“Painting the West” a Cowboy Artist of America Workshop (CAA) was held in Cokeville July 16-18. Over 30 artists attended the three-day workshop; coming from a wide variety of areas including Canada, Texas, Utah and Colorado. The abilities of the artists also varied some with many years of experience and others with just a handful.
The Cottonwood Ranch just outside of Cokeville city limits was the host spot; with many of the artists staying at the cabin, in tents or campers on the property while some stayed at the hotel in town.
This workshop, “started taking place about 20 years ago but on a very small scale” according to Charles Dayton, one of the event organizers and CAA member. Dayton is a Cokeville resident and is part of the Dayton family that owns and runs the Cottonwood Ranch.
The plein-air (French for outdoors) workshops focused on many different scenes and models. Several Native American models were brought in, a mountain man model from Shoshoni, Wyoming, local Cokeville cowboys and a “pioneer” girl.
C.J. Vandermeulen, the mountain man said that between modeling and rendezvous he is on the road from Memorial Day to Labor Day with only a few days home between events.
Though the workshop was mostly painting and demonstrating there was also a presentation from Scott Jones on the business of art. Jones, now retired from his professional work as an art gallery general manager is on a 18-day art road trip. This was his first stop. He will be attending workshops like the one at the Cottonwood Ranch, meeting with artists and art collectors during his trip. He managed Legacy Gallery in Jackson, Wyoming for several years then started to manage two other galleries under the same gallery family, one in Scottsdale, Arizona and one in Bozeman, Montana. He encouraged artists to display and sell their art wherever they could; a coffee shop or a local library he used as examples.
“These artists were treated to something incredibly rare,” Jones said describing the “Painting the West” experience and continued, “the top (cowboy) artists in the country were here in Cokeville.”
A painting demonstration by CAA member Chad Poppleton, miniature painting session, lunch and studies sales took place Pine Creek Ski Resort on July 17. After the sale there were other demonstrations.
Brandon Bailey, also a CAA member started the last day with a demonstration painting a Native American warrior. Part of his instruction included making sure that no one knows about the time period that is being represented and to know who one is painting. In this instance he referenced his demonstration painting; the warrior would have likely had darker skin due to his time in the sun, and his facial hair was likely minimal because traditionally Native Americans plucked their facial hair. He gave artists insights on a tool he uses in his studio for lighting on faces called “planes of the head” a tool that was created in the 1970’s.
While visiting with other artists and observing Dave Santillanes paint a skyline scene Danielle “Dan” Bedell of Centerville, Utah told Dayton, “This should be against the law, having so much fun with friends.” Bedell attended the workshop in previous years.
As the weekend closed, Poppleton, one of the event organizers, expressed to the group after a group photo; “I never thought it would be this big.”
The last afternoon together brought business cards, social media connections and other networking opportunities. CAA members provided insights to those that wanted some critique of the art done during the event.
