One can only imagine that the Statehood Ceremonies as they came to be in the territories were very exciting – full of promise and hope – for most. This Sioux boy stands under an American Parade Flag, the kind that was used during Wyoming’s Statehood Celebration. His perspective, even as a young boy may have been a little different than those celebrating in the streets.

This painting is an oil, 18″ x 12″ and is available at Mountain Trails Gallery in Jackson.

One of my focuses as a painter is portraying the women of the west, as I feel their stories should be told. Originally I had intended to paint primarily my rancher friends and those hardy women that live close to the land. I keep coming back to the Native American women though, as I respect what I feel to be their spirituality and appreciation for the Circle of Life.

“She Loves Their Stories” tells of a visit by this wise woman’s magpie friends. Magpies are thought by many cultures to be messengers that can travel between the dark and the light, bringing word of other events and places. These magpies bring good news!

I have just started showing with Mountain Trails Gallery in Jackson, WY. and this painting is there. It is an oil, 24″ x 24″.

Christine McKay and Debi Schmit will be showing with me in Big Sky on Saturday. These images are of their work. The porcelain sculpted piece by Christy is called “River Runners” and is wonderful! Debi’s painting “Farm Maid 11″ has such a beautiful old world style! You may see more of their work on their own websites.

If you’ve never been to a Native American Fair or ceremony, you’ve missed something. Everyone is usually dressed in their finest ceremonial dress, and many of their other ceremonial or traditional items are draped out over their horses or pickups for all to see. The sound is wonderful – ceremonial drumming and song, the jingling of jingle dresses; lots of horses, dogs, kids. The color and style are spectacular and hard to resist as an artist! This is one of a series of paintings I’ve done of this subject. Here, I was playing with value (dark to light) and color to see how close I could come with both in the girls clothing and the background and still make the painting work. This painting is an oil, 18″ x 14″.

I arrived at Crow Fair one summer just as the opening parade was starting. There was so much color and costume – beautiful! This painting is a compilation of images from that day. I loved this woman’s expression and I hoped to convey what I felt to be her strength and pride. I am enjoying doing these tonal paintings as they seem more “emotional” to me. “Under a Painted Sky” is an oil, 30 x 30, and is for sale through Montana Trails Gallery in Bozeman, MT. tara@montanatrails.com

“Hector” was the first student portrait I finished for “The Many of Faces of Andover” project I am doing for Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. It is an oil, 24″ x 30″. Hector is from the Dominican Republic, and he intended to become an Engineer. He was introduced to fencing at Andover and loved it! He chose to model for me in that outfit. It was also important to Hector to have both the American and the Dominican flags represented in his portrait. www.andover.edu

This is the second portrait I’ve done for Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. My daughter attended PA for three years of high school. It’s an amazing, academically rigorous college prep boarding school. I can’t say enough good things about it. www.andover.edu

For this project, I took pictures of twelve different students, and plan to do paintings of the same. I intend to focus on the diversity of the students, and their special interests as well. Every student there has a unique and interesting life story. They are kids from all over the world. One of the PA focuses is to enroll “youth from every quarter”, and they truly do. This portrait is of a girl named Yendi. It is an oil, 24″ x 30″. Yendi is from NYC, and is now in college, hoping to become a Doctor. She found dance at Andover, and loved it.

To continue the parasol story, I did this painting by request after the Russell Show last year. The gallery wanted a painting like “Little Star”. I would not do another of the same, but did do this one of the same little girl. This painting is much larger, 48″ x 48″ and is for sale through Montana Trails Gallery in Bozeman, MT. This is not a terribly accurate image of the painting. The painting is better! www.montanatrails.com

To digress, I think I should show you my first “parasol painting”. It is called “Little Star” and is an oil, 24″ x 24″. I did this painting last year after having been to Crow Fair in SE Montana. This little girl was in the opening parade. I found her beautiful, and loved the mixing of the Native American and Chinese cultures. If one cares about being historically accurate, the Indians during the Reservation Period could well have traded for something like this Chinese parasol at that time.

This painting was chosen to be in the C.M. Russell Art Auction 2008, and it won the Russell Museum CEO Award given to one auction participant! It is now part of the Russell Museum collection. I have to say that when I saw this painting in a museum show recently, it was still one of my personal favorites.  www.cmrussell.org

I finished this painting recently. It’s called “Shade is Shade. Don’t Matter Where You Find It.” It is an oil, 24″ x 24″. I really enjoyed combining the images of the ladies’ feminine parasol, and the gruff, macho cowboy.

If you’ve spent any time at all on a ranch, you’ll know that ranch people are by necessity innovators and opportunists. Duct tape and baling twine can fix almost anything. All sorts of ‘parts” can be adapted to serve some completely different purpose. In this case on a hot summer day, the ladies’ parasol was quite the find. I had fun creating this very manly guy who obviously wasn’t at all embarrassed about using whatever he could to make his day a little more bearable!