Art shows galore!

2 museum art shows within the next 2 weeks....

Hockaday Museum of Art

10th Annual Benefit Auction of Miniatures

May 13, 2011 is the live auction in Kalispell Montana.

Tucked In  by Shirl Ireland  9" x 12" oil on linen
plein air painting done at the edge of Yellowstone Lake that will be part of their upcoming Show

Moose Bog   by Shirl Ireland   4" x 6" sketch done as a donation to the Hockaday Museum which will be part of their upcoming Show

I've been juried into this prestigious show for the last few years. To learn more about the event check out their site....
http://www.hockadaymuseum.org/index.cfm?inc=page&page=383&page_content=10th%20Annual%20Miniatures%20Exhibition%20at%20the%20Hockaday%20Museum%20of%20Art

Clymer Museum

Premier Art Exhibit, Gala and Auction

May 20-21, 2011 in Ellensburg, Washington

Scratching The Itch   by John Stacy  bronze

Autumn's Passing   by Shirl Ireland   oil on linen

Below is a link to a great article in Western Art Collector magazine about the Show. Both John and I feel honored to have been invited by the director of the Museum, since only 33 artists were invited to participate.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ylDHmCNKCudIf3KoU83dkPV5evjFQDd9zk3BJbV3IGk/edit?hl=en&authkey=CLPQvasF#


AND, I just received notification that I've been invited to the 42nd Annual Mountain Oyster Club Art Show, which is by invitation only, in Tuscon Arizona on November 20th. That's an honor. I'll be looking forward to that one in the fall and keep you posted as it gets closer...

http://www.mountainoysterclub.com/index.php?page=showInfo

Yellowstone Zoo - The ones that got away...

Yesterday, we had some great wildlife sightings out our windows.... White Pelicans flying by (the first ones we've seen this year), an Otter swimming down the Yellowstone River and an Osprey with a fish in his talons. If it weren't for the window, I could have reached out an touched the osprey - he was that close. But I missed my photo opportunities entirely on those. I did manage to get a nice photo of the flock of Cassin's Finch that were using the osprey platform as a perch. (They liked John's 'stick arrangement' even though the Osprey didn't.) So in the place of my missed shots, I'm posting a couple of my past 'best shots', along with some tidbits of Yellowstone wildlife info....

American White Pelican

In Yellowstone, the American White Pelican nest in rookeries on small islands in Yellowstone Lake. Those islands are now closed to the public to keep human disturbances to a minimum. However, there was a time in the 1920's in Yellowstone when rangers went onto the islands to stomp the eggs to keep the Pelican population down. The thinking was that by controlling the Pelican population they could preserve the trout population. Nest building and egg laying occur almost simultaneously - about the same time bison calves are born - right now - early to mid May.


North American River Otter, after catching a trout



North American River Otter family

I love watching otters (I wish I could swim like that!) and seeing them in the river on the edge of our property is a real treat. Otters have clawed, webbed feet and can hold their breath for 8 minutes! Their average life span is 8 to 9 years.

Osprey with a fish

Osprey, are almost exclusively fish eaters - equipped with unique talons to do the job - a reversible outer toe helps them catch the fish and spiny pads on the bottom of their feet help them hold the slippery fish. When airborne, they carry them aerodynamically with the head first. Amazing to watch! We live on a stretch of the river where they fish quite often, so we're lucky to see their dives frequently. But getting a good photo of the action is tricky!

A flock of Cassin's Finch settled on the osprey platform - (an easier photo to capture!)



Cassin's Finch by Shirl Ireland - 6" x 8" oil on linen
This Cassin's Finch is in the collection at the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center



Happy Mother's Day...

We never know how high we are

Till we are called to rise

And then if we are true to plan

Our statues touch the skies.

Emily Dickinson



The OTHER side of being a gallery owner and artist.....

Not only do we make the art that goes INSIDE, but we designed and built the building and are the maintenance department and groundskeepers too. This time of year, those latter jobs involve a lot of shoveling. Luckily, John was gifted with an artistic gene along with a strong back. One of our current projects is expanding and changing the parking area in front of the gallery... 

While we're at it, we thought we might as well set up a nice 'elk feeder' by the door. (People who don't live in Gardiner, may call these things 'flower beds'.)

Unfortunately, a very large rock was right in the middle of where we wanted to expand the parking, so it had to be coaxed into a new location. (John's back isn't quite strong enough to pick that one up.) Then, we repositioned the fence and had our first visitors.

Postcards From The Park

It’s May – that means summer in Yellowstone is coming fast. The question we’ve been kicking around is….So what should we do NEW at the gallery for this summer season?? With 2 artists brainstorming, lack of ideas is not the problem! One that has made the cut is "Postcards From The Park"....small oil paintings.… 4” x 6” size – tiny. Some Yellowstone plein air, some wildlife, some experimental.

I recently tried a few and found them to be wonderfully liberating. When I work on a large canvas, it can take A LOT of brush strokes to make a difference. On a small one, I can see if I'm headed in the right direction in a stroke or two. And you learn a lot that way – quickly.  I’m loving it. What a great way to work out some ideas I’ve had kicking around in my head for a long while. (You know - so many ideas, so little time.)

Soon, you’ll be seeing some of those ideas finally get a chance to make it down my arm and out onto the canvas. Now, I have to figure out how we’re going to display them and frame them... Maybe even unframed??... Maybe they should pop up as the 'Painting Of The Day' from Yellowstone, etc. etc.  Here are a couple to show you a preview of what I’m up to….

(And, of course, if you have any ideas to add to the mix or suggestions for what you'd like to see, we'd thoroughly appreciate the input!)

Art Review - Clyde Aspevig & Ben Steele

While we were out delivering a sculpture to a client over the weekend, we also stopped by the Western Heritage Center in Billings Montana. A wonderful historic downtown building. The art exhibit showcases the work of Clyde Aspevig and Ben Steele - Clyde's teacher from college. We don't usually leave the house without taking in some art. And this was a wonderful show to be able to 'take in'.....

Awesome, a must see! (disclosure-- Clyde is a friend of ours, but also an incredible painter too. We've seen a lot of his work in his studio and we try to make it to just about every Show we can.) He's got "it" - beautiful colors, juicy paint, pleasing compositions. Close up his work looks very 'loose', but stand back and it all comes together. Stunning, to say the least. Definitely work you want to see in person to really appreciate.

Also interesting at the Show, you'll see Clyde's first painting along with his first 'sold' painting (to his father). We had seen his first painting from many, many years ago at his studio, but I was thrilled to see it framed and in this Show. A great example for everyone that even very talented painters have to work at it too! But, boy, has all his hard work paid off. He's certainly an accomplished painter and deserves all the recognition he can get.

My favorite? Winter Glow. You can see the piece at.... http://www.clydeaspevig.com/current.html. But I've seen a lot of Clyde's work in person and as always it's hard to 'pick a favorite' - They're all good.

Another friend of mine also had Ben Steele as an instructor in college. Like Clyde, has only great things to say about him. Interesting man, wonderful art educator with quite a history. To learn more about him....http://www.tearsinthedarkness.com/ben-steele

Hope you get the chance to view the show in person....http://www.ywhc.org/

Sculpture delivering and our Yellowstone zoo...

Last One In - bronze 

John has always been a 'lab man'. So we've had many laborador retrievers over the years. This sculpture is of 2 very special labs to us. Legendary in our minds! John knew these dogs well and really captured the movement of their jump into the water.

We delivered Last One In to a client yesterday, a 'fellow lab man'. The client's license plate shows that it's the perfect piece for him!....

Our Backyard Zoo

(images taken right out the gallery windows)

An osprey stopped by our nesting platform to check it out this morning! No osprey has been back yet with more sticks to 'set up shop', but it's still early, you never know. We'll keep watching...

The stay on our nesting platform was short. But several osprey have been fishing in our stretch of the river lately. I've shot some good ones of them hovering, right out our windows, while they look for fish.....

Another group of bull bison swam across the river to our beach. It was a hard winter in Yellowstone, so many bison have taken refuge in the lower elevations and milder climate of Gardiner and the surrounding area...