From the heart of Kansas City, one of our favorite artist duos is Bryan and Andrea Ring who own Amuck Designs.  Their art is metalsmithing, and creating jewelry made from sterling silver, copper, street signs, license plates, and other reclaimed material.  Here’s a peek at all the reasons we LOVE them ~ I’m pretty sure you’ll agree…

 Buy them all HERE on the Amuck Designs ETSY Shop!!!

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Terry Dunlap is a Colorado artist whose home I visited two years ago.  Her paintings were breath taking ~ abstracts of flowers and horses and more.  The colors were intense and full of wild abandon.  They are also HUGE ~ Terry does everything to the extreme and some of her paintings are five feet high.  Fast forward to January 2011 when Terry sent me the images below… due to a blip in her health she is working on things a bit smaller these days and has chosen light switch covers as her new medium.

 What a great way to have a tiny piece of hand painted art in your home without having to dedicate enormous space.  AND, they’re significantly less expensive this way.

** Click HERE for more from TERRY DUNLAP **

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ART to appreciate from Gregory Thielker… especially for those of us who love the view from the steering wheel.

BTW, they are oil paintings, not photographs.  Pretty amazing, huh?? 

{link via Design Crush}

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Nevada artist Dan Howard paints everyday cowboy lifestyle with a wild and whimsical color sensibility, his light and shadow is a beautiful contrast. Howard will also often incorporate a signature blanket pattern.

** Now heads up, pay attention **  This 2010 HOLIDAY SEASON Lucky Star Gallery is offering Dan Howard artwork at 35% OFF!! Whether you are ready to start your own art collection, or add to someone else’s gallery ~ this is a great opportunity to buy some fantastic artwork.

“Pyramid Lake Riders” by artist Dan Howard

“Winter Ride” by artist Dan Howard

“Con Padre” by artist Dan Howard

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God and Family are at the forefront of everything that Andy & Aaron Sanchez do in their business of creating furniture and art for homes around the world.  Their furniture IS art, as each piece is one of a kind, the designs based on how the wood and the stones that they use speak to them. 

Over the last few years Andy & Aaron Sanchez {a father & son partnership} have been creating smaller pieces of art for people who are just beginning their collections and are not yet ready to make a major investment in a large piece of furniture. 

The newest pieces being introduced this fall are Nativity Sets… just in time for the Christmas Season.

In their BLOG Andy & Aaron wrote this about the Nativity Sets… Even in a Christian home that reason can seem to get lost in all the excitement. In the shop this year we’ve stopped to reflect and work on something a little closer to our heart than conference tables and chess sets.  What is it? Perhaps one of the most famous scenes in history, commonly known as The Nativity.  To us this is one of the most touching moments in all history, as our Lord looked down and decided to come to this earth in the form of his creation that He loved. Knowing the pain and suffering that He would go through He still came. This was the love that He had for us.

** Click HERE for more about Andy & Aaron Sanchez **

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Rustic * Western * Vintage FURNITURE

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THIS SATURDAY in Weston MO!!  This Saturday {November 13, 2010} is Weston’s Second Saturday events.  There are all kinds of trunk shows, book signings & party plans in many of the stores. 

I’m especially excited to go over to Missouri Bluffs where artist Kelly Buntin-Johnson will be in the store from 12-4.  

Kelly will be bringing along 25 of her one-of-a-kind necklaces that have NEVER been seen before except for at Missouri Bluffs’ Trunk shows. For each item you purchase, your name will be entered you in a drawing for one of Kelly’s medium sized tag necklaces!  Swing that way if you’re in the neighborhood, play dress-up, have some treats & get a jump on your Christmas shopping!!

A native Missourian, Kelly Buntin Johnson has been beading and hand sewing figures and jewelry for over twenty years. Kelly’s artwork is collected world-wide. Kelly’s Charm, Tag and Ornament Collection is very popular. The artwork used in this collection are printed images of Kelly’s original designs which could be beadwork or mixed media collage. Kelly’s husband, Rhett Johnson fabricates metal cases from flat stock. He then fabricates a poly carbonate lens out of flat stock to protect the printed image. Rhett then crimps the case shut to protect the artwork. Lastly, Kelly is hand engraved on the back of each piece. Every art piece from Kelly is truly a Treasure. All ornaments measure 2 3/4 inches across. Tags measure 1 3/4 inches across and include a 24″ nickel plated stainless steel ball chain. The charms are 7/8 inches across. ~~ MissouriBluffs.com

** Click HERE to visit Kelly Buntin-Johnson’s WEBSITE **

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Last spring we had an interview with talented artist, Michael Goettee.  I love the vibrancy of Michael’s work, and his subject matter is always interesting, and offers a fresh perspective on the Western life we love to admire.  Since our interview with Michael last March he has had the enormous honor of being accepted into a juried show at the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, GA.  {To say that we’re proud that we discovered him first is a bit of overkill… but we’re gonna’ say it anyway.}

Agave Maria by Michael Goettee

Michael’s piece, Agave Maria {ABOVE} is currently showing in the “Booth Museum Staff, Member, and Volunteer Biennial Art Exhibition.”  It is a juried show, chosen by people outside the Booth Museum for fairness. The exhibition runs through October 3 in the Borderlands Gallery at the Museum.

Red Rocks Romance by Michael Goettee

 Red Rocks Romance {ABOVE}is a new piece from Michael that resembles a retablo or altar panel like those you see in the pueblo churches out west.  To see how the piece was put together go HERE.  It’s very interesting to see Michael’s process step by step… 

Lone Star Highway and Crossing Guard by Michael Goettee

For Lone Star Highway Michael used a piece of roofing that looked like an asphalt road, then fashioned his bottle cap after that on a Lone Star Beer.  He asked Facebook friends to vote on whether the two should be shown together, the answer was a resounding YES.

I can hardly wait to see what happens next for Mr. Goettee… thanks for keeping us update, Michael!!  xoxo,fancy

** Click HERE for our March 2010 INTERVIEW **
with Michael Goettee

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The Lucky Star Gallery is owned by mother-daughter team Harriette & Missy Allison.  Based in Reno, Nevada, Lucky Star Gallery specializes in Western art, jewelry, home decor and leather accessories. In the last month the duo has launched a new website, The Lucky Star Leather Collection, an exclusive line of leather products that are one of a kind in their designs, quality, and classic Western style.

Each of the designs from The Lucky Star Leather Collection is the brain child of Harriette Allison.  Harriette won the prestigious Best of Show award at the Western Design Conference in 2009 for the beautiful Painted Ponies Chair {below}.  Harriette first began creating leather designs in the late nineties when she was hobbying around at night trying new techniques with wood dying and sewing.  Her first large project was an upholstered set of 1950′s wagon wheel furniture.  It was showcased in a store window and after raving reviews Harriette knew she had found a new art about which she could become passionate.

Every single item that you see in The Lucky Star Leather Collection is hand made in their shop in Reno.  Harriette designs and hand cuts the finest leathers for both inside and outside of each piece, while a local saddle maker hand stitches each item.  The work is the same quality as that of a saddle ~ it will last you a lifetime.

Harriette and Missy recently teamed up with jewelry designer Nancy Anderson from Sweetbird Studio to produce an exclusive line of handmade leather belts {ABOVE}.  Harriette has also been working on a new line of guitar straps like one seen with Juni Fisher {BELOW}.  In addition to offering custom straps for any musical instrument Harriette is also working on another new line of Western-Retro inspired handbags.

READ MORE After the Break >>>>>>>>>>>

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Here at the Cactus Creek STORE we are super excited to be the newest home for Artist Cathy Kline.  Cathy is a native Kansas City resident who has been creating and teaching art for over 15 years.  We love Cathy’s aesthetic and are pleased to now have her original work here in the store… Here is more about Cathy in her own words, plus a few images of her fantastic work.

CACTUS: What path led you to become an artist?

CATHY: When I was a child, I picked up a pencil, and was forever changed as I watched it leave its mark. I knew as early as middle school that I would be a commercial artist someday. But even before that it was my mom. She was always making something out of . . . something else. And her creativity has always been an inspiration to me. For instance, what she saw in our ping-pong table. It was not how she hacked it into bits, per se, that was so creative. Instead, it was how each one of those newly worthless pieces of ping-pong table fit together so perfectly to form a quite beautiful, and very functional shelf/desk combination. She painted the shelf white, and added lavender and blue flowers to the desk. I was very happy to have it, even though I had to share it with my sister. Ping-pong was not missed.

There have been so many people and experiences that have shepherded me towards art that to identify all of them would be maddening, and to name them, life-consuming. But one in particular is too influential to leave out. Her name is Pat Lierly.

Pat Lierly was my Blue Bird and Camp Fire Leader. Her creativity nearly rivaled my mothers. Pat was incredibly gifted and will always be an inspiration to me. Her daughter, (and my best friend) Elaine Lierly Jones, is a local artist as well.

Selling an oil portrait in high school only confirmed what I had believed all my life; that I wanted to be an artist. But any type of artistic career, commercial or otherwise, had to come second to four boys. When my youngest entered high school, I finally had the time to get serious about a career. So I began pouring a foundation in hopes that by the time Mark graduated I would have something on which to build.

‘Robin’s Eggs’ original painting Now Available at the Cactus Creek Store ~ call 816.386.4013 for price & details

CACTUS: And you also teach art?

CATHY: At that time in my life, I had painted a float and done some graphic design for one of my son’s football teams. This led to a portrait here or there, and a mural every once in a while, all through word of mouth. This provided exposure, but it was not enough to build a career on. Had I not read the book, The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brainby Betty Edwards and Jeremy P. Tarcher, I might still be lucking my way form portrait to portrait to sporadic mural, fifteen years later, with no source of consistent income whatsoever. That book helped me to wrangle a truth stuck deep within my soul, drag it through the forefront of my mind, and deposit it, almost gift-wrapped, on the tip of my tongue. When I put that book down, I discovered within myself the ability to teach. And not by photocopying the book’s pages or stealing its lessons, but by cultivating my newly found ability to articulate a truth of which I had long been simultaneously aware and ignorant. That book TAUGHT me what I already knew.

Even now, I am not what one might call super successful, and I do not expect to strike it rich as an artist. However, I have had my victories and to this point a surprisingly fulfilling career and it is doubtful that I would feel that way without the anchor that my weekly classes have become. I have had a class, in some form or another, for the last fifteen years, and I have no plans of stopping.

‘Cows’ original painting Now Available at the Cactus Creek Store ~ call 816.386.4013 for price & details

More from Cathy Kline after the break below…

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A few weeks ago a gal came into the store with her husband and we got to talking… Lana told me that she was a photographer and that she loved chickens. 

What she didn’t know was that while she was on the bottom level of the store shopping her husband was telling me what an amazing photographer she is and that I should really check out her work.  So I did, and wow…. I don’t usually spend a lot of time browsing through photography but last night Lana posted an image that just drew me in and I’m dying to share it.  Meet Lana from Cease Fire Studios…

I showed the boys this picture of a tiny baby robin, and it’s brothers & sisters still in their neon blue eggs… then we spent the next 30 minutes looking at more of Lana’s images.  I just love this rare glimpse into God’s details.

 I’ve posted a few of the images that I loved the most but there are thousands that Cease Fire Studios has posted and Lana invites you to browse through them.  She also photographs people, of course, and commercial photography, too, so visit her website HERE, and her blog HERE, and take a few minutes to explore the world of Cease Fire Studios.

More pics after the break below.

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