West, Rungius began working as a wildlife illustrator for books and magazines.  By 1909, he turned his attention to easel painting full time and is now considered one of the most important wildlife painters of the 20^th century.

Painting of the Day, October 23, 2011

By Donna Poulton

James Swinnerton created the “Little Jimmy” comic strip in 1903.  It was featured until 1958 making it the longest running comic created by the same artist. After leaving New York to recover from tuberculosis in California, he relocated to the west coast and began painting in the desert southwest.

James (Jimmy) Swinnerton, (1875 – 1974) Quaking Aspen, Flagstaff, Arizona, n.d., 24 x 20 in. Credit: Santa Fe Art Auction

Painting of the Day, October 21, 2011

By Donna Poulton

Thomas Moran (1837 – 1926), Pack Trail, Grand Canyon, grisaille on board, 11 x 6 in. 

The value range achieved with grisaille, or the use of monochromatic color, made it easier for Moran to translate the sketch Pack Trail, Grand Canyon into a black and white lithograph that would have been used for one of the many commissions he did for magazines and newspapers.

Painting of the Day, October 20, 2011

by Donna Poulton

Contemporary Colorado artist Tracy Felix remarks “I use familiar mountain images and elevate them to iconic status. Many of my paintings I consider to be portraits of great symbols of the West.” Tracy is collected by the Anschutz Collection, Denver Public Library, Denver Art Museum, Kirkland Museum and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.

© Used with permission of Tracy Felix

Tracy Felix, Cubic Landscape, 2005, oil, 24 18 in.

© Used with permission of Tracy Felix

Tracy Felix, Along the Rio Grande, Oil on panel, 25 x 20 in.