Don't miss this Western journey

Poster outside the exhibit

If you are a Westerner, or love the West, or wildlife, or great art, there's an exhibit at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History that you don't want to miss, and it ends April 26.
"Harmless Hunter, The Wildlife Work of Charles M. Russell" brings 18 paintings, 10 small sculptures and 13 other sketches and work from several famous museums around the country to the OU campus in Norman.
Go see it to be inspired.
You can't take photographs inside the exhibit, but I've downloaded a couple from the Internet to give you a taste.
The show is curated by OU's Dr. Byron Price, Charles Marion Russell Memorial Chair, and Director of Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West at OU.
I was particularly taken by some of the watercolors I'd never seen before, and some of the oils took my breath away. It's like studying art from a master.
It was a day when I needed a boost, and worth the hassle of driving to Norman, because for two hours of watching, studying, taking notes, I forgot about the rest of the world and was transported back to the last days of the Old West.
The West was and is a place of conflict, between nature, humans and wildlife, and nobody caught this more than Russell. I'll admit, I've been around his work all my life because my Dad was an artist who loved Russell and who found inspiration there. 
The exhibit gets its title from Russell, who hunted wildlife with his paintbrush as a "Harmless Hunter," and he had an unsurpassed talent to capture the soul of animals, four- and two-legged alike, in action. 

His favorite subject was probably the buffalo, and out of more than 2,000 works, his portrayal of this wild animal helped make it the icon of the West. His signature on every painting of a buffalo skull is an icon in its own right. 
Other wildlife that he painted include numerous grizzly in conflict, wolves, deer, mountain lions, pronghorn, birds, bighorn sheep, foxes and coyotes.
All of his work tells stories, stories of the West, and most of them leave the conclusions in doubt, as one panel terms them "predicaments," where humans and wildlife face each other. Such is the case with exhibit poster, a detail  of one of the paintings, "Crippled but Still Coming."

"Crippled but Still Coming"--opening painting of the exhibit

The rugged landscapes are as dramatic as the action, and Russell excelled in subjects late in the day, when the light is dramatic with shadows and sunlight  or passing, just as the Wild West was passing while he lived, 1864-1926. My favorite, which I sat in front of for a long time, as the day fades and the full moon rises, is "To the Victor Belong the Spoils," of Grizz taking the kill, while wolves circle at a distance.

My favorite, "To the Victor Belong the Spoils"

I could write much more, but here are some of the main things I noticed as an art student, who was particularly interested in his eight watercolors. The vivid colors and landscapes of the oils are almost the opposite of the watercolors. In the watercolors, the central subjects have brighter colors and the backgrounds fade in the dusty distance. You can almost taste the dust.
But in all his paintings, his meticulous and accurate attention to detail is amazing, whether it is Indian garb, cowboy dress, firearms, gun belts, or more.
And don't miss his humor, as a sketch of a fox and skunk smoking a peace pipe, or his illustrated letters to friends, including one of him up a tree in Florida with a crocodile underneath, or a sculptured wolf sniffing a discarded whiskey bottle.
Another favorite was a five-inch square watercolor on birchbark with a poem to some recently married friends, with the owl and other birds discussing the newlyweds. There are also illustrations for magazine articles, sketches for his paintings, and more. I came back trying to find a couple of favorite large watercolors on the Internet, having never seen them before, and couldn't, including one of Teddy Roosevelt hunting a grizzly with dogs. So worth the trip. But here is one watercolor, of Russell on a horse in a actual buffalo roundup, "Pablo's Buffalo Hunt,"  in his beloved Montana.

"Pablo's Buffalo Hunt"--a watercolor

This is a treasure. Don't miss it.

Lessons from watercolor painting

Great Plains rain...6" by 9"

Art is always a teacher, if I'm willing to learn. I'm drawn to watercolor because the type-A personality in me, the perfectionist, is seeking liberation from the urge to be responsible for everything, to control outcomes.
I learn from watercolor lessons that apply to living, as well as painting, and certainly about seeing. I wish I'd gone to art school, and been able to study and paint with my Dad. But the times are long past for that, so I try to make do with what I've been privileged to learn and attempt over the past 13 or so years.
 There have been some successes, and a lot of failures, but they've all taught me, and kept me either humble or happy, or both. Discouragement has been frequent, but somehow, I've not quit trying. I do know I could be so much better. Some of that improvement comes from reading, especially my periodic notes in a journal. Here are a few.

• A failure isn't a failure if you learn from it.
• You can't control everything, so don't try.
• Being tight negates creativity, art and life.
• Light is much better than dark.
• My skies are the best, because I'm most loose, and free, when I paint them. I love skies. Lesson?
• Diagonals command attention. Straight lines are boring.--in art and life.
• The contrast of light and dark, warm and cool, gives the most impact. Life without contrast is dull.
• Painting is problem solving, and solving those problems takes your mind off all other problems.
• I know how to compose--the trick is to compose and then let creativity take over. Composition is truth--creativity is spirit. Jesus said to worship in spirit and truth.
• Wet into wet gives the most unpredictable, the most lack of control, the most creativity, the most freedom.
• It's taken a long time to develop my writing voice, but even thought it was gradual and sometimes unconscious, it didn't just happen. How can I expect my watercolor voice, style, to just happen? 
• My best paintings--Christmas cards--are good because they're fast and loose. They're impressions from my mind, not a photograph, therefore they're my style. I forget that the bigger the painting. Quit trying to live a life--live today.
• The cards are instinctive illusions of reality, as is all art. Quit worrying about details and paint instinctively. Live instinctively.
• What are the connections between my writing and watercolors? There are if I find them. I see the connections between my photography and painting.
• I've ruined a lot of paintings with over attention to small details, especially in foregrounds. You don't like people who pay too much attention to small details in life and work, so quit.
• Homer and Turner and Russell used anything that worked in their paintings. They didn't care about rules, or expectations. They were secure in themselves and honest, and successful. People who aren't secure in themselves and aren't honest, aren't successful.
• Painting is best when you're having fun. So is life.

Thirsty country, watercolor

Windmill country, 17 by 22 300 pound Fabriano Artistica paper--the third try on this windmill (see previous posts) I saw near Black Mesa for me. Previous were 9 by 12. I wanted to try something bigger for a frame I already have, and tried some things I saw Charlie Russell do in the exhibit at Fort Worth. More work ahead.