"SUNSET ON LIBERTY" new oil painting by Mike Callahan

"Sunset on Liberty"

Oil on Canvas

12"x 16"

While the title of this painting could be considered a commentary on the current state of things in this country, it's not meant to be. I've tried to remain apolitical in my posts and focus on painting and this is not a departure from my policy.  This cityscape is a view of Liberty Street in Reno looking West at sundown.  Cityscapes have and continue to be a challenge to me; I haven't fully landed on a means of employing my style to my satisfaction and therefore will be challenging myself with more cityscapes in the future...

"ART AND LIFE 01" video log by Mike Callahan

Art and Life 01

I'm trying something new this year; from time to time I'm going to post a minimally edited video where I'll talk about my ideas and biases regarding art, painting and life in general.  This is the introductory one.  I hope you enjoy it!  Mike

"DEEP ROOTS" New Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Deep Roots"

Oil on Arches Paper

18"x 24"

There was a time a few years ago when I was a "Daily Painter". That is, I painted one small painting every day. Such an endeavor is a great discipline and I recommend any serious painter try it for 30 days at least. It gives you much more confidence and directness in your painting and it forces you to become very efficient in your execution. This translates to larger work after the discipline has been established and you will be amazed at how quickly and efficiently you are able to produce paintings.

However, once you have attained that, it is an equally beneficial discipline to slow yourself down and create a "slow painting" once in a while. That is to say, take your time, make sure your composition works, observe your subject, look for subtleties, tackle a difficult lighting situation and focus on light values, ponder each stroke, scumble, glaze and enjoy the process. You will probably be very pleased with the result!

"THE MEETING PLACE" New, Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"The Meeting Place"

Oil on Paper

22" x 30"

This my fourth Pacific coast in a series of six I have planned and I've called it "The Meeting Place" not because I or anyone I know have met anyone there but because to me it seems so representative of the concept of the Land meeting the Sea... 

"NEAR THE SUMMIT" New Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Near the Summit"

Oil on Canvas

18" x 24"

Here is my latest piece painted from reference shot in the fall near the Mt. Rose summit late in the day. I was really captivated by the late afternoon light hitting the tops of the trees as well as the subtle ambient light on the shaded rocks and snow... 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

I have a very special announcement and I'm asking for your help. In return for your help I have some awesome original art for you! Many of you have been asking for online video training and I'm in the process of making that happen. As many of you know I started the High Sierra Art Academy in Reno this year, but that still leaves many people out who live far away or have schedules that won't permit them to attend, so I have decided to take all the content from my academy courses plus much more and put them into a first-rate, affordable and convenient membership web site. I have found a great team of people to work with to get the framework in place and the only thing I need is a bit more time and a bit more money! The time I can come up with easily, the money will be a little harder to come up with - but that's where you can help. I've started a crowdfunding project on indiegogo and if you can afford to contribute as little as $10, I have some great perks to offer you! And if you can't afford to contribute monitarily, you can still help by sharing my project with all of your art-loving friends via email, facebook and twitter! Please take a look at my project video and details found here:

igg.me/at/simpleapproachart

or by clicking the video below

I'm offering some of my original oil paintings as perks, so if you ever wanted to own an original of mine here's your chance to get one for WAY less than retail, but hurry, perks are given on a first pledge, first reward basis! Click the link or video above now!

Thank you sincerely,

Mike

"SYCAMORE" New Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Sycamore"

Oil on Canvas

20" x 24"

I have always been intrigued by the warm winter light low on the horizon as it strikes the sycamore trees in their winter state bereft of leaves, so I thought I would challenge myself to paint one...

"AGAINST THE WALL" New Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Against the Wall"

Oil on Canvas

30" x 24"

This past summer my beautiful daughter Bri modeled for an open painting session at my art academy.  Prior to the session I asked her to pose for some photography in the alley behind the academy from which I would create a painting at a later date.  This is the result...

"LONESOME DOVE" - New, Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Lonesome Dove"

Oil on Canvas

30" x 24"

I've been working on a new series of small works for the holidays. I call the series Western Skies and they are a series of small paintings ranging in size from 9"x 12" to 5" x 7". They are on the website here with a few more additions to come. 

If you live in the area or will be visiting, I'm having an open studio on Sunday, November 6th from noon till 4p.m. where you can see these paintings firsthand as well as other new paintings not yet posted online. I'll also have a "clearance" wall of paintings that I've had in the studio a while that just haven't found a home yet, so if you have the chance, please come by. If you'd like to visit my studio on that day or make an appointment for another time, email me and I'll send you driving directions.

Collectors, I will be having a special "collector's night open studio" on Saturday evening November 5th and if you haven't received your invitation yet, look for it in your mail or inbox, you should receive it this week.

The painting shown below, though not part of the Miniature Show (too big), was inspired by all those sky paintings I've been doing...I just wanted to do at least one cloud painting at a larger scale - I get such great skies here and painting them has been great fun! Dove and other birds often perch on the power lines but when I was gathering reference for this painting there was just this one lonesome dove sitting there and I just thought it would work for the painting. What do you think?

"THE OWENMORE RIVER - BALLYNAHINCH" New, Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"The Owenmore River - Ballynahinch"

Oil on Canvas

24" x 30"

I just finished this one from my Ireland series. It's of the Owenmore River in Ballynahinch, Connemara. I was fortunate to complete a plein air study of this when we were there this past July. This is truly a magical place! Painting so much green is a huge departure for me, but I'm really enjoying it and hope you enjoy seeing this work too!

"BUCKAROO" New, Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Buckaroo"

Oil on Linen

30" x 20"

Here's a painting of a buckaroo I just finished from some reference I gathered late last summer. The buckaroo is a specific type of cowboy from the Great Basin. He comes from the vaquero tradition and typically wears a different sort of hat than other cowboys. There are probably a lot of other differences that I'm unaware of as well.

"ERIN & ROBERT" - New Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Erin & Robert"

20" x 24" Oil on Linen

Here's my most recent portrait that I did of a delightful couple named, of course, Erin and Robert. They commissioned me to do this portrait as a gift to Erin's parents and I'm told that they were overwhelmed with delight upon receiving it! This makes me happy!

"A LITTLE RUSTY" New, Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"A Little Rusty"

20" x 24"

Oil on Linen

I just love it when I come across these old relics...I found this one in a field in a remote rural community and one of the things I was most amazed by was that this old workhorse, after being put out to pasture, if you will, has merely sat quietly, no pillaging, no vandalism. The windshield was still intact and it wasn't riddled with bullet holes either!

"MRS. POMKNIEDRE" New, Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Mrs. Pomkniedre"

20" x 16"

Oil on Linen

My latest painting. It's a portrait of a woman who we've all heard about but probably have never actually met. I say that with a little tongue in cheek!

She's actually painted from a model we had in the recent drawing group I was part of at the museum. She had such a great costume I had taken a photo of her live pose and it was this that I worked from. I mainly wanted to do this painting to try some classical techniques that I had been studying. These techniques worked out great and I have chronicled them in a brand new Studio Secrets eBook available from Payloadz. Click here for more information if you are interested in the tutorial or just interested in the process.

Anyway, back to my inital comment. I've titled the painting "Mrs. Pomkniedre" after the famous (or possibly imfamous) wife of Peter, the renowned nursery rhyme character. My wife and daughter took one look at her when I was painting her and made the comment that she looked like Peter Pumpkin Eater's wife, so I thought that's what I'd call her only taking a few liberties with the spelling!

"INTO THE WIND" New, Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Into The Wind"

30" x 24"

Oil on Linen

I'm pleased to finally be getting around to sharing some of my High Desert Ranch paintings with you. This one was painted from a reference shot taken at the same location as the one I shared last week. It's the same buckaroo, Moe.

This painting was on my easel during the Reno Open Studio tour and is in a video produced by Suli Yi of Voice of America...you can see his video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8UxnQ7dkBU

It's in Chinese so you can't really tell what they are saying, but my segment starts at the 4:58 mark and I'm speaking in English.

P.S.Who wants to go? Watch for a special announcement in the next post for your opportunity to come on a painting adventure to the High Desert Ranch in June!

"SIX OF ONE" - New Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Six of One"

20" x 30"

Oil on Linen

Here's my latest painting. I shot the reference for it at the Cedarville Rodeo in August, there was this line of cowboys that I found intriguing. They were waiting to compete, but I thought that changing the lighting and putting them in a different location would give this painting a bit more charm!

"POWER NAP" New Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Power Nap"

24" x 18"

Oil on Canvas

I'm sorry for the delay in sending out the newsletter - I've been pretty busy lately. I have a couple more cowboy pieces I'm just about done with (but not quite) and so I thought in the meantime I'd share this fun little painting of I did of my daughter Brianna taking a power nap one afternoon after a long day of class at the Paul Mitchell Academy in Reno. (By the way, she has since graduated and I'm not just saying this as a dad - she's an awesome hair stylist, so if you live in the area and are looking for a hairdresser, email me and I'll put you in touch with her.) Anyway, when I saw her napping one day, I thought this would be a fun one to paint so I quickly snapped a shot before she awoke.

"A LITTLE BREAK IN THE CLOUDS" New, Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"A Little Break In The Clouds"

Oil On Linen

30" x 24"

Here's the first studio painting from the recent art adventure trip...Wayne Cockrell and his buckskin horse, Cotton of the Cockrell Ranch in the beautiful Surprise Valley graciously posed for this one...Want to know where the Surprise Valley is? Here are the GPS coordinates for where the reference shots were taken...enter these in Google Earth and it will take you there:

41 25.3238' N, 120 5.9967' W

"ENCHANTRESS" - New Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Enchantress"

24" x 30"

Oil on Canvas

In sharing my latest painting with you, I thought I'd show you a little about how I conceived of it. First, I'm a fortunate man in that I have two of the most beautiful daughters in the world! Of course they don't get their good looks from me, but from their mother, so that makes me triple lucky...of course, from a father's perspective there have been many a time that I haven't been sure if having beautiful daughter's is a blessing or a curse! Well, enough of my rambling, on to the painting.

My younger daughter Alissa has a friend who is a very talented photographer, her name is Charissa Booher and you can check out her work here. One day, she did a photo shoot with Alissa and got some really great shots! It was suggested that do a painting or two from them, but I usually don't use other people's work for reference. I had to admit it was an intriguing shot so I told Alissa to ask her friend how she'd feel about me using her photo for a painting. Fortunately Charissa thought that would be cool, so I picked one that I felt held particular qualities that would translate well into a painting. While I really liked the shot shown here, I felt I'd like to do a little something special with the background. Last fall, on our way home from a trip to Apple Hill, Alissa could see that there was some great light on the American River from Highway 50 late in the day. She kept bugging me to stop and take some photos, but I was kind of like the horse headed to the barn at the end of the day. Finally, I saw a decent spot to pull over so I stopped, handed Alissa the camera and told her to go for it...but to hurry up, I would keep the car running. She climbed over the guard rail and descended to the river's edge and shot up about half a memory card! When she came back to the car she kept exclaiming that "it's just magical down there!" It looked pretty from my perspective, but when I got home and reviewed her shots, I had to agree, "magical".

So, naturally, I felt this was the perfect pairing just waiting to be painted, a great shot of her backed by the great shot she took!

"SECRET COVE 3"- New Original Oil Painting By Mike Callahan

"Secret Cove 3"

Oil on Canvas 20" x 38"

Here's another Tahoe piece. I shot this reference about this time of year two or three years ago. I'm still qute taken by the beauty of the lake here, so I just had to paint it again. Enjoy!