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:

1. 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!
2. I have been told that my distinguished flanks resemble those of a bear.  See for yourself.
   

   Bear Ass

3. 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.
4. 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

I was enrolled at the American University in Paris and the course work for art studies required studio classes in the artsy Latin Quarter, where we were encouraged “to paint what we felt,” spoken in French of course.  (Looking back, I believe I remember feeling I didn’t know HOW to paint and at 17 certainly didn’t know HOW I felt.)  I had finished several oil paintings, searching for a style, for my “voice” – and two of them I deemed worthy of sharing with my patron parents.  My studio art instructor had commented that my pieces were reminiscent of Pierre Bonnard – a compliment, I think.

As I sat on the crowded train, hurtling through a dark winter evening, the steam from the huge locomotive billowed past my window with drama and mystery.  I felt my excitement grow as I anticipated seeing my family waiting for me at the Frankfurt train station.  I particularly missed my two young sisters, Sarah and Elizabeth who were 7 and 4, and I had purchased (with the meager funds at my disposal – at the expense of fewer art materials and food), two French dolls beautifully dressed and coiffed.  I also felt very grateful to my parents for sending me to college in cosmopolitan “gay Paree.”  I was wearing the nice wool coat and boots my mother had outfitted me in before setting off to the fashion capitol of the world.

I was two hours into the journey, and felt the need to use the WC, so arranged my belongings and shyly made eye contact with some of my cabin mates, implying a request to watch my things.  “Vous pouvez regarder mes valises, s’il vous plait?”  I  believe I had an assent, and left the cabin in search of the nearest bathroom.  After some minutes stretching my legs and getting a little air (these were the days of strong Gitane and Gauloise smoke permeating every train cabin),  I made my way back.

After a few minutes of settling back in to read my book, I noticed the two paintings were gone – vanished from the compartment!  My suitcase with the Christmas gifts was there and in tact, but the artwork was gone.  I looked imploringly at my cabin mates, and received (very French) expressive, whole body shrugs in response.  I got up and made a thorough search of the cabin and the corridor, but to no avail.  The paintings were gone, and the cabin had lost several occupants.

Two thoughts occurred to me, almost simultaneously:  I was very distressed that I would not be able to show my parents the results of their kind patronage.  I also felt unreasonably flattered that someone thought the paintings were worthy of grand theft!

Wouldn’t it be a gas if, now with international access to names and such via the Internet, someone found the stolen paintings in some cob-webbed attic of Great Uncle Francois.  They could Google my signed name Nancy Dunlop, contact me and the mystery would be solved after 45 years.  Such is the stuff of legend.

- Nancy

Brent Cotton, Nancy, Craig Barrett and Carol Hagan. Each person painted for 10 minutes on their own, then rotated to the next one.

Some great results, much better than last year!  Mr Barrett (above) is the owner of Triple Creek and former CEO of Intel Corp., and is apparently a skilled painter as well.  It sounded like a lot of fun.

Meanwhile, I am in the middle of moving my life from Boston back to Whitefish, Montana–exciting, but also the reason that this week’s blog is short and not so sweet.  My car is absolutely stuffed with everything that could possibly fit, even some things that really don’t, so the passenger’s seat is fraught with the danger of loose objects sliding forward onto the head.

Every crevice is filled with a roughly corresponding shape.

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

Today, in the spirit of enjoying all that Boston has to offer before we head to the comparatively bleak cultural landscape of Montana, Avis and I went to the Harvard Museum of Natural History to take up a friend from Dartmouth on her offer to give us a tour.  Bridget Alex, our extremely knowledgable guide through time and space (like Ms. Frizzle on the Magic School Bus!), is a Harvard anthropology grad student who has done fascinating work in Eastern Europe, uncovering the secrets of our oldest ancestors, the Homo Sapiens so many of us are descended from, and trying to determine whether they ever had contact with Neanderthals.  I love anthropology.  It would have been my major if Chinese didn’t work out.

What does this have to do with Nancy Cawdrey’s silk painting, or art in general you ask?  It doesn’t directly, but this blog is more an attempt to document the various ways artists get inspired.  Will seeing an Aye-Aye fish out a grub directly lead to a painting of this grisly-looking animal?  Probably not, but the hundreds of meticulously recreated glass flower models just might.

Avis and Bridget inspecting the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants

In the early 1900s, every discovered specimen of plant had to be preserved, so Harvard hired a German father-son team to create an archive of perfectly detailed models of plants for their botany students to study and for the public to admire.

Can you believe these are all made out of GLASS?!? Quite frankly, Chihuly has nothing on the Blaschkas.

After marveling at the craftsmanship of these fabulous flowers, we moved on to prehistoric fish.  I’ve been reading the book “Your Inner Fish” by Neil Shubin (a former Harvard grad student), which briefly summarizes how fish eventually evolved into Homo Sapiens and all the steps in between, and the author’s first major discovery and inspiration for the book was the Tiktaalik.

Avis with the Tiktaalik. Look how far we've come!

The Tiktaalik was the missing link between fish and tetrapods, the first animals to move around on land, with characteristics of both (a “fishapod”).  It shows the first evidence of the joints that we use today for upright movement.

Avis with Bridget and a large beast. Pretty sure one of them is feigning enthusiasm.

Our last stop was the Great Mammal Hall, with lots of skeletons and taxidermy.  I like to paint wildlife, and I’m envious of Harvard art students who can draw from these wonderful resources.

A narhwal skeleton. Many believe the single long spiraling tooth on the front inspired the unicorn myth, but no one knows what it's used for.

As an anthropologist, Bridget’s favorite spot was the primate skeletons arranged next to each other.  She explained that when our ancestors came out of the trees, they needed to roam further every day for food sources, and few land animals are as well-designed for long-distance, high-endurance travel as we are.  I guess that’s why we still run marathons–at least we’re better than other animals at something.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes?  Not if we ran away.

Aye-Aye! Excellent at looking like Gollum. And of COURSE they're nocturnal.

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