Traildust: The Art of James Reynolds

This book is loaded with cowboys, cattle and country. I became enamoured of Western art when I first began painting in 1970 and traveled to Colorado to visit family. We visited galleries in Denver and Boulder, as well as a few ski area art centers, and saw a show of the National Academy of Western Art at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. The quality of the art--Western, Southwestern and Native American--simply blew my mind. At that time such work wasn't in favor in the East, so I had no previous exposure to it. Although my preference was for Southwestern and Native American, I especially liked Charlie Russell and Frederick Remington. Among the contemporary artists, James Reynolds was a standout. His paintings glow with color and vibrate with energy and action. The book, published by Greenwich Workshop Press in 1997, consists of full-page and two-page spreads on many pages, in full color, plus informative essays by Don Hedgpeth describing the country, history or activity depicted in the paintings. The artworks are modern masterpieces in my opinion. His color is simply amazing, from alpen glow to moonlight. I've browsed this book often, ever since I bought a used copy on the Internet.