Sept. 13, 2014—Oct. 1, 2014

2

3

Curatorial Statement In anticipation of the long awaited cooler autumn season, J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fi-ne Art, Boerne will spotlight a selection of paintings for September 2014 Second Satur-day Art & Wine; bringing excitement to the impressionistic qualities of fall landscapes paintings in an exhibit titled: “RED FALL”. Gathering 10 artists ranging from Texas Vintage artists like W.A. Slaughter and Porfirio Salinas to regional

icons, Cliff Cavin and Sidney Sinclair to local star Russell Stephenson - Gallery Director, Gabriel Diego Delgado

has curated a handful of artworks from the gallery collection that culminate to a visual epiphany of the sea-

sonal change. A red, orange and earthy toned exhibition tugs at the hopeful demise of an overheated sum-

mer; an artistic voice that speaks of a desperate need to a temperature departure.

With a nostalgic sense of crisp leaves crunching underfoot, a smell of cool autumn nights and a wishful

thought of a quenching rain, RED FALL is the light at the end of the tunnel; a visual reminder there are colder

nights ahead, there are times we can open our windows and doors, and not all days in South Texas are out-

door furnace-scape.

-Gabriel Diego Delgado

Gallery Director, Boerne

4

Russell Stephenson

(b. 1973)

-- In Stephenson’s Panoramic Texas Series we can meditate on the horizontal fixations that represent such cosmic altruisms, rich with beauty, but toned with hues variegat-ed into a hazy manifestation. Russell Stephenson, a Texas painter, in an unrelenting approach has mastered the gor-geous godliness of our great state in his Pan-oramic Texas series paintings. Radiant browns and various tones of burnt sienna seem to meddle perfectly with con-trasting cool slate grays, snowy silvers and wispy whites; where atmospheric amalgam-ations of colors are ever approachable, di-gestible and delicate in their ephemeral and abstracted beauty. Bastrop fires, unrelenting skylines, sublime mentalities, conceptual collectiveness, uni-versal experiences, and intuitive automatism all play a role in Russell Stephenson’s new paintings titled, “Panoramic Texas Series”. A tribute to the Texas sky, the flat plains of Midland/Odessa, the rolling Hill Country, and the wide open plains to Pan-handle typogra-phy, Stephenson depicts all that is our great state of Texas in minimally rendered but sys-tematically charged abstracted landscapes. © Gabriel Diego Delgado

Image: Milk & Honey, 30” x 60”, Oil,

$3,750.00

5

Artist Statement

My work is created with loosely ren-dered and intuitively controlled

marks, which simulate infinite illu-sionary environments. These envi-

ronments are based on personal experiences, internal places, and

translating sound into visual occur-rences. I consider these works to be imaginary landscapes, occurrences, and atmospheres and objects that

are both created out of expression-ism, while conversely leaning more

towards systematic formulation. My work is concerned with texture and

perception as well as surface and color. Overriding themes in my work

involve a flawed or fallen nature, over saturation, urban decay, and

meditations on transcendence.

As a record of collective experiences, the

marks and movements are at once fueled

by automatism, and intuitionism. My

works serve as a living journal, and tran-

scendental artifacts. My range of materi-

als grows with necessity, and accessibility

6

Image: Texas Fall Landscape, 24” x 36”, Oil, $14,000.00

7

W.A. Slaughter

b. 1923-2000.

-- W. A. Slaughter grew up in Texas amid the splendor and beauty of the Hill Country. The serene landscape and rolling hills near his home in San Antonio were early sources of inspiration for his de-veloping artistic ability.

His love of nature manifested itself in other ways, as well; in 1952, after eight years of intense training, Slaughter was ordained a Lutheran minister. Upon his return from Mexico, Slaughter began to exhibit his work with the Artists and Craftsmen Association of Dallas.

In 1972, Slaughter dedicated himself entirely to painting. Although a wide variety of landscapes inspire Bill Slaugh-ter, it is the gentle beauty of the Texas Hill Country that truly speaks to him. His canvases of fields of bluebonnets and stately oak trees evoke memories of quieter times.

© Gabriel Diego Delgado

— “Bluebonnet landscape paintings have been revered, prodded and poked, coveted

and chastised; an ongoing joke of over-produced Sunday painters- a favorite category to paint of “holiday” painters.

However, the history of such a genre of painting has deep roots in Texas and especial-ly San Antonio. Home to the great blue bonnet painters like the Onderdonks, Salinas, Wood, Slaughter and a small legion of others, Texas takes pride in its namesake in Art History, knowing it has inspired these great artists to produce such magnificent work.” -excerpt from G. Delgado contrasting R. Peyton with W.A. Slaughter.

8

Left image: Autumn Haze, 18” x 24” , Oil, $1,975.00 Framed

9

Sidney Sinclair

--Feathery wisps of painterly attributes lick the canvas, almost driven by nameless afflictions as Sidney Sinclair delivers an artistic pseudo-epitaph of sorts with a muted palette of color that lays claim to a new beginning – an aesthetically purposeful jump off from a road well-traveled, into an new awaking; full of life .

She succeeds on an artistic push into a medium to large-scale landscape painting, leaving the comfort of her traditional smaller size works .

She gives us prize paintings via new scale —a hazy dreamland of internal psychol-ogy. Thin layers of paint are caressed, whipped, and stoked; misty evocations of some region untouched by man; an obscure rendition that transcends worldly locations.

Light, romance, and mystery are integral senses depicted throughout her dreamy, hazy, airy and ephemeral landscapes, evoking unknown metaphysical and psychosomatic endurances - pains that have numbed from personal atroci-ties.

However, gradually the artist takes our hand and we feel warmth that is that cou-pled with hope, peace, serenity and tranquility.

© Gabriel Diego Delgado

10

Charles Pabst

-- Charles Pabst, a native of Santa Clara, California, delivers an eloquently whispered soliloquy of sensa-tional thought.

His simple arrangement of balanced tree lines, majestic canyons and various landscapes give an impressionistic sense of au-tumn and fall splendor. His color palette approach to sensational landscape paintings opt for a simplistic manner of under-standing and appreciations. However, audacious are his choices of color palette; over-emphasizing the decision for gallant gold, tantalizing tangerines, and boisterous bolds of seasonal hues are reflective of specific geographical locations.

Paintings derived from family vacations, hikes, and travel, he delivers a mystical moment of perfect celestial swathe of warm and inviting sunlit which caresses you as you enter this aura of painterly sensuality.

© Gabriel Diego Delgado

—”I can regard Pabst of being a “Seasonal Shah” of

impressionistic autumn and fall majesty. His T. Kinkade-esque approach to sensational landscape paintings opt for a simplistic manner of understanding and apprecia-tions. The foreground, middle and back all line up in a proper pattern of textbook elegance. Overly straight-forward this type of aesthetic is the most basic and un-complicated way for all of us to appreciate talent and intent. “ - G. Delgado

Right Image: “Hidden Falls”, Enhanced Giclee, 32” x 48”, $3,600.00

11

12

13

Randy Peyton

-- “Randy Peyton represents the new cohort of Texas Landscape Painters; leading a post Onderdonk generation of lasting landscapes. Peyton has captured the Texas landscape like a scenic shaman, creating emotional and nostalgic reminiscences of days nurtured by the Texas heat- causing the viewer to relax in an art induced me-dicinal meditation.”

Randy Peyton was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1958. At the age of fifteen he began his quest in painting the endless landscapes of Texas; favoring the bluebonnet. Peyton considers himself a self taught artist; having meticulously studied the paintings of Robert Wood, Porfirio Salinas, Don Warren, W. A. Slaughter, and many other regional landscape masters.

The main players of this scenic sonata are the three Live Oaks that secure a stoic trifecta of Quercus fusiformis; each placed in strategic areas in the composition –far left, far right, and exact middle.

Upon viewing the glowing autumn tones, one can only respond to the momentary and tempo-rary nature of the event. As time passes the season’s change is no longer visible and one might yearn for colorful reflections of our coveted break from relentless heat. Randy Peyton has made this opportunity available as an artist that understands the unique tones and composition of a hill country fall landscape.

© Gabriel Diego Delgado

Right Image: Fall Texas Landscape, 24” x 36”, Oil, $4,500.00

14

Porfirio Salinas

----Every once in a blue moon a fine art gallery will acquire an unusual and unanticipated artistic gem. Peaceful Creekby Porfirio Salinas is the title holder for such an occasion…

Salinas, an Early Texas landscape painter gained recognition for his stylistic depictions of the Texas Hill Country. President Lyndon Johnson’s collection and appreciation of Salinas’s artwork helped solidify his reputation and legacy as a “godfather” of Bluebonnet paintings – a status shared with the likes of anoth-er Texas famed painter, Julian Onderdonk. Peaceful Creek is a raw landscape depiction of a rugged river varied with minimal vegetation and jaunt tree-lines. Circa 1924 to 1926- Peaceful Creek was ostensibly executed between the ages of 14-16 years old; Salinas’s teenage years reflective of his meeting and mentoring with painter, Robert William Wood. An overwhelmingly awkward and domineering tree with its unnatural bend stands as a homage to an un-trained artistic eye- a virgin of artistic mentor-ship A drab color palette lingers on overly mixed, with no one color popping, pulling, or anchoring the nondescript setting. Working through a visual depiction of tex-tures, movement, color values and relationships, scale, and composition, we see Salinas investigate, strug-gle, and problem-solve at such an adolescent age. Playing configured volley from left to right; the main vertical element is haphazardly haggard, drawing the viewer to the insignificant but centered and visually blurred tree in the hollow background. Bouncing to the left of center, the gaunt model of sickly arboricul-ture flexes its gangly roots that protrude like ingrown nails; painful to look at but necessary for balance. Di-rectly off this skeletal species of withered shrubbery we are entranced by the bubbling brook and sparse watery rapids. Bathed with an overabundance of white paint applications, the rocky diagonal of river rap-ids leads us into the shallow mid-grounds of a generic stream and riverbed addresses.

But crude in all its grandiose attempts- the flair, admiration and celebration of this atypical art piece lies in the artist’s sincere undertaking. In essence, the unrefined reverence of such an adolescent artistic epipha-ny rallies in an overtly outsider Art Brut gestalt.

© Gabriel Diego Delgado

15

Image: “Peaceful Creek”, 9” x 12”, Oil, $6,545.00

Framed

16

17

Porfirio Salinas

(November 6, 1910 – April 18, 1973)

-- Salinas was the state’s dominant bluebonnet painter in the 1940’s and 1950’s, the fa-vorite of politicians like Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, who hung a huge Salinas painting in his private dining room at the U.S. capitol.

Historically, artists have always been inspired by the visual landscapes around them, from the infamous Monet lily ponds to the Japanese mountain tapestries; our world has been the surrounding force for a driven passion in fine art. Likewise, for centuries the unique Texas typography and diverse landscapes have captured the attention of artists from all around the Lone Star State.

Historic contributions to Texas with the picturesque traditional landscape genre can be traced back to

the late 1880’s with the Onderdonk family and the portrayal of the Texas hillsides. Salinas, Wood, Ar-

pe, and the Harrisons – all playing an important role in Texas inspired landscape painting.

When Lyndon Johnson became president, he chose three Salinas bluebonnet paintings for his White House bedroom and two smaller ones for the adjacent study. © Gabriel Diego Delgado

Right Image: “Summer Day”, 12” x 16”, Oil, $10,250.00

18

19

Cliff Cavin

--An artistic purist guided by a time-honored aesthetic principle and mentored by great painters like Warren Hunter, George Hughey, William Reese and Wilson Hurley, Cliff Cavin -- a San Antonio painter, finds comfort and free-dom in traditional Impressionistic Landscape Painting.

Focusing his attentions to the Guadalupe River in a sig-nature Texas region, Cavin’s intuitive choreographed artistic calculations in his scenic and visual color Soi-rées create a painting that capture the ambiance of subtle environmental illuminations. The autumn leaves of the trees with their golden bloom accent the stellar impressionistic landscape gestalt. Cliff Cavin visually nourishes the viewer of the Guada-lupe River with a signature view of autumn: that time of year when nature offers the abundance of color that invigorates optimism. Painted in rich leaves and water add much to the quality of the painting. The mute sky-line gives center stage to the colors of fall; beckoning us to find inspiration where the artist has.

© Gabriel Diego Delgado

Right Image: “Fall on the Guadalupe”, 30” x 40”, Oil, $5,100.00

20