"Challenge at Dawn" - Landscape With Elk in Watercolor on Paper by Gregory McHuron

Description

"Challenge at Dawn" - Landscape with Elk in Watercolor on Paper

Serene landscape with an elk by Greg McHuron (American, … more "Challenge at Dawn" - Landscape with Elk in Watercolor on Paper

Serene landscape with an elk by Greg McHuron (American, 1945-2012). An elk stand to the right side of the composition, looking back over it's shoulder towards the viewer. To the left of the elk, a calm river winds away from the viewer in to the distance, where mist and clouds partially obscure a rocky mountain. The sky is bright blue with streaks of yellow sunlight illuminating the clouds.

Signed in the lower right corner.
Artist's tag (with signature, date and title) and gallery tag on verso,
Presented in a wood frame with a double mat.
Frame size: 20.75"H x 17"W
Image size: 14"H x 10"W

Gregory Ivan McHuron (American, 1945-2012) was a plein-air painter working in oil and watercolor/gouache. He was born in Syracuse NY but was raised in Colorado, Wyoming, Alaska and California.

His education included 4 years of extensive high school training by a teacher who graduated from the Berlin Art Academy. He also attended Oregon State University where he took classes in forestry, fisheries and wildlife and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Art from Oregon State University.

Introduced to plein-air painting in oil in 1973 by Conrad "Connie" Schwiering, he quickly found that he enjoyed painting the rapidly changing scenes. It allowed him to put in his paintings the feelings and excitement that he felt while watching the scene unfold which created more drama and excitement than he would have been able to do in a studio environment. He has traveled widely including much of Alaska; in wilderness areas in WY and CO; down the Colorado River through Grand Canyon NP; to British Columbia and Alberta, Canada; and on extended boat trips along the west coast from Port Ludlow, Washington to Glacier Bay, AK going in and out of the fjords.

He honed his understanding and knowledge of animals not only from college classes he took but also from the everyday study and observation of the wildlife in the Jackson, Grand Teton NP and Yellowstone NP areas. In addition for many years, he drew and studied wild animals at the Okanagan Game Farm in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. Every summer and fall a group of artists would go to the Game Farm kibitzing, painting and drawing the wildlife.

He taught workshops, gave demonstrations and participated in quick-draws for a variety of organizations including Wyoming Artists Association, Wind River Artist Association, Scottsdale School of the Arts, The Lodge at Palisades, National Museum of Wildlife Art, CM Russell Show, Grand Teton National Park and Isle Royale National Park.

His work is in the permanent collection of Ella Carothers Dunnegan Museum, Bolivar, MO; National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY; Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT; Jackson Hole & Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center, Jackson, WY; Grand Teton National Park; Glacier National Park; Isle Royale National Park; and Leighton Foundation, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Organization Memberships - Society of Animal Artists from 1979 to 2012; Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painter Association, Signature Member; Artists for Conservation and Western Artists of America.

Awards
-2011, Artists Choice Award, Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters Show, Pagosa Springs, CO;
-2011, Silver for watercolor, Western Artists of America, Pearce Museum;
-2009 Trustee's Purchase Award, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY;
-2008 and 2003 Colonel Richard H "Red" Smith Award, National Museum of Wildlife Art;
-Artist Choice Award, Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painter Association, Winter Park, CO;
-Artist Choice Award from the Wild, Wild West Show, Scottsdale, AZ;
-Artist Choice Award, Plein Air 2005 Show, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ;
-Artist Choice Award, Art of the Animal Kingdom Show VII, Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT;
-1999 Artist of the Year, WY Artist Association;
-WY Wildlife Federation Stamp Winner

Special Achievements - 1999 Artist-in-Residence at Glacier National Park, MT; 1995 and 1994 Artist-in-Residence at Isle Royale National Park, MI; and 1991 U.S. Representative to the Leighton Foundation Artist Retreat, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Major Shows - Society of Animal Artists National Shows; Arts and the Animal Kingdom Shows, Bennington Center for the Fine Arts, Bennington, VT: Miniature Show, National Museum of wildlife Art, 1987 to present, Jackson, WY; Western Artists of America; Oil Painters of America, Wildlife Art for a New Century I and II, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY; Cheyenne Frontier and Western Art, Cheyenne, WY; CM Russell Show and Auction, Great Falls, MT; National Shows with Nature Conservancy and Ducks Unlimited; and Arts for the Parks, Top 100 and Top 200.

Articles and publications in which work is shown: Art of the West Magazine, July/August 1996; Southwest Art Magazine, November 1990 and March 1988; Images West, 2001; The Island Within us by Isle Roayle Natural History Association; and Contemporary Western Artists by Harold and Peggy Samuels. less