Thursday, February 28, 2013

Save the Date


Parade of Artists

April 12 - 14, 2013
Boerne, Texas

In celebration of two great regional artists with international reputations, J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art, Boerne is proud to present:  Icons² (Print Selections from Dalhart Windberg and G. Harvey.)

Spotlighting such great paintings like G. Harvey’s “Discussing the Fare”, “Carriage on Canal Street”,“Building Memories”, among many others , J.R. Mooney Galleries has curated a select hanging of these memorable paintings and many more as limited edition prints at affordable prices in gorgeous and complementing preselected framing options-

“With over 20 framed and matted prints by Dalhart Windberg and G. Harvey, you are sure to find your favorite iconic image or theme- Ready to hang in your home, business or office!”




Born in 1933, Dalhart Windberg has spent many years painting his most interesting discoveries and fondest recollections; from the majestic snow covered Rocky Mountains to the floral beauty of the Texas Hill Country.  In 1972 Windberg was the sole artist of the American Masters Foundation and seven years later he was formally recognized as the Texas State Artist of the Year. In addition to starting his own publishing company, Windberg Enterprises Inc., his paintings are included in many top art collections; private and corporate, and in several art museums.

G. Harvey grew up in the rugged hills north of San Antonio, Texas where herds of longhorn cattle were once abundant.  Harvey's early interest in sketching and drawing slowly evolved into a passion for painting in oils. Artistic career highlights include President Lyndon Johnson’s discovery of his talent and becoming an avid Harvey collector and The Smithsonian Institution electing him to paint "The Smithsonian Dream", a painting series commemorating the national institution’s 150th Anniversary.  Today, G. Harvey lives in Texas, with his studio and residence nestled within the Historic District of Fredericksburg.



Second Saturday Art Crawl Boerne, TX

March 9, 2013 
4 pm - 8 pm

"Splashes of Springtime"


Spring- a season referring to ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection, and re-growth; is often associated with nostalgic reflections of colorful flower fields, sounds of chirping birds, abundance of wildlife and warmer weather. 

--Join J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art Boerne at 305 S. Main St., Boerne, TX as they celebrate March 2013 2nd Saturday Art and Wine Walk with an art curatorial of “Splashes of Springtime”.  A selected hanging of artwork inventory that spotlights the Spring colors; emerging vibrant hues of flowers, blooms, and budding ornamental arrangements by artists like J. Morgan, Claude Roy, Adams, Dan Matino, Yoon, and others.  

For more information call 830-816-5106.










Friday, February 22, 2013

Framing Job of the Wek


Custom Framing Job of the Week

Duckling Sculpture at JR Mooney Galleries

Our Master Framer Tang was able to secure a heavy bronze sculpture into a custom frame, mimicking the effects of a shadow-box.  The duck sculpture is about 35 - 40 pounds. The frame backing is reinforced with plywood sheeting and Tang has elegantly hidden all the elaborate detailing to secure the piece in the frame. Notice the clear cable tying that adds extra support to the bottom of the sculpture. The color combinations of art to frame color complement each other-(frame and artwork). 

  The rustic dark frame moulding and dark bronze casting with texture was picked by our own Framing Designer Paul De Luna and his customer. The 3-D effect adds another dimension to the usual art behind glass framing norm. 

  To go without a shadow-box glass enclosure lets the sculpture invade the viewer’s space demanding attention. 

Call JR Mooney Galleries of Fine Art for all your custom framing needs at 210-828-8214
or our Boerne, Texas location at 830-816-5106





Thursday, February 21, 2013

Texas Trademarks- Joe Peacock



Texas Trademarks”
Joe Peacock

-San Antonio, Gabriel Diego Delgado

Joe Peacock, Texas claimed artist; spent 27 years in the Lone Star State. Born in Detroit, Michigan Peacock’s family moved to Del Rio when he was an infant. Recalling early memories of mesquite, sagebrush, and cactus, Peacock’s vivid Texas landscape recollections of the Pecos area were influenced by his father’s onsite vocation of water well driller. Accompanying his father into the field, Peacock witnessed firsthand the rugged life of the cowboy, oil field hand, and ranch hand in the sweltering heat of the Texas sun.

Given rise in the 1970’s and 80’s Peacock is rarely see on the local Art Market.  His following is primarily tied to Texas Artist Collectors, with only minimal originals ever leaving the collectors’ coveted compilations.

“Texas Trademarks”, a 30” x 40” oil painting by Joe Peacock references all that is Texas.  Upfront with his unsubtle title and geographical reference, Peacock knows his painting encapsulates what he understands of his three decades in largest state in the 48 contiguous United States- complete with oil rig, cowboys, an oasis, hill country, and cattle.

The painting’s premise is centered on a cool cesspool of a watering hole in the vast prairie of some Texas Hill country ranchland.  Cattle drivers and their signatory bovine wallow around in the noonday sun. While the South Texas subjects break for a much needed thirst, Peacock takes an artistic license and places oil derricks in background of the meandering beasts. Back dropped by a series of rolling hills and mountains, we begin to see a systematic compositional approach from Peacock. 

It seems everything is calculated on purpose. Cloud contours mimic the mountaintop profiles, each one with its personal celestial halo of sorts. Two sides of dug out wheel track lines of the dirt path create “x” at the mountains, with a “v” shape of the cattle cluster pointing back up the “x” and out to the horizon line.

Set in Monotone greens and yellows, there is no push and pull of color rhythms. The blue water, due to its contrasting brightness in value becomes a defaulted secondary subject in this Contemporary Western Art painting.

A four point square of cowboys on horseback lock in the herd to add another form to the simple geometrical western allurements.

“Texas Trademarks” is available for purchase at J.R. Mooney Galleries for $4,500.
 Please call 210-828-8214 for details.

© Gabriel Diego Delgado




REHANGING of the San Antonio Gallery

Stop by the San Antonio Location of:

JR Mooney Galleries
8302 Broadway San Antonio, TX 78209

We painted, we rehung, we redecorated

Check out the new look and feel. 

















Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The Briscoe Museum Night of the Artists exhibition


Night of the Artists

A Cultural Culmination of Contemporary Cowboy and Western Art

-Gabriel Diego Delgado


There is a robust and rustic rendition of contemporary Western Art rounding out the rodeo and Fiesta season at the Briscoe Western Art Museum in San Antonio with the Night of the Artists Art Sale & Reception on March 23, 2013.  For over a decade the Night of the Artists Art Sale & Reception  has had the opportunity to celebrate contemporary Western Art with the who’s who of Western artists. In its twelfth year, this art sale continues on display for a free month-long Night of Artists Public Exhibition which began as a conceptual art idea perfect for San Antonio and staged at the “gateway” to South Texas, says the Briscoe Museum’s Executive Director, Dr. Steven Karr.  

photo by Brandi Sutherland Photography


On its website fact page it states, “The Briscoe Western Art Museum (governed by the National Western Art Foundation), is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation established to create a nationally recognized museum open to the public and devoted to the art, history, and culture of the American West, with a contextual emphasis on San Antonio, South Texas, and the Southwest.”  “The Briscoe Museum was formalized with a substantial financial contribution from the late Governor Dolph Briscoe, Jr. (April 23, 1923 – June 27, 2010),” says Karr.   This lead monetary gift established the funds to create a physical museum in downtown San Antonio that would house such a conceptual Western Art endeavor; ultimately located in the former San Antonio Central Library built in 1930.


The Briscoe is a non-profit corporation established to create a nationally recognized museum open to the public and devoted to the art, history, and culture of the American West, with a contextual emphasis on San Antonio, South Texas, and the Southwest.  “The Briscoe Museum was formalized with a contribution from the late Governor Dolph Briscoe, Jr. (April 23, 1923 – June 27, 2010),” says Dr. Karr.   This lead gift established the funds to create a physical museum in downtown San Antonio that would house the Western art endeavor; ultimately located in the historically significant former San Antonio Central Library built in 1930.

 “The Briscoe Museum has evolved along with the Night of the Artists”, says Karr. Previously staged at various venues and locations throughout the decade-long run, last year’s Night of the Artists (2012) finally saw its home venue christening on the picturesque grounds of the Briscoe’s Jack Guenther Pavilion; part of the one and one-quarter acres of land comprising two buildings and the new expansive McNutt Courtyard and Sculpture Garden located on the historic San Antonio River Walk.  

photo by Brandi Sutherland Photography



“There is something unique to this year’s Night of the Artists, says Dr. Karr. A new approach has reshaped this signature San Antonio exhibition into a fun and festive art sale with a competitive application process for the artists. “Night of Artists has turned into the largest contemporary Western Art show in Texas with 65 artists featured in this year’s exhibition,” said Dr. Karr.

Even through such rigorous processes, two of the spotlighted artists in the Briscoe exhibition are officially represented by a local San Antonio Gallery.  Cliff Cavin and Mark Keathley have been a fixture of the San Antonio Art scene for collectively over 30 years; Cliff Cavin at the Boerne J.R. Mooney Gallery and Mark Keathley at J.R. Mooney Galleries of Fine Art-San Antonio.

Although they have two different styles and aesthetics, Cavin and Keathley bring a true Texas flair to the Briscoe’s Night of the Artists. Cliff Cavin is a landscape purist, dedicated to the capturing of light, of atmosphere, of sub-stratospheric heavens bounded by impressionistic traditionalism, while Mark Keathley’s evocative sensibilities are hammered home with lively landscapes and nostalgic pictorial epiphanies of Native American cultural identity. 


In Clouds over Nambe, a large 36” x 48” landscape in Night of the Artists, Cavin portrays a cerulean skyline; full of Crepuscular light, enraptured with billows of atmospheric haze; lingering on the dying days of summer sentimentality. The autumn blossoming of the Chamisa, with its golden bloom accents this stellar impressionistic landscape painting of Nambe, New Mexico; back dropped by the Sangre de Christo Mountains.

Winding stretches of desert sand obscured by dense patches of typical New Mexico vegetation invite the viewer into a bathed foreground of aureate shrubbery.  Exposed groundcover creates quasi dirt path trails that seem to dissolve into the background.  Tiered horizontal parallels of flora generate diminishing outcroppings; leading the eye straight to point “A” –aka center point on the horizon-line.  Placing this geographical line of demarcation line directly midpoint of the picture plane, the configuration plays neither favorites to land nor the sky; balancing the importance of the artist’s view. The silhouetted mountain range transforms into a strip of neutral value and tone easing the transition between the earthly divisions.

Photo: courtesy of the artist


As derived from over three decades of careful study, Cliff knows that an object in the distance will shift toward blue because it does not reflect as much light.  He revs down his color palette by taking cues from the masters like Leonardo da Vinci who noticed that as a landscape recedes from the viewer its colors and tones alter (aerial perspective or atmospheric perspective). Well played Cliff, well played indeed! A textbook landing of hue-rrific proportions for such majestic geographical icons.  Nevertheless, Cavin ventures on and reverses the previously used conventional color theory tuning into another conjecture and depicts clouds growing darker and warmer instead of cooler; dipping in with subtle scarlet blends in the otherwise blanched firmament.


Contrasting Cavin, Keathley’s painterly essence is found in his quasi-hyper realism.  Capturing water ripples, muscle contours, textures and various other details, Keathley proves that Contemporary Western Art is making significant contributions to the Art World. Native Sun, a 36” x 48” painting depicting five Native Americans complete with War paint, mounted on horseback is a titled play on words; referencing American Patriotic identities with Native American religious celestial bodies. 

Careful attention has been paid to each horse’s coat, unique marking differentiate the equine selections; mimicked in the smeared applications of Native American bodily decorations. However, poised at various attentive gestures, the signatory Western Art animals are looking in different directions- each reflecting on his own territorial owning of the vast open plains. But, there is no outwardly distinction of the contemplative notions of the Indian riders. Silhouetted by the drooping setting sun, each face is hallowed by a illustrious glow, accenting the facial profile, eluding to a religious overtone or coveted nostalgic nobility of these long gone inhabitants. 

Bold highlights and accents of blue, orange, yellow and red litter the foreground grasses, while partly sunny and ephemeral heavens juxtapose the detailed subjects. The quadrigeminal composition of true “American” equestrians offsets to the right, placing the second from left rider in the center focal point. Holding the only modern technological weapon, the rifle, this warrior is surveying the immeasurable pride lands of this tribal band.  Mark Keathley does poetic justice with Native Sun, with all its sentimental and nostalgic portrayals of romanticized Native American Art.

Photo: courtesy of the artist


Rounding out the one night of festivities for Night of the Artists Art Sale & Reception, Karr closes with a notable summary of events for The Briscoe Museum exhibition. “Even if you’re not an art purchaser, keep in mind it is whole heartedly a free contemporary Western art exhibition and will remain on view for a month at the Jack Guenther Pavilion…becoming a representational precursor to what the public will see in the adjacent galleries of The Briscoe when it opens its doors in the fall.”

The Night of the Artists Public Exhibition will run March 24 through April 28, 2013. The Briscoe Museum is located at 210 W. Market St., San Antonio, TX 78205, Tel. 210.299.4499.  For more information, visit their website at: www.briscoemuseum.org.



© Gabriel Diego Delgado