Jan Mapes Fine Art

Skinny Cow Blues

cori — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:40:03 +0000

This tough old cow has weathered more than one drought over the years.

8″ x 3″ x 7 1/2″ Edition of 15 2011

Cowboy Class

cori — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:39:33 +0000

From the look in his eye the cowboy fixin’ to ride this blaze-face sorrel horse has a thing or two to sort out before the day is over.

8″ x 10″
oil

Part of the Phippen Museum’s Miniature Masterpieces Art Show & Sale on display until June 8th, Prescott AZ.

www.phippenartmuseum.org

Art from the Other Half of the West

cori — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:34:29 +0000

The morning after Briscoe’s Night of Artists, Shawn and Jan Flew back into Phoenix and made their way to the Desert Caballeros Museum in Wickenburg, AZ for the 7th annual Cowgirl Up! Exhibition & Sale.

Once again, God graciously supplied and Jan’s only piece which remained unsold was her alternate still life oil painting “Vintage.”

Briscoe Museum’s 2012 Night of Artists

cori — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 19:09:19 +0000

Friday morning after we got back from our Montana trek, Jan took off for San Antonio, along with her friend and fellow artist Shawn Cameron. After a discouraging showing up north, Jan was clinging to Jesus’ words recorded for us in Luke 12:24. In a passage admonishing His children not to worry, He says,
“Consider the ravens: they neither sow, nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!”

During the sale in San Antonio Jan met a couple other artists who were believers and all were mutually blessed by the fellowship. By the end of the evening, by the end of the night all but one of Jan’s pieces in the show had sold, including two multiples.

Praise God!

Click here to check out more about the 2012 Night of Artists

Road Trip: Western Masters

cori — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:20:15 +0000

March was a busy month in the realm of art shows.

First on the list was the Western Masters exhibition held in conjunction with the annual Charlie Russell art week in Great Falls, MT. Right in the middle of March Jan and I loaded up, hooked onto the art trailer and struck off, leaving Jim to clean stalls in a state of temporary bachelorhood.

In honor of the occasion, we contemplated some “special detour” options. Finally compromising with practicality, we settled on an alternative route across the top of Arizona and into Utah, crossing the Colorado River on the Navajo Bridge. Stopping to practice our new little camera and enjoy the local color through the eyes of an artist.

Once in Great Falls, most of our existence involved various motel rooms. As part of a group of 144 artists at the Heritage Inn, we hauled the contents of the trailer up a flight of steps and down the hallway, setting up the booth in what would become an all-too familiar cubicle. During the quiet hours of the show we busted out sketchbooks and wrote letters in the spirit of Charlie Russell. It proved to be good practice for this apprentice, who’s usually riding horses these days, and created a little diversion.

Needless to say, we survived the weekend and the circle back through Kim, Colorado. Leaving the art trailer at the house so we could drag a horse trailer on the move back from Arizona. We headed south again in a snowstorm. Ready for the next leg of the circuit.

Post Bronc Painting: Drying Stage

cori — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 22:19:03 +0000

Here it be!

Contemplating having some gicleés made of this one.

Bronc Rider, Background

cori — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 23:03:31 +0000

It’s coming together!

There’s not much left, just a little white canvas yet to cover on some front legs…

Bronc Painting Update

cori — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:08:09 +0000

Here’s the progress: The subject is taking form along with background values. This morning Jan’s been deciding how to handle the mane and tail. The horse is jumping out of a cloud of dust which adds depth to the painting by obscuring his hind legs and letting his front legs be crisp and “pop.” She thought it’d be neat to render the horse as a palomino, but likes a darker value in the tail for contrast and making it “go-away.” The experimenting continues as I write!

Post Bronc Painting Drawing Check

cori — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:17:41 +0000

Originally, Jan wanted to lay her subject in so that it went off the page at the upper left and lose him again off of the right side. But when she started playing with the chaps to get a wilder feel going and break up the diagonal line matching up with the horse’s back, she noticed a whole lot of belly that she didn’t have much information for in the photograph. She tested her theory by asking me to come over and see if I could find anything off in her drawing. (Cori test!)

Take a look and see what you can find:

Whew, I passed!

The horse is too long between the cinch and hindquarter, and the left hind leg is a little to straight. Two options for a solution: move the hindquarter over, away from the edge of the canvas, or shift the entire figure to the right. Obviously, the first case is a simpler fix, however it’s not quite what she wanted in composition. We’ll see how it goes from here.

Post Bronc Second Stage

cori — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:34:18 +0000

After the preliminary planning and pencil sketch, it’s time to begin blocking in the painting with general shapes of certain values (light or dark) and temperatures (warm or cool colors), starting with dark shadows and medium values before moving to lighter areas.