This year, on my way to Montana for the NWR show, I took a few days and stopped in Idaho to visit one of the artist's I've idolized since art school; George Carlson. At the Academy, Mr. Parks showed us a videotape of George Carlson doing a demo for the National Academy of Western Art and we were all amazed at both his sculptures and drawings. George had actually also gone to the American Academy of Art himself and my teacher had been trained by the same teachers who George studied with. I would have been amazed had I thought I would get to know and become such good friends with someone like this whom I consider one of the handful of true masters of our time. I don't say this lightly, and it is not only because of his technical skill, but even more importantly because of the honesty and uncompromising search for truth that George imbues all his work and life with that I feel as I do. In a world where money has diverted many great visionaries, this is one artist who has stayed focused on what Art is meant to stand for and I have no doubt that he will be one of the few remembered by history.

Here's George working away in his studio with the skeleton of a monument in the foreground.

Each morning we got up early and went out either bike riding or canoeing. After the infusion of natural beauty, we went to George's studio where he had arranged a model to pose for painting, sculpting, and sketching. Here's a shot of George about halfway through a portrait we did together.

And here's a couple shots of his final portrait after only three hours! I'll spare your eyes and my ego a shot of my attempt. Three hours seems like more than enough time for me to do a finished portrait in oil, but wax is a whole new ball of... well, you get the idea. The most illuminating thing for me was just the procedure for measuring and of turning the model and your sculpture small increments and lining things up from a dozen angles all the way around -- just as if you were drawing twelve different charcoals.

Here's a piece a model was posing for when I arrived.

A close up of one of George's Bronzes. He didn't just find his inspiration for these subjects in a book, but traveled to Mexico over and over again and lived with these Indians for months at a time before their culture had been altered by the intrusion of the modern world. George told me that the boy he hired to act as his guide and interpreter was so interested in art himself that he paid to send him to Chicago to attend the American Academy in the seventies.

Here's one of the many pieces from his American Ballet Theatre series when he lived in New York. 

This is a taste of some of the marshes we canoed through in the mornings.

After about twenty minutes of hard rowing though wild rice our "shortcut" had already taken us twice as long as the normal way, but isn't that what adventure is all about! Here's George looking back at the path our canoe had cut through the rice. We'd finally hit a patch that was just too shallow to row through any longer, so just after this was taken, we both got out into the water and dragged the canoe for a while until it deepened again.

Terry Lee, the renowned wildlife artist, was kind enough to invite me to join him and George at his studio for some figure drawing one evening. George has a stack of absolutely amazing drawings in his studio! I love collecting drawings so was happy to add one of his to my wall at home!

If you want any yourself, just e-mail George's wife, Pam, at  to find out which ones are available and how much they are.
 http://georgecarlson.com/

Here's George and Pam on their boat on the way back home from a day at the studio. Thanks to them both for the amazing hospitality! 

And then on to the Western Rendezvous show in Helena, Montana! Here's a shot of Susan's paintings on the walls.
http://www.westrendart.com/Default.htm

The show is held in the Helena Civic Center and anyone who's visited there will know the building by the tall minaret outside on the dome. It's great because you can see it from anywhere in town so you never need to ask directions. The building is as  marvelously quirky and varied as the artists in the show and gives this event it's own flavor. Every year the artists get together at a campout before the show to hang out, drink beer, run from Grizzlies, and even occasionally do some painting. I've never seen a group that has so much fun together and because of this, the show is one of the least pretentious and highest quality I've ever seen. 

There are no restrictions whatsoever on what you paint in this show. It's all about simply showing great paintings, as you can see by some of Shirley Novak's magical floral paintings, hanging next to a Quang Ho interior...

...and some of my paintings from Peru, next to some cowboys by Tom Browning...

... and this awesome winter snow scene by Kathy Whipfler.

And it's due in large part to Frank Montibeller, the Godfather of the NWR group who makes it all possible by leading us as our president.

Here's Tim Thies painting at the Quick Draw. 

And Greg Beecham painting roses in a cowboy hat in front of some blue porta-potties -- not a sight you see every day!

Carolyn Anderson.

And Tom Browning trying to save himself a few words with a pre-emptive t-shirt.

Here's the Hughes', a couple of the most wonderful people you'll ever meet. Without art lovers like them and the many others that attend these shows and put their money behind what they believe to be worthwhile, there simply wouldn't be any artists. They've bought paintings from us for many years, and, to a large extent, they are just as much collaborators in the art we create now since we could never have come this far without people like them. In some of the countries we travel to, I marvel at the lack of good artists able to support themselves solely from their work. In all cases, it isn't that they lack talented artists, but that there isn't the collectors necessary to allow them to paint for the decades necessary to reach a high level of expression. We are truly blessed to live in a country where there are people who support what we love to do above everything else. 

Jack Hines starting a bold portrait.

Here's Katrina and Brooke putting on their happy faces. Brooke did an excellent job modeling for my Quick Draw and both her and her sister have helped me out the last several years by putting a few strokes on my painting. My plan is to get them to do more and more of the paintings each year so that in twenty years they'll be doing them for me completely!

Time for the Quick Draw paintings to get auctioned off -- and for me to make my exit!

Well, this year's show was the most crowded it's ever been and as I looked out the plane's window at this incredible above-the-clouds sunrise, I couldn't help but wonder at the amount of beauty and inspiration one can cram into a single week!