"Cowboy Movie" Behind-the-Scenes...

The home stretch is near as I get closer to wrapping up production on my latest exhibit, "Cowboy Movie." However, with only a handful of days left there is still a lot of wood cutting, painting, silk screen prep and printing, frame assembly and the last minor touches before I can say 'that's a wrap.'

Thought I'd share a few behind-the-scenes photos of how production is coming along. Here on the table I have my 'John Wayne' piece with the background color blocked in. This is the stage the painting must be in before I silk screen in the image. As you can see there is quite a bit of paint on the table, along with various other tools used to create my paintings.

At the right is the the vellum for the 'John Wayne' painting. The final painting, painted and silk screened completely on wood, will measure 24" x 24" x 2.5". Even the edges of the paintings will be painted and printed with various western graphics and text. The painting is looking pretty sharp and very vibrant. It'll be interesting to see how this and the other paintings are received when the exhibit opens. So far, the major players int he cast of portraits are 'John Wayne', of course, as well as Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Johnny Depp, Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, James Dean and Sam Elliott, just to name a few.

Of course, 'cowboy' Elvis Presley had to make an appearance, too, which I think may be one of the more popular pieces from the collection. All in all, I  plan to have around 15 paintings for this first installment of the exhibition. There is a subsequent showing being planned, where there will be additional portraits on exhibit that won't be a part of the first showing. Frankly, I just ran out of time to paint every cowboy I could think of. Part II of the exhibit will also include a few choice cowgirls in the mix, perhaps bombshell Jane Russell???

Hope everyone isn't sore with me only previewing b/w images of the show. I kind of want to save some of the elements of (color) surprise come opening night. Be rest assured that all of the paintings will make it to the website in full technicolor glory soon. You can take a gander at the studio's facebook page and see some color sneak peek shots.

"Cowboy Movie" debuts at McMurry University on Thursday, October 6th with a gallery talk from noon-1pm. Friday, Oct. 7th will be the opening reception from 5:30-7:30pm, and the exhibit will remain on display through October.

Until then, time to sit back and unwind a bit with a viewing of "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" for additional inspiration...