WESTERNS IN WOOD

SHELLY J COX’S ARTWORK ON COWBOY CANVAS

Written by: Ava Grace

the country taking photographs and selecting their favorites. Vandermeulen then searches for reclaimed wood, while Cox ponders how to bring the photo to canvas. With Greg’s canvas on Shelly’s easel, the magic begins. “Once a photo is selected, I think how to approach it, as I do not like to copy the photo. Instead, I want to turn it into an original work of art,” Cox explains. Cox sometimes clusters photos to create a composition in her head. But even with all the pre-planning, she often ends up surprised. This happened with On the Run. “I let my creativity take over, and it became one of my best,” says Cox.

Cox lately has kept her colors muted and earth toned … but will throw in pops of color. “I especially enjoy painting cowboys, cowgirls, horses and landscapes for backgrounds,” she says.

Her work Loaded is three muddied cowboys kicking back and cleaning guns, On the Run, a couple of cowboys on horseback making their way through a river, and Moon Bow, a solitary Indian woman—each wonderful examples of Shelly J Cox’s amazing artwork. They are oil paint on reclaimed wood that husband Greg Vandermeulen has created as her canvas.

Shelly also has a popular YouTube channel to demonstrate her process, to talk about other works submitted for her evaluation.

The artistic process starts as Shelly and Greg, married 29 years, travel

Greg Vandermeulen on a discovery: “I first found out that my wife could draw when we were dating. We were at a restaurant, and Shelly took their crayons and sketched her girlfriend—who was sitting across from us—right on the paper tablecloth. I was totally wowed.”

Greg had honed his woodworking skills in a cabinetmaker’s shop before becoming a firefighter/paramedic. He became interested in unique wood furniture, so he began working in the garage, where he built pieces for their home.

Their talents joined unexpectedly. “About a year ago, I was in an Arizona art gallery. It suddenly struck me that I had never seen western art mixed with interestingly shaped wood or art painted on a piece of furniture,” says Vandermeulen.

He approached his wife about incorporating her portrait/ figurative paintings into the western art genre. “She said yes and now we have a house full of western art,” says

Top: Greg and Shelly travel the country capturing images that can be used for their artwork. Bottom: The couple visit where realism can be gathered as reference.

ON CREATING LOADED:

“We were at photo shoot in Kansas—at a place that hires real cowboys and cowgirls and their horses. Greg took fantastic candid shots. I chose three pictures, and using Photoshop, I created a composition to work from. Greg surrounded the painting with 100-year-old reclaimed barn siding that matched the old barn wood siding behind our cowboys. The endresult was Loaded.

ON CREATING MOON BOW:

“In Native American culture, the story goes that the bow (from the moon), and the arrow (from the sun), were a gift to the Lakota people. The moon is considered female, the sun male, and so the bow is female, and the arrows are male. The symbols mean that life requires balance. In Moon Bow, I created a strong Native American female, using a strong shade of red for the eye band representing courage and perseverance.”

Vandermeulen, who loves constantly challenging himself and learning as he goes. He recently taught himself how to make resin river tables that include her western paintings.

Cox, who signs her work in her given name, has been interested in western topics forever. “Recently, I found one of my fourth-grade workbooks filled in. One question was, what do I want to be when I grow up? My answer: A horse trainer. Another question was, if you had three wishes, what would I wish for? My answer: a horse, a dog and a big farm,” says Cox, who grew up in Kentucky and is saving her earnings for a horse farm.

This past spring, the couple traveled to New Mexico where they attended a pow-wow and collected images of Native Americans to create more amazing artwork. “It was inspiring,” Cox says of that journey. FCM

Roundup

Westerns In Wood, westernsinwood.com shellyjcox.com, westernsinwood.com, youtube.com