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Nancy Cawdrey Gallery News
Willy the teacup Yorkie here, writing from what the humans call “Doggie Camp” here in Whitefish, MT. Mom and Dad (Nancy and Steve) are flying off to the Midwest somewhere; they never tell me where they’re going, and yet again I’ve been unceremoniously bundled off to someone’s house without anyone asking what I wanted. This time I’m at my big brother Morgan’s place, though, so at least I can stay up late and watch whatever I want—it’s like visiting him at college.
Actually, now I recall overhearing Mom and Dad talking about heading to Oklahoma City for events at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum on Friday and the Howell Gallery on Saturday. I’m happy to remain in Montana though, I hate traveling. Airports are nothing but acres of hard surfaces without a single patch of grass for a diminutive dog to relieve himself, and airplanes are worse: I get stuffed under the seat for hours and subjected to all the strange and terrible odors humans exude at high altitudes. I can’t even stick my head out the window for a brief respite.
 Frankly, I don’t even understand why Nancy has to travel so far from home when her all-in-one muse, model and companion is here patiently waiting for his handsome countenance to be painted into another masterpiece. How many dog paintings has she done? Not enough. And how many have sold? All of them.
In any case, the main event this weekend will be watching the University of Montana Grizzlies football team face off against the Montana State Bobcats tomorrow, and I am firmly in the Grizzly camp for the following reasons:
- I object to cats of all kinds, not least because most of them are bigger than I am. What’s bigger than a Bobcat, though? A grizzly!
- I have been told that my distinguished flanks resemble those of a bear. See for yourself.
 Bear Ass
- All my humans are Griz fans. It follows that if the Grizzlies carry the day, I’m more likely to receive treats from exultant humans.
- My middle name is Paddington, after the curious bear.
Morgan’s girlfriend Avis also seems determined to get some mileage out of my magnetism, dressing me up in Grizzly gear and parading me around in a satchel fit only for a human baby. I think they just want the attention, and it only costs me my dignity to humor them.
Until next time –Willy
 Artists Carol Hagan and Nancy Cawdrey take a break from painting cattle to herd them This week, Nancy and Steve find themselves at Triple Creek Ranch near Hamilton, MT for a week of cow punching and silk painting. Every year the Ranch brings Nancy, Carol Hagan and Brent Cotton, as well as other prestigious Montana artists, to teach guests basic lessons in their respective media for a weekend. Of course, it’s Steve who gets to take full advantage of all the dude ranch amenities, because they keep the artists pretty busy, but this year Nancy got to ride along in the cattle drive, which Steve has done without fail for the last four years.
 Pat and Carol Hagan, Steve and Nancy and several other guests enjoying the ride in the rain I was lucky to go along last year, and it’s quite an experience. I have always seen cattle moving from one field to another, but had never really thought about the skills necessary to complete these mini-migrations—the horsemanship, teamwork and bravery of the cowboys and cowgirls as they put unruly cattle back into line and face down the enormous bulls was notable.
When we pulled up bright and early to the working part of the ranch, there was a heavy mist hanging in the valley and all we could see was the corrugated steel outlines of the barns. But once we were on the horses and movin’ ‘em out and the sun began to shine through—yes, I could see the appeal, the experience for which so many fly all the way out to Montana (only to pay the cowboys to be put to work). Think “City Slickers” but cushier, with premade lunches of shrimp cocktails when one is on the trail and a tasty beverage and Relais & Châteaux-level gourmet meal waiting back at the main lodge.
 Autumn sun shines weakly through the mist I rode alongside a police officer from Oakland, CA, one of the most dangerous law-enforcement districts in the country, who has come to TCR with his wife for this weekend for several years. He unwinds from rounding up criminals by chasing down cattle, it seems.
 Me (Morgan) and my dad driving some doggies last year Another event thoroughly enjoyed by guests during this weekend with the artists is a rotating quick draw, the only one I know of its kind. Each of the three artists and a surprise guest, often the owner of the lodge Craig Barrett, start out with their own pieces, have ten minutes to work on them then rotate to the left to work on the next piece for ten minutes, and so on for an hour. These are then placed around the ranch, usually in little-used bathrooms or the like—collaboration between artists is a tricky thing, particularly when there is a certain unnamed amateur in the mix that kept inserting cows and deer into every work in progress when it was his turn. Nancy and Carol, both famous for their use of color, also struggle to constrain themselves to Brent’s muted hues and vice versa. Results are…interesting. Check back next week for pictures!
 Looks like an ambush  Carol and Pat Hagan looking SHARP last year  True cowgirls and cowboys all
Each year at this time in September, Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey and I drive to Wyoming for two major art shows, two Quick Draws and to support two galleries in this state: West Lives On Contemporary Gallery and Big Horn Galleries.
 Steve (author) and Nancy with Cindy and Steve LaPorta from Connecticut with their new purchase "Pansy Partners." Jackson Hole is along the western edge of the state over the hill from Idaho. We arrived last Thursday. We delivered one new piece to Terry Ray at the West Lives On gallery and then drove to the National Museum of Wildlife Art for the annual Western Visions Miniatures and More show. Nancy has been one of the “More” artists these past few years and she had three pieces in the show—all three sold!
On Saturday Nancy participated in the annual Quick Draw in the town square for the town of Jackson.
 "Tanka Buffalo" at the Quick Draw, which sold for 20% above retail There are two types of these functions in the art world: Quick Draw or a Quick Finish. Each of these events require the artists to complete a piece in one to two hours while patrons mill about and watch, then the artist places the artwork in a frame and hands it over to the auctioneer for a live auction. The tradition began with classic Western artists like Charlie Russell and Frederick Remington doing a quick sketch on a napkin to raise funds, but times have changed.
The two events here in Wyoming are Quick Draws—Nancy’s least favorite type. She can barely complete a piece in 90 minutes, let alone in 60 minutes. These two events insist that the canvas be blank at the beginning (except a ground color over the white) and the organizers have this mistaken belief that these events are more exciting for the buyers to watch the “Olympics of the Art World.” Very few quality painters or sculptors are willing to do this. Nancy ALWAYS takes her pieces home and works several more weeks on them in her studio until they are finished properly and then they are sent to our framer to assemble correctly without all the dust, flies, leaves, etc. that are hanging about in the environment.
A Quick Finish, on the other hand, is more a true demonstration of an artist’s process and technique. The piece can be nearly complete before the event and the artist only does the final touches and has the time to visit with the spectators and answer questions. It is most noteworthy that Quick Finishes receive bids 2 to 3 times higher and the sponsoring events (mainly museums) raise much more from the effort and attract many more of the best artists willing to participate.
 "Tanka Buffalo" Last week at the Jackson Hole quick draw she painted a buffalo she called “Tanka Buffalo” (see her Facebook page for the live updates that happened as she worked on this piece and for a photo). As she was nearing the end of the 90-minute time limit, I really wanted to tell the organizers she would not place the piece in the auction—I was so impressed how this piece unfolded, I wanted to keep it for our private collection. It was a stunner.
Now we are in Cody, WY for the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale. Her piece this year is called “Stream of Life”. That piece will be sold at live auction Friday night (tonight!) at the gala dinner in an enormous tent next to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center—a Museum worth traveling to Cody to see.
She will be demonstrating at the Big Horn Galleries Friday morning and she will be doing a head of a grizzly bear for her Quick Draw on Saturday morning. I will try to take photos again as these events are happening and we will post them on her Facebook page.
-Steve
 Nancy teaching at a workshop at the Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival My parents were both educators for a very large part of their lives, first in England when they were my age, then at Spring Creek Community in Thompson Falls, MT where I grew up, and coming from that kind of pedigree I expected to enjoy the profession. It’s been a long time since my mom, Nancy, taught French, but she still teaches painting once or twice a year and she’s obviously comfortable in front of a classroom, telling stories and using her acting skills to keep everyone entertained.
I did a little practicum with a literature class in Hanover, NH while I was a senior in college, and of course that was fun and easy because Hanover is one of the wealthier school districts in the country and the students’ parents have already done most of the work–all a teacher really has to do is present the material and discuss with a lot of fertile minds who know how to learn. It’s a pretty cherry job.
 This class was a handful Then I was drop-kicked into the Marshall Islands for a school year, volunteer teaching English as a second language on an island with 4000 miles of nothing but Pacific Ocean between me and the comforts of home. The students were woefully unprepared by their elementary schools, the whole country struggles with corruption and poverty and teaching was HARD. I faced the depressing conflict of wanting to give these kids all the English skills they would need to succeed in some way, while not having the teaching skills, the time or the energy to make it happen. ”Mr. C, why does a building burn up as it burns down?” All I could do was shrug and say, “Ahh, because English is a very difficult language.”
Not only that, but I’ve found that my best teachers were always much older than I am, with a lifetime of interesting experiences and wisdom. Who the hell was I to teach these kids, some of whom were only a year younger and caring parents of a three-year-old child?
Long story short, I really didn’t take to teaching there and that was a valuable learning in
 One of Elizabeth's Copper Creations itself (I have a point here, and I’m getting close to it, hang in there!). However, teaching silk painting, as I did on my own and with my mom in the last few weeks, was some of the most rewarding fun I’ve had. So much of being a decent educator is having confidence in your subject, and it doesn’t hurt if your students are excited to be there as well. I guess my point, such as it is, is that I really like teaching when it’s easy.
I also salute teachers who hang in there when the odds are stacked against them, like Nancy’s sister Elizabeth Dunlop who taught elementary school in low-income Phoenix areas for most of her career (and who now is pursuing her art! Check out her Facebook and website!). I owe many of my teachers a huge debt, and we should all support them in this era of budget crises when their already low salaries (particularly in Montana) are on the chopping block.
Nancy and Steve are in Jackson Hole this weekend for the Fall Arts Festival and her annual show at the new contemporary section of the West Lives On Gallery. Pictures and updates to follow! Then they head to Cody, Wy for the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale.
Last week, Bigfork hosted the world’s best guitar artists and teachers along with some extremely talented students as part of the Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival. The week-long festival and workshop took place at the Flathead Lake Lodge. The horses, cattle, cowboy boots and the distinct “dude ranch” smell created the perfect venue for a true Montana experience.
 A mother and her foal at Flathead Lake Lodge Team Nancy joined the festivities, teaching a Watercolor Workshop for not only guests of the guitar workshop, but also members of the Bigfork community. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 9 am to noon Morgan and Nancy instructed twenty VERY excited students in watercolor and silk painting techniques. Students came to the class with varying levels of experience and confidence; including an art school applicant, several students from last year’s class, a very cute 12 year old and me! I don’t think it’s unfair to refer to us as a demanding class and judging from the way Morgan and Nancy sank into the breakfast nook upon our return home, I think we worked them pretty hard!
 Nancy doing a watercolor demonstration As the class days passed, and my landscape began to look more like a forest fire than a forest, I enjoyed watching Nancy and Morgan move from student to student offering advice. Nancy and Morgan aren’t just great artists, they are the best kind of teacher. They’re encouraging, kind and extremely good at their craft. Overall, it was a great week and every student left the class with a piece they were proud of.
 My pieces from the class, not quite finished yet!  Work in progress Check out this link to see one of my favorite artists at the Festival perform!
Joe Bonamassa live feat. Eric Clapton
Click here to read more about the Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival and workshops
I’ve been home in Montana for almost a month now, and despite odd weather, cold rivers and more mosquitoes than I’ve ever seen before in my LIFE, it pulls me back more and more. Joined by friends from the Flathead Valley and my girlfriend and adventure buddy Avis Caplan, I’ve had an awesome August, and we’re looking forward to moving to Whitefish in October to see how we handle snowdrifts and chopping our own firewood. Though I’ll dearly miss everyone in Boston and the East Coast, my home for the last nine months, it’s time for a new adventure.
The highlight of the trip to MT was a four-day backpacking trip in the northwestern corner of Glacier National Park that Avis and I had been planning and looking forward to for months. We had anticipated starting out at Kintla Lake and hiking up over Boulder Pass and Hole in the Wall, but record snowpack and cool temperatures meant that it was impassable except for experienced winter hikers with ice axes. That did not describe us, so we adjusted our route and expectations, starting instead at Bowman Lake and going over Brown Pass.
 Our route  Prepared for any and all grizzly encounters. Well, I was. Some highlights:
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 Brown Pass avalanche  So happy to get out of there! Reaching Brown Pass campground about 13 miles into our first day, too tired to go any further, and setting up camp, only to discover that we had decided to sleep in what had to be the mosquito equivalent of Tokyo. We were tasty pink Godzillas, under siege all night from hundreds of little bloodsuckers just waiting for Nature to call us out from the safety of my new REI Half-Dome tent. My theory for why they were so bad was that the avalanche that came through the campground (and flattened the pit toilet under tons of trees and snow) had wiped out their natural predators, leaving them to prosper.
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 Fishing at Lake Francis. Nice form! Meeting a large man named Dave at Lake Francis, who let us use his fishing rod in the frigid waters of the glacial lake, until Avis cast a little too vigorously and sent his last lure sailing into the deeps. Dave (from Boulder, CO) claimed that in hundreds of GNP visits, he had had over 600 grizzly encounters, only 12 of which “went bad.” I believe this was less of a comfort to Avis than he had intended.
- Meeting the parents at Goat Haunt Ranger Station on the third night. They had driven up to Waterton and then taken the ferry down Waterton Lake, bringing two huge backpacks full of homemade chili, polenta, salad, fresh eggs and wine. This feast gave us the energy and motivation for the 25 mile final push.
 It's kill or be killed out there in the savage wilderness
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 Avis on a gorgeous alpine meadow surrounded by fifty peaks Reaching Fifty Mountain back country campground, so named because you can see 50 mountains from a summit nearby. One of my new favorite places in the world, and definitely the best spot in the park. We had planned to stay the night there, but Avis heard about a grizzly sighting nearby on the way there, and I was tired of sleeping on the ground, so we decided to get to the end of the trail that same day. We ended up covering 25 miles, much of it in a dazed silence, and reaching the car as dusk set in.
I’m over my self-imposed limit of 500 words already, with still so much to talk about! I was going to discuss my recent painting classes, but it will have to wait. Check back next week for Avis’ impressions of taking a silk painting class at the Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival this week, and make sure to “like” Nancy Cawdrey Studios on Facebook for regular updates!
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where they’re going, and yet again I’ve been unceremoniously bundled off to someone’s house without anyone asking what I wanted. This time I’m at my big brother Morgan’s place, though, so at least I can stay up late and watch whatever I want—it’s like visiting him at college.
Frankly, I don’t even understand why Nancy has to travel so far from home when her all-in-one muse, model and companion is here patiently waiting for his handsome countenance to be painted into another masterpiece. How many dog paintings has she done? Not enough. And how many have sold? All of them.
