By Anne Marlowe
Whew, what a year so far!
Corona-geddon has taken our world and flipped it into a blender. I do know we will survive as a nation and I am happy to see States starting the phases of their recovery and businesses open up.
History is my favorite thing to write about, but I LOVE contributing to American Outdoor News and being involved in the outdoor industry! I have met some fantastic wildlife painters and sculpturers, and gained a whole new appreciation for their craft.
When I set out to do this column, I ask friends who are their favorite outdoor artists. I have received some great suggestions and am grateful to have been introduced to new friends Dallen Lambson and Mike Handley.
They each have different painting styles; both are very talented!
Hailing from Pocatello, Idaho, Dallen Lambson creates some stunning work with oil and graphite. We had a delightful chat and I found Dallen to be easy going and humble, yet passionate about his family, heritage and life’s work.
Dallen comes from talented artistic stock and his father, Hayden Lambson, is also a prolific wildlife artist. While he painted in his studio, young Dallen watched and learned, grabbing scraps of paper and drawing. Dallen was quick to mention how patient his dad was as an instructor and that he still values his father’s input.
For many years Dallen was a successful graphite artist, but one of his clients asked him to give a shot at painting. “I was scared to death,” to step out and paint commercially. But with a little more coaching, he was quickly selling gorgeous oil artwork.
When I asked what inspired him, he said, being part of a large family who spent most of their time outdoors was a large part. “We grew up hunting, camping, going on road trips and being outside enjoying nature was our lifestyle.”
Living the outdoor lifestyle is how he and his lovely wife Malory are now raising their 6 kids. “I just couldn’t do this without her.” He said gratefully.
If you have been into a Cabela’s or Bass Pro Store in the last several years, you have seen some of Dallen’s work. When asked if he has a favorite piece he told me, his favorites are the ones that transport people to someplace they would like to be.
Dallen has several awards to his credit, but some that make him the proudest are the ones from his fellow sportsmen and women including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Turkey Federation, and Mule Deer Foundation Artist of the Year awards.
One interesting story about Dallen; when he was a kid, visiting family in New Mexico, he saw what appeared to be a large mushroom while out on a hike. He kicked at it and noticed something odd about it. As he dug it out, he found it was a human skull! Later he learned he was on a native-American burial ground.
Please see his work at Dallen Lambson at www.LambsonWildlifeArt.com
Mike Handley is a journalist by trade and the editor of Buckmasters Rack Magazine. BUT what everyone may not know, is Mike Handley paints beautiful, meaningful paintings of the things we outdoorsmen and women love.
I reached out to Mike and he candidly gave me some insight into his craft.
How did you find your art form and why did you choose it? Do you work with other art forms? Where did you learn?
Because I was a prolific drawer, my parents used to buy me paint-by-number sets when I was 8 or 9 years old. My favorite was a bull elk. To this day, almost five decades later, I can remember the funky smell of those paints.
In my early teens, I worked weekends at my uncle’s kennel. With money earned, I bought several little jars of acrylic wood stains, and I painted a ceramic bust of a German shepherd. After doing several of those, I painted a few portraits on 8x10 canvas board, which eventually led to stretched canvases.
Life and a career in journalism got in the way of art for the next 22 years.
I was 41 the year I went on my first African safari, during which I was brought to tears by AIDS orphans singing and dancing around a campfire. I was so moved that I went to an art store soon after arriving home. I bought acrylic paints, brushes and several canvases. Using my own reference photos, I painted those children.
I’ve been painting ever since.
What inspires you? Why?
More than 20 years have passed since I sat in an old truck, listening to the man behind the wheel explain what it’s like to have an artist’s sight. The driver who so desperately wanted me to see through his Mr. Magoo eyeglasses was the wildlife artist Ney Park (now deceased), about whom I was to write a newspaper story.
Ney steered onto the country road’s overgrown shoulder, parked, retrieved his pad and the old metal tackle box full of watercolor paints, and then directed me to look at an overgrown field. “What do you see?” he asked, knowing full well I was going to rattle off grass, trees, an old fence, and maybe throw in the word brown, which I did.
“Do you not see the purple in that dead grass, the blues in the shadows, or how the sun sets fire to the western edge?” he responded, dipping his brush in spit and then applying layers of color to the open page on his lap.
Squinting hard, I looked from field to pad, and then I understood what separates an artist from a kid with crayons, a writer from a hack, and a cordon bleu from a Boyardee.
That lesson changed my life.
Is there one piece that particularly speaks to you?
After a year or two at the easel, I painted an old fisherman’s dock on the Tennessee River. Because all the boats were in their slips, I called it “The Cows are Lying Down,” a nod to the old saying that if you pass cows lying down in a pasture, the fish aren’t biting. That was the first piece I entered into an art show, actually two of them, and it took first place at both.
How do you get prepared or do you have a process to begin?
As a rule, I start most new works with the simple desire to paint. I have a folder on my computer labeled “Easel Bound,” where I keep photos of all kinds: landscapes, rusting cars and trucks, wildlife and blues singers. I usually use my own images, but I also buy them. Having numerous photographer friends helps, too.
Do you have a target audience?
I primarily paint wildlife, particularly whitetails and turkeys, but I’m constantly trying new challenges. For example, I just began using a palette knife in some of my landscapes, which has been thrilling. Beats the hell out of spending more than 200 hours on blades of grass and weeds.
What has been the biggest honor in your art career?
While I have a closet full of ribbons and a shelf lined with books and magazines for which I’ve painted the covers, the biggest honor is having someone decide they want to see one of my paintings every day, on their own wall. That’s huge, whether they paid $25 or $2,500.
What is one fun fact about yourself that others might not know?
My first gallery sale was a nude.
Feel free to reach out to Mike at either his email address Mikehandley@mac.com or https://www.facebook.com/mikehandleyart and check out some great articles about white-tailed deer at www.Buckmasters.com, Rack Magazine
Anne Marlowe can usually be found traipsing through historical places in Virginia and is soon launching her new website www.HistoricalAnnecdotes.com with podcasts to follow. Also follow Anne (when travel opens up again) on www.TheAdventuredLife.com