We’ve just learned that Yonke has recently been commissioned to create artwork for the 2010 Delfest. The artwork will be used as the “graphic foundation” for the festival poster and other related promotional pieces.

Yonke is a mandolin player himself, and finds great joy in combining his two artistic passions, bluegrass music and watercolor painting.

We’re fans of his work here at The Bluegrass Blog, and excited to see this fusion of two fine art forms.

Be sure to visit his online studio at AppalachianStudio.com.

Karen has painted Bill Monroe and his mandolin before, and she explains how the image for this new original pastel painting came to mind…

“I wanted to do a painting that would pay tribute to ‘the instrument behind the man.’ In this case, I’m paying homage to perhaps the most famous mandolin in the world, Bill Monroe’s faithful Gibson Lloyd Loar F-5.

The new open-edition art print will be featured in my exhibit at the California Bluegrass Association Father’s Day Festival in Grass Valley next week.”

Might this be a candidate for a Bill Monroe postage stamp design?

You can see all of Karen’s bluegrass-themed art on her web site, where you can also sign up for her studio newsletter.

The original was done as a pastel on canvas, and mounted prints are available from her web site.

Karen shared a few words about how she created this image…

“Following my mentor Norman Rockwell’s footsteps, I prefer to work with live models. My model for this piece is Ron Lynam, who was the banjo player in the popular Front Range Bluegrass band from Ft Collins, CO.

Ron was a perfect model… He hillbillied up his costume and even brought the correct type of banjo. We allowed him to use a ladder to climb the tree and then handed up his banjo. So I hope we won’t get busted by the Banjo Humane Society!

The ancient cottonwood tree is in a public area near a river here in Ft Collins. You should have seen how funny folks looked at us walking along with a ladder, a hillbilly, and a banjo. Quite a sight! I couldn’t find dog models, so they’re fictitious.”

Cannon offers her many musical images as art prints, which can be viewed and ordered online. She will also be exhibiting at Merlefest later this month, where she will be available to meet folks and sign prints at her booth.

Moonshiner (translated page) is the premier bluegrass and acoustic music magazine in Japan. Featuring product reviews, interviews, and lots of articles about vintage and custom instruments, the magazine has long been the source for information to those who live in Japan and are fascinated by bluegrass music.

This 301st issue features some familiar cover art for anyone who paid attention to this year’s IBMA World of Bluegrass. It seems our friend Robert Yonke has gone international with his art!

Aside from his playing and writing, Matteson has begun to promote bluegrass music via the visual arts. In 2006 he began a series of paintings based on traditional American songs. The lyrics of the song are engraved on the canvas in small print and the painting depicts the story of the song. He has painted such bluegrass tunes as: Bury Me Beneath the Willow, Careless Love, Darlin’ Cory, Banjo Pickin’ Girl, and Molly & Tenbrooks. Matteson has kindly shared these five images with us.

Matteson continues to paint other songs while also doing concerts performing the songs he’s already painted while displaying the accompanying artwork. The Kentucky Music Hall of Fame & Museum, in Renfro Valley, KY, recently acquired two of Matteson’s paintings for display.

Matteson performed at the museum, displaying all ten of his bluegrass series song paintings, last Satuday Oct. 18th. Director of the museum, Robert Lawson, found the paintings compelling enough that he plans to exhibit Molly and Tenbrooks in the Bill Monroe exhibit area, and is currently working on a new display for Lily May Ledford, which will feature the painting of her song, Banjo Pickin’ Girl.

The paintings may be viewed on Matteson’s new Bluegrass and Artwork Blog.

We were delighted, however, to get this more positive report from painter Karen Cannon, who had a large booth in the exhibit area during Fan Fest.

“IBMA Fan Fest was a great show for me. Sales were brisk, some folks were returning customers and a number of them discovered my art for the first time this year. We were happy to see that the current economy debacle didn’t noticeably dampen spirits, everyone was happy and having a great time.

The Awards Show was very well done, and having it in The Ryman was a treat. The IBMA staff does a great job with all aspects of the convention.

An added bonus to the Nashville trip: we finalized plans with the Grand Ole Opry, The Ryman, and The Country Music Hall of Fame to carry our music art products. I’ll be doing custom work for The Opry and am looking forward to that. And I’m already planning my exhibit for Fan Fest 2009 and hope to have several new designs to debut there. It’s going to be a busy year.

Looks like I’d better learn how to paint with both hands at the same time!”

We would be interested in hearing from anyone else who exhibited at IBMA 2008, or anyone who attended in a professional capacity, with your own impressions of the event, how well it met your expectations, and how well you accomplished your goals.

The print is from the original drawing, Jump On It, by Adam Carlos, part of his Hands Of Music series that includes renderings of the hands of some of the most noted players in bluegrass.

Only a limited number of the autographed Rice prints are available, and can be ordered from Tony’s web site.

Her latest painting is a striking portrait of Bill Monroe, entitled Goin’ Home. Karen describes this stirring image as imagining Bill Monroe tuning up for his final journey.

It is now available as a limited edition print, taken from the original pastel painting. These are high quality, fine art Giclee prints that measure 22 x 28” (outer mat dimensions). The run is limited to 100 prints, each of which is signed and numbered by the artist, and will be shipped in a bevel cut mat with a certificate of authenticity.

Each print is priced at $175 with complimentary shipping to any US address. Full details on this limited offering can be found on Karen’s web site.

Karen’s art is published through Art Strings Publishing LLC, and distributed internationally by Hal Leonard Corporation. Music lovers worldwide have begun collecting her pieces, and the signed prints are rapidly gaining in value.

She also invites IBMA attendees to visit with her during Fan Fest where many examples of her bluegrass themed art will be on display.

Hari is a long-time fan of country and bluegrass music, who has painted portraits of Bill Monroe, Chet Atkins and Hank Williams in addition to other celebrities like Dustin Hoffman, Salvador Dali and Norman Rockwell. He traveled to the museum in early April to do sketches of Dr. Ralph in a live sitting, Hari’s preferred and universal policy on creating portraits of living subjects.

We spoke with the artist recently, and he shared some thoughts about meeting the good doctor.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Clintwood to see Dr. Stanley and create my sketches. The countryside is beautiful and the people were all terrific.

The museum itself is a jewel, and meeting Dr. Stanley was a great pleasure. I recall standing with him amidst the exhibits, and he looked up at me with a smile and said ‘Can you believe this? In my lifetime to see this?’

The man just has an aura about him… an elegance, and a wonderful way with people.”

Hari said that the commission was paid by an anonymous donor specifically with the condition that the painting be given to the museum. He hopes that he will be able to create several portraits from his sketches, and indicated that the museum portrait will depict Ralph with his signature Stanleytone banjo.

Larry Pierucci, Hari’s business representative, tells us that there are loose plans for poster prints from the Stanley portrait, which would be issued to benefit the Stanley Museum. Prints of a number of existing Hari portraits are available online.

An unveiling is planned for sometime in August at the Ralph Stanley Museum.

Museum director Aaron Davis is understandably eager to have the painting hanging on the wall.

“We are extremely excited to see the final product, as we’ve seen Mr. Hari’s work and know that this will be an incredible addition to his portfolio and a wonderful new item for the Museum & Center. Mr. Hari mentioned that this portrait will be here long after he and Dr. Stanley are gone, and that’s one of the great things about working with an artist of Mr. Hari’s caliber–this portrait will remain as a one-of-a-kind piece that helps to tell the story of mountain music for many years to come. The only difficult part of this process is waiting for it to be completed! We have some idea of the final version based on work we’ve seen, but it doesn’t make the waiting game any easier as we move towards the unveiling. We’re looking forward to being pleasantly surprised!”

Brenda Behr is an artist in the paint and canvas sense of the word. But she also loves bluegrass music. She’s combined these two art forms by arranging to paint bluegrass band Kickin’ Grass while they perform at a fundraiser for people with disabilities.

I have been looking for a venue in which to paint more performing bluegrass musicians…I’ve painted blues musicians for two consecutive years at the Fargo Blues Festival in Fargo, North Dakota. The fans love it, and are very willing to pay on the spot for the watercolors.

Behr has agreed to donate a portion of her profits to help the fundraiser, which is to benefit Bear Creek Center, a not-for-profit center run by RHA Howell Care Centers, supporting and educating 125 people with mental and physical disabilities.

The event will take place on the grounds of Hinnant Family Vineyards located in Pine Level, NC on Saturday, May 10, 2008. Activities will take place between Noon and 6 PM. Admission is $20 per adult, children under 12 are admitted free.

You’ll be seeing this art a lot more as IBMA sends out their promotional materials throughout the year. Nice work Bob!

The festival is coordinated by the Bluegrass Committee of the Rapid City Arts Council, along with a large staff of volunteers. This year the Committee decided to have a contest for the t-shirt design. They say designs should be based on “music, musicians or other images of bluegrass or folk music culture.”

The winning design will be used on this year’s festival t-shirt and the winner will receive $300. Two weekend passes to the festival will be awarded to the second place entry.

Entries must be submitted by February 22, 2008, with the winners being announced on March 9, 2008. You can find the official entry form highlighted in blue toward the bottom of this page.

To learn more, call 394-4101 ext 200.

The latest addition to the collection is a giant fiddle head bench that has been placed outside the Willard Arts Center. The bench replaces a piano art bench that was destroyed by vandals two years ago.

Created by Robert Carter, the new fiddle head bench is constructed of steel and weighs 1500 pounds.

This may not be a bluegrass fiddle, but rather a heavy metal fiddle!

Erikson got his start as a banjo builder, but soon developed an interest in inlay. Discovering that small shop instrument builders did not have a reliable source for quality inlay material, Erikson began a quest to find, and provide, such materials. He soon became the go-to guy for custom luthiers seeking inlay materials of all kinds.

He still does inlay work himself, and is quite an accomplished inlay artist.

According to the article, Erikson has done personal inlay work for artists like the Kentucky Colonels, Pat Cloud, Herb Pederson, Doug Dillard, John Hartford, Don Parmley, The Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds, Bernie Leadon, David Lindley, Larry McNeely, Alan Munde, Geoff Stelling, Mark Platin, John McEuen, John Hickman, Bill Knopf, and more.

His primary business, however, seems to be providing inlay materials to other builders and inlay artists.

His website is a wealth of information on all topics related to instrument inlays. He has informational pages about various inlay materials, mostly shell, and for every product he sells there is an accompanying informational page about the material, the art, etc.

The article includes a lot of great information about acoustic instrument inlay that would be worth reading for anyone interested in doing inlay work, or having a custom instrument built with inlay on it.

Jim McGuire: Nashville Portraits hit the road in May, 2007. The first leg of the journey has taken the exhibit no further than Nashville itself. The Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, TN is playing host for the exhibit’s first stop, where it will stay through September 9, 2007.

The exhibit is comprised of 60 black & white photographs (go here for a web preview) that were shot over the last 30 years, including shots of Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Doc Watson, Benny Martin, Emmylou Harris, Sam Bush, Marty Stuart, J.D. Crowe, Ralph Stanley, and others.

In addition to the 60 portraits traveling with the exhibit, a new book of McGuire’s photographs, by the same name as the exhibit, will accompany the tour during 2008. The book is being published by Lyons Press and will be available early 2008.

If you have an interest in booking this exhibit for a stay in your town, you can contact Smith Kramer Fine Arts Services for more information. Dates are still available through December of 2009.

The artist is Karen Cannon, and she offers prints, posters, cards and even coffee mugs using her original musical paintings. Karen spent many years working as a designer in the greeting card industry, and now offers her art directly through her web site, Art Strings Publishing.

Her style is traditional, “small town” Americana, which she acknowledges without reservation.

“A Norman Rockwell influence is evident in the illustrative story-telling theme of the cards. My love of paiting and playing has been brought full circle with these cards. Hope they send a smile to you and your friends.”

I received one of her cards this past Christmas – of Santa playing a mandolin – and was immediately struck by the warmth of the image and the skill of the artist.

See all her works on the Art Strings web site.

Earlier this week we found another, William H. “Scoot” Dryden, Jr., whose large oil paintings are far more abstract than the watercolors of Bob Yonke, who Brance mentioned last week.

Scoot’s work is quite colorful and perhaps a bit macabre, with many involving bluegrass instruments and musical settings.

If you would like to see a large gallery of his work, visit his website.

Bob very kindly sent me a print the other day. The painting is of a jam session under the yellow tent at the Old Fiddler’s Convention in Galax, VA. The painting captures the colors, the crowd, and the fiddle sounds of Galax.

He tells me this is part of a new series he is working on. This particular painting is not represented anywhere on his site at this time so I can’t show it to you. The print is nicely matted in a double matt and ready for framing. I just happen to have an extra frame laying around so this piece of art will be going on the wall here at the studio today.

With this painting, I’d say this new series is off to a good start. Once the project is completed and available on Yonke’s website, we’ll bring you an update about it. For now, you can browse his other offerings, including The Bluegrass Collection which represents classic bluegrass in muted earth tones. The picture included in this post is the painting Kentucky Mandolin, from this series.

Adam Carlos is a Tennessee native who grew up in an artistic family. His dad only recently retired from a 37 year career teaching art at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. Adam began as a photographer and then developed a love for drawing. He now depends on his art for his living as he pursues a full time career as an artist.

He is also a bluegrass musician who spends his free time playing mandolin when he’s not drawing. What is it with mandolin players and art? Does playing the mandolin somehow unleash a creative gene? Both of these artists are mandolin players!

Adam’s work, which he calls Hands of Music, is on display at the Nashville Airport through this Sunday, March 4th. If you have any reason to be in the airport, stop by the fine dining area and check out his drawings. Adam also attends a number of bluegrass festivals each year as a vendor, with a booth where you can view and purchase his artwork.

The Hands of Music series of drawings are also available for purchase on his website, either as originals, prints, or on tee-shirts.

Adam has written a thorough explanation of why he draws the hands of bluegrass musicians. If you like his work, you should read this.

Yonke has combined his love of bluegrass and old-time music with his love of painting. It all started when friends encouraged him to capture the scenes of rural Appalachia in a coffee table book. He started painting and was soon giving the works names based on classic bluegrass songs such as The Old Home Place and Old Joe Clark.

From there he moved to painting scenes of bluegrass bands during performances. Even with these paintings though, he has continued his naming scheme. The one pictured here is titled Big Mon for obvious reasons. Yonke explains what he sees as the purpose of these works of art.

These paintings are not intended to replace photography as a tool for documenting this style of American roots music rather to offer an interpretation that will have meaning beyond its decorative value to bluegrass and old-time country music fans.

All of his paintings are available for purchase from his website AppalachianStudio.com as prints. Originals are also available from time to time and all of the works can also be purchased for use as greeting cards, CD covers, posters and more.

As cool as all this is, it gets better. Not only is Yonke a bluegrass musician and an artist, he’s also a blogger! You can visit his blog The Bluegrass Painter where he writes about art and his love for music.