Longhorn Not For Sale

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My gallery is showcased at www.fineartamerica. This is a wonderful art venue. Submit your own art, purchase or just browse this site. Canvas, water colors, prints & Greeting Cards.

Read: Art Is In Your Heart

 

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Susan Gahr, Resident Artist
Western Painter
Gallery: fineartamerica

This website is the artwork of Susan Gahr, Western Artist capturing ranching & rural living, ranch folks, cattle & cowboys...my original western artwork is a collection of my memories in styles from contempory, traditionalist, impressionist, watercolors, pencils & acyrilics. We spent a great deal of our adult life working on ranches in Ariz.,Calif & Pecos,Texas. We have had great pleasure of living on ranches most of our adult life, & raising our children where the air was still clean & free. We all worked cattle & the boys competed in high school rodeo.I drove the rig.
I rode colts,thanks to the help of my brother in law who put up with me. Cowgirled on some ranches, rode, helped John & when the kids were all gone, it was just him, me, good ranch horses & a couple of good cow dogs. We loved every minute of it.
I am a self taught artist for the most part. Just kinda fell into it, here & there,every now & then somebody would take pity on me, lend a hand & gave me opportunity to learn something. For this I am grateful...make a point to visit with Marilyn Jacobson, Fine Art ...She has been very helpful to me & is a talented portrait artist. For the most part my artwork was kinda like my cowboying...just needed something to hang on the wall. Now we are more modern,from my website & facebook this "cowboywifethang" started out as cowgirl jewelry & it keeps evolving. I've always loved western art & my Cowgirl artwork on conchos got me started back to the watercolors & pencils. Browse the art gallery & please take a moment to look at my my cowgirl fashion 101 & cowgirl humor, I mean life is funny. I want you to have some fun in this website. We can't make this stuff up! Maybe,that is what artists do, their always in some state of flux. Kinda on the move, in one direction or another.
We have always lived in little towns & still do. Actually all we have is a post office. We have moved alot in our life, met alot of wonderful people.Had a ball.No regrets. Texas has been good to us...we thank God for it.
I paint or draw what pulls at my heart, usually mixed media, I love chalk, & pencils, watercolor. Not that I do all things well, but I do want to get better. I paint my memories, Ya'll come on over anytime. Happy trails, enjoy your ride!

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Written by: Susan Gahr

10/27/2010

ART IS IN YOUR HEART

I have found in this life that the things that really trip your trigger, whatever that may be is found in your heart. For instance, if I had to take an art class & paint or draw something that means nothing to me…I will have to push myself to have a great deal of energy that has to go into that project. Why, because my heart does not connect with it in any way. My heart is not in it.

However, there are disciplines in this life that I need to learn to improve. I might not be interested in a certain subject. But, I need to know how to paint. So, you draw what they want you to draw, they come & look at it. & then help you to understand what to do or not to do. The questions begin to be answered.

Now, I can take the same class with a larger overview, the greater purpose being, building a foundation .Everything has a foundation, if the foundation is not right it won’t look right. I may want to paint, but if I cannot draw, I cannot paint. Drawing is the key.

As my life evolved into this thing called art, I knew I wanted to paint. But I did not have the tools or know how to use them. I would find me a picture that I liked & would draw it. I love to draw calves, cows, horses, boots, cowboy gear. That is where my passion is. Know your subject, get the conformation of your subject down. Does it look right?

Well, due to our economic situation at the time…it was easier for me to draw a lot then paint, because painting frustrated me & to some extent today still does. That was when we landed in Pecos, Texas. I took some of my gift items to the Pecos Museum gift shop, & the lady asked if I was interested in watercolor painting. I told her yes, I thought I might like that. I knew nothing about it….she said, “I see that you can draw. Then you can watercolor because people who cannot draw cannot paint.” Well, I never knew that before. So, that built up my confidence to go to a demo where they were going to show how to apply watercolor techniques. Those little ladies were so sweet, they gave me supplies so I could keep going. Every time I look at those boxes I remember how kind they were. They wanted to help me.

It was just what I needed at the time in my life when I needed it. It filled the gaps that I was missing. Like, negative space? What in the world was negative space? That one thing made the difference in my painting skills.

My advice for somebody who wants to paint with all their heart …Get going!! Find some classes or demonstrations. Watch how others do it with whatever medium they choose to use. BUT, most of all...DRAW, DRAW, & DRAW. Find some good pictures you like that somebody else you admire seemed to get it right & draw until you figure it out. Some people find drawing exceptionally easy, while others struggle. You may have to grid out the subject & do it by measuring. It just takes practice. If it is in your heart, go for it! You are welcome to look at my art at fineartamerica.com

Some of these are my 1 st. works, but I really still like them. Will be adding more, some things are still packed away where I put them for storage. Starting to unpack! See you at the next show!