Shirley Phelan Art

Call them Bison or call them Buffalo, this is my first take on painting animals of any size. I wanted them to be somewhat abstract but when they were too abstract it was missing something. I like them now, I think it's done. Have to wait till it is dry to decide for sure. American Buffalo in the Snow, 24x36, oil on canvas.

Ever since I painted first Crazy Horse I, almost a year ago, I have been drawn more and more to the idea of Western Art. As I paint buffalo and Native Americans, I want to know more about the actual natives that inhabited this continent before it was invaded and they were killed or herded onto reservations. So I am doing more research on the indigenous people of the San Francisco Bay area right now, the Ohlone, and I plan to do more research to make my art more authentic. Ind

A friend lost her beloved friend Bearley a few months ago and I decided to paint a picture of them together. Finally figured out why it wasn't working out, she was wearing a beige sweater in the reference photo and Alida just isn't beige, so I changed it up a bit and now I am happy with the result. I hope she will be too. At the same time, my brother Chris mentioned that he wanted me to paint a picture of a cabin that he had built, by hand, in the Pennsylvania woods more than

Finally, I found a skull to call my own. On a family vacation we made a trip out to Virginia City, Nevada and a store there had several fine specimens. They were a bit pricey, but I really wanted one. My wonderful nephew-in-law negotiated a lower price with the owner and I bought it. I am so excited. It will be a feature in many upcoming works, but right now, it's just going to be a decoration in the vacation house.

Since my 9 year-old great-nephew was visiting from Pittsburgh, I decided to do something fun with him that I haven't done since I was a kid. Nature prints, or sun art. We made a bunch of these beautiful pictures and actually framed one for a bedroom upstairs in the Truckee house. Love it. I will be doing more because they are fun and beautiful.