Back to beautiful Montana! This year Susan and I flew in a few days early and stayed at the Many Glacier Lodge to do some hiking before heading over to Bigfork for the NWR Campout. The day we drove in the smoke was so thick that none of the mountains were visible and the acrid smell hurt our throats and eyes; but by the next morning the wind had shifted and we were greeted by this clear view from our room's balcony of the sun rising and the nearly full moon reflecting in the lake adjacent to the lodge. 

By sunset, however, the smoke was drifting back, making for an eerie red sky.

Glacier is so unbelievably beautiful! Ok, enough landscape photos -- I could fill the whole site up with the hundreds I take on a trip like this!

Here's Susan, below, as we are just about back to the parking area after hiking the Highline Trail up at Logan Pass.

Here's Susan and I resting after four days of hiking.

And then to the Campout! Here's a photo of some of us at the campout in Bigfork -- some are artists in the show, some are painters and collectors who just came as guests of members to paint along with all of us. Thanks to Jay Strotkamp for this and several of the other photos.

Bill Reese entertaining all with his many great stories. It was wonderful meeting him and Harley Brown this year since my teacher, Bill Parks, had first introduced us to their work when we were just starting school. Their books and videotaped demonstrations were great inspiration to all of us at the Academy so it was especially fun meeting them in person -- little did they know how much they'd taught us all from afar! Harley and Bill were both founding members of the NWR show 25 years ago. Bill's website is http://www.wmfreese.com/ -- where you can get his book, paintings, sculptures, and even some extremely inexpensive etchings.

Each morning at the campout, Tom Saubert had arranged models or painting excursions. The second day he had us visit a man who makes his living logging with horses. Many people prefer hiring him to come in during the winter and remove trees from their property since it avoids all the damage modern machinery causes to gardens, streams, etc. You might think that the poodle is out of place in this photo, but we found out that it was a true ranch dog. It sometimes runs along with the horses on the trail for twenty miles in a day. The horses always seemed aware of where it was and would even extend their stride when it was underfoot to avoid stepping on it.

After giving us a logging demonstration, the horses stood quite still for an hour while we painted them.

Here's me paining.

And the painting I did below. Since I had only my small painting box with me on this trip, I just used ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow light, cadmium red, alizarin crimson, and white. Having just a few primaries means a lot less weight in your pack and it just takes a bit extra mixing to get all your colors.

Here's Paul Mullally working on his tan and painting at the same time!

Quang Ho painting some of the large wheat fields just outside Bigfork.

Pat Kelly, one of our guests at the campout, looking very comfy in the shade and with an umbrella to boot!

Joe Halko crafting a beautiful duck with Shirley Novak in the background.

Don Prechtel with his new girlfriend... oh, wait, that's his granddaughter! Don always has beautiful women by his side.

Below is Weizhen Liang with husband Huihan Liu painting some Indian girls that Tom Saubert arranged to pose for us the last morning. The two of them are simply two of the most awesome artists we know!

Everett Raymond Kinstler doing his Quick Draw painting. Now you know someone is good when they can do something that large in just two hours!

Bob Vermillion in his trademark hat. Bob and wife, Bonnie, have been longtime supporters of both the NWR show as well as helping so many artists over the years that I wonder what the art world would be like without patrons like them! No doubt there would be a lot of very talented artists working at Burger King! 

Ralph Oberg doing his Quick Draw painting at the Sieben Ranch. The clouds were present for most of the time we were painting, though the moment the horn sounded to stop painting and begin the auction, the sun finally came out!

Here's John Budicin painting his Quick Draw. I'm so used to seeing him paint in California that it was fun seeing how he handled mountains!

Tom Lockhart

Bill Reese got to the Sieben Ranch early and did a beautiful little landscape, but he didn't want to actually paint in the Quick Draw since he said he's had enough past Quick Draw paintings come back to haunt him. He told me that he'd even seen a few that he disliked so much that he bought them back just so he could shred them and throw them out!

Since he wasn't going to paint, Bill was kind enough to pose for my Quick Draw painting. He said that this way he wouldn't have to constantly explain why he wasn't painting. The two hours worth of painting was especially enjoyable for me since Bill entertained us all with stories the entire time.

Behind me is Rocky Hafdahl, Joe Kopta (both collectors extraordinare), and my sister, Debbie, who just happened to be driving by on her way back to Seward, Alaska. She'd driven her Motor Home down from Alaska all the way to Florida, up through Maine, and then back home. It tires me out just thinking about all that driving! It was great having my sister at the show, even though she kept telling everyone how much better of an artist she was when we were kids and spoiling all my propaganda!

 But I have to admit it was true. We both loved drawing and were always trying to get my parents to tell us which of our creations were better; which they adroitly avoided, saying they were equally good. One day we both did drawings of dogs and I took them to my mom and told her I'd done them both myself and asked her which she liked better. I'm sure you can guess which one she chose! No doubt it was that early victory that caused Debbie to become complacent and me to work harder and harder to someday win back the family title. But much as I constantly try and get Debbie to have another drawing contest, she just won't fall for it.

Here's Lyn and Joe Kopta, two very close friends from Oklahoma city.  Earlier in the year we stayed at their house and saw their unbelievable collection of art. Lyn has only been painting for a few years but is shooting ahead very quickly with her own painting. No doubt you'll be seeing her work in the shows in no time.

Bye Bitney and two of his devotees. 

Carolyn Anderson with Judy Hafdahl, Mary Linda and Jay Strotkamp among others watching her. The woman to the extreme right looks like she has some particularly constructive things to tell Carolyn.

Tom Browning painting one of the most popular paintings in the Quick Draw. 

The famous Harley Brown! What a blast to meet someone like him! If only I didn't have to paint in the quick draw myself I would have loved to have seen this demo!

Huihan Liu

Jim Lamb

Here's my trusty helpers who have helped me out both last year and this year by painting a few brushstrokes each on my quick draws. I remember so clearly when I was a kid and an artist let me do this on their painting as well. The kid's only lament were that the bids for my quick draws were always way too high for them to afford, but I reminded them that I did even more brush strokes than they did and I couldn't afford the painting either! 

Here's the Quick Draw I did of Bill -- can you tell which brush strokes are the girl's? I guarantee you they can tell you!

Barry Eisenach. He's so popular that restaurants take ads out on the back of his shirts during the Quick Draws!

Gary Schildt, another of the founding members of the show who was kind enough to participate this year. I only wish Susan and I would have gotten a chance to talk with him. There is always so much happening constantly at this show that there's never enough time!

Here's a photo that Jay Strotkamp sent us of my painting being auctioned. Since Susan and I can't stand being there for the actual auction, this is as close a view as we get! 

And then we all went on to the actual show, itself! Here's the paintings Susan and I had in the show -- just click the painting to see it larger.

Susan Lyon

Scott Burdick

Well, for the fifth year in a row, they broke their previous year's sales record (this year by a full one hundred thousand for a total over four hundred thousand) so thanks to everyone for all the hard work in making this a fantastic show!