"TILISCO" - New Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Tilisco"

18" x 24"

Oil on Canvas

On occasion I like to take compositional risks and on occasion such risks pay off! This painting will and my previous post, "Buckaroo" will both be featured in an upcoming national show in Missoula, Montana at the Dana Gallery's Icons of the West show. It's an invitational show that I'm honored to have been invited to! If you are anywhere near Missoula, you should check out the show...it opens June 16th and runs through September 1st.

"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!

"LOOKS LIKE RAIN" - New Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Looks Like Rain"

24" x 30"

Oil on Linen

This painting is painted from some reference shots I took from my High Desert Ranch trip last year. It was very overcast that day, but some dramatic scenery nonetheless. Running into this cowboy named Moe was a huge added bonus!

"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!

Some New Drawings

On November 1, I started a 6 week drawing group...we have costumed models who pose for 3 hours...I'm having a great time! Here are some of my drawings so far...

November 1st's drawing...I only worked on this one for about half of the group time as I had brought some new, recycled drawing paper that ended up being real junk...I would have had a better time with the blank side of a grocery sack...anyway, by the time I had had enough and got a piece of nice drawing paper, the time was half gone!

November 8th's Drawing...this lady is an amazing model...she makes her own costumes and holds a 3 hour pose like no other (we did give her breaks, but when she resumed the pose, she was spot on!)

November 16th's Drawing, on canvas...I fought with this all night long...the canvas was too rough and the charcoal just wanted to fall off constantly! Best way to learn something is by trying it though! Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

"THE RECALCITRANT" - New Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"The Recalcitrant"

20" x 30"

Oil on Linen

Here's one of my most recent cowboy paintings I've been working on. I shot the reference for this painting at the ranch rodeo in Cedarville back in late August and the background is from out in the Winnemucca Ranch area. When my son was just a little tike, I used to read him a story titled, "The Recalcitrant Calf" and ever since I've thought that the word "recalcitrant" is a very appropriate one for calves!

"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.

Studio Open September 10th, 11th and 12th

Next weekend I, along with 38 of the Reno area's best artists will open our studios and invite the public to come and see the creative process at work. I would really love for you to come by for a visit and to see my latest work!

Don't miss this once a year oppportunity:

September 10, 11 and 12

Click on the link below to visit the Reno Open Studio website, get a map, plan your tour and come and visit us.

Also please join us at our Preview Reception:

Thursday, September 9

5:00 to 7:00 pm

Sierra Arts Foundation Main Gallery

17 S. Virginia St.

www.renoopenstudios.com

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"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

"SPRING APPROACHES" New Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Spring Approaches"

24" x 30"

Oil on Canvas

Here's another painting in my Tahoe series...it's of the mouth of the Truckee River right where it leaves Lake Tahoe. I believe I shot the reference for this painting in March and while we got snow after that this year, at the time I shot this reference, the snow was rapidly diminishing...enjoy!

Photos from the field

I just want to report from the field on our plein air art adventure...

We are near Cedarville, California and while the weather hasn't been perfect, we have been having a great time and are getting a lot of painting done anyway...here are some pics...

Me, working out the details on a 16" x 12"

John Youssi proudly standing next to his brand new Soltek Rolls Royce easel! (and a nice little painting I might add)

Ray Freeman glad to be done with this piece so he can get in the truck to get warm! Nice job Ray!

Ron Spears fast and furious trying to capitalize on the sun which only made a brief appearance... he ended up with a really nice piece by the way!

"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!

"OVERLOOK" New Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Overlook"

Oil on Canvas 20" x 38"

Hello Friends, Here's a new Tahoe piece I recently completed from an overlook descending to the eastern shore of the lake. Enjoy!

"MUSTANG" - New Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Mustang"

20" x 16"

Oil on Canvas

This painting was commissioned by a friend of mine as a present for his wife. This is something that I often see out in the Winnemucca Ranch area whose landscape is seen in the background of this painting. You may possibly see more mustang paintings this next year as I really enjoyed painting this one.

"FOREST PATH" - New Original Oil Painting by Mike Callahan

"Forest Path" - Triptych

20" x 10" (each panel)

Oil on Panel

After painting the last triptych of the lilly pond, I felt like doing another. This is from the same area near Blue Lakes. As a matter of fact, the path here leads to it; it's just around the bend! ...Enjoy!