In All Her Finery

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".

After the fact...

I have to say that I learned a valuable lesson during this year's Russell Auction: - always paint "sofa paintings"! I had received so many positive comments on my painting, "Just One Last Touch" prior to the big event. But - the bottom line, I guess, is that it wasn't a painting people wanted to hang in their living room. I had hoped the museum or collectors might be interested in "the story" and want it for that reason, but still the market for that was pretty narrow. It did sell (I'm not sure to whom) but I came away humbled. I'm sure the economy has played a roll in this year's event as well. Many artists are REALLY feeling the pinch.

Well, we artists are a tough lot. We have to be or we'd be doing something else - like selling shoes at Walmart.

It's time for some reflection now, I guess...