A new book in the making!

Tim Gregg of College Station is writing and publishing a long overdue book showcasing Navasota's illustrious Leon Collins. I am proud and grateful to have been included in this amazing legacy and wish them both success with this venture. In the making of the book, it required a trip down memory lane... and here photographs depict a tiny fraction of the art legacy produced from just two of Navasota's artists, whose paths crossed three decades ago, and who shared a special friendship along the way. ***************************************************************************************************************** Thank you Tim for doing this... you obviously have a talent for sniffing out a vacuum.. and for filling it. NOTE: to see the photos more easily, just click on any of them, and you will get a strip with them in smaller format.

Leon with his equally talented daughter "Molly Bee"

Russell Cushman gathering inspiration on the O6 Ranch in west Texas

Leon Collins doing what he did for years... demonstrating on the downtown Navasota sidewalk...

Russell on assignment for Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, in the Caribbean

Leon has been a fixture around Texas antique circles for several decades, buying, trading, selling... and it's actually how we met

Russell painting Mt. Cook in New Zealand

Leon was often seen painting down in front of Blues Alley (later transformed into Classic Rock Coffee ), under the mural he helped to paint

Russell shows his grandmother... blind but quite curious... his sculpture in Heritage Park at Bryan, Texas.

Russell hosted a well attended jam session at Blues Alley for a couple of years... where over time he experimented with playing drums, a wash tub, and even a bass. He stuck to painting.

Leon at work on his monumental portrait of "Texas" Alexander... depicted on the Music Mural in Blues Alley at Navasota...the most famous bluesman from Grimes County, painted by the most famous artist from Grimes County... How's that for some history?

Russell painting "plein air" in Palo Duro Canyon

Leon caught in a private moment... outside Serendipity's Cafe... where Texas singer-songwriters once performed every Friday night...

Russell does his version of Texas Ranger Jeff Milton for a busload of history buffs from Houston

Russell captured by Ashton Hall while at work on the mural at Hi-Ho Store in Navasota.

Products of an "Anachrosaur"

(above) Britt Johnson action figure; customized Johnny West Geronimo figure, by Russell Cushman ***********************************************************************************************************

Digital Art design, "My Microcosm" *********************************************************************************************************** I posted a few months ago about my "new direction"... and I should have said directions... and that would mean EVERY DIRECTION. The question was, was art, or artists in the sunset, or the sunrise of their existence?

The tectonic shifts in the economy, our culture and the art market in particular have sent artists scrambling in every direction, trying to figure out how to maintain their lifestyles. Of course there are adaptations necessary in any profession... and I began to market my art on anything which it could be printed on... such as the pillows above. Fine Art America offers my art on cell phone covers, shower curtains, towels, etc., and of course all kinds of prints. But artists in this handy market are like a coliseum filled with watch salesmen standing shoulder to shoulder, with their products covering their arms, all waving at the same time. With maybe a half-dozen customers... ************************************************************************************************************ Some artists I know are squeezing out various methods of survival by working harder than they ever have, while trying a myriad of approaches online. These are the most astute artist-businessmen/women among us who are creatively and courageously approaching the challenge, dealing with the requirements and the difficulties of delving into our 21st Century art frontier, the awkwardness of self-promotion, and the vigor of technical solutions.

Designer Pillows, by Russell Cushman *********************************************************************************************************** I have to admit, being 67, that none of those options I mention are attractive to me... having just spent 25 years working as a muralist and bronze and steel monument sculptor, which seemed to me at the time to be the most physically demanding and yet the lowest paying rung on the art ladder. I am tired! So when the wheels came off of the art world (for me) around 2018, I began to think about the "what ifs"... and started working then on a possible career shift. I still painted as much as I could... still did some art exhibits, but produced much smaller paintings, and as sales declined, and new art venues stopped presenting themselves, I increased my creative efforts in new areas.

Photograph restoration, by Russell Cushman ************************************************************************************************************ As I became more and more convinced that art and the art market were changing in ways we could never comprehend, and might never recover, the words of my college instructors at North Texas State rang in my ears. "YOU ARE AN ANACHRONISM," they insisted back in 1975, as they scoffed at my A average, and my fantastic sophomore portfolio, and sent me packing to change my Major, as they did not want me in the art department, for any reason. I did not leave without an argument, but they eventualy won, assuring me that I was not going to be happy there, further explaining that my ways were only detrimental to other students. My emphasis on drawing and painting with realism, and the relative ease with which I demonstrated these skills, were confusing the other art students, who, like my teachers, frankly could not touch me. Either I and a few others in the art department were artists, and the rest was nonsense, or a few of us had to go to maintain art department morale, while college professors confidently reinvented art in their image, until most artists like me would not recognize it. And people no longer cared about it.

Digital Art design, "Rambler Romance" using action figures, by Russell Cushman *********************************************************************************************************** With help from the new computer technology and the Internet, college art philosophers were eventually proved right, and traditional art forms are today about as irrelevent as they have ever been in my lifetime. There are fewer art supply stores, fewer art galleries and fewer art shows, than since the 1950's. But it took forty years for my UNT art instructor's wishes to come true. So, "When life gives you lemons..."

It became evident to me around 2017, about the time that I moved to Belton, that I was going to have to reinvent myself... So what you are seeing here are some of the solutions I tried. Since I got settled in Bell County, I began to write passionately. Knowing that back in high school I had been considered by everyone to be a good writer, I wrote and wrote and actually got published here and there. And I began to experiment with new ways to develop concepts for major works... digital photography, computer graphics, and using action figures, while I played with duck and fish decoy restoration, 1960's toy restoration and photograph restoration. In other words, anything to make a buck.

Digital Art design, action figures, "Queen of the Mountain" (Joan of Arc)

"Gus N' Call" custom action figures, by Russell Cushman *********************************************************************************************************** Still, painting commission art is hands-down the most financially rewarding... but as you can see, I have had a lot of fun. I guess having fun ain't so bad...

Digital Art design, action figures "Malibu Morning" by Russell Cushman

Digital Art design, action figure "Native Ability" by Russell Cushman- to be painted... or marketed as-is? HellifIknow! ************************************************************************************************************

Digital Art design, "Where Angels Tread" by Russell Cushman- don't tell my wife if you recognize her in any of these!

Antique tintype image restoration by Russell Cushman ************************************************************************************************************* Anyway, we gotta do something! I have not found the answer yet... but God willing I will find it. ************************************************************************************************************* I'm sure the dinosaurs did not disappear overnight, and artists, the ones who actually make tangible things with their hands, will not either... Yesterday's triceratops for instance, (or at least his genes) may survive as today's horny toad. So let's not get depressed yet... but show more veneration for the humble horny toad... who might well have descended from something like a giant creature who ruled the plains! Like the dinosaurs, we may morph into dozens of fruitful RELEVANT services in the unfolding technological culture. We have to put on our most open-minded sensitivity... you might be morphing into a medium or a market which you never planned. And that sure beats being what I have been for the past forty years... We'll call it a "Anachrosaur." So let's agree, we are experiencing a friggin' SUNRISE of art!

Digital Design with action figures, "Free Ride" by Russell Cushman

Sometimes I go back...

Inevitably, in my business an artist will create a sound painting, but it never finds a home. Maybe it is too big, or too green, or too boring... but for whatever reason it is too resistable... and after a certain period, I will take mine which fall into this category and rethink and ultimately reinvent them.

So here is "Lost Maples Shadows" modified to become "As the Deer Pants." The name is a reference to a popular song in Christian circles twenty years ago... which quoted Psalm 42: "As the deer panteth for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God." After adding the deer, I had to admit the painting felt complete... and needs no more attention. The canvas is quite large- 36" x 48," and requires a LARGE wall to hang comfortably.

Another painting, one I now call "Phantom," was done on location in Palo Duro Canyon, and again... needed something... and after years of annoying me as it was moved around my studio, I finally found the focal point that fit. Yes, it is an extremely unusual composition... with the subject low and outside of the normal central space afforded "main subjects." But it seemed to work.. as if you just walked up and caught a glimpse of this puma, lurking in the tall grass... and entered that instant of fear and wonder... Anyway, I liked it a little edgy... kind of being a little unpredictable. "Phantom" is a small (11 x 14) oil on panel, painted on location in Palo Duro, the mountain lion having passed through just recently!

Bread and Butter: Small Works

I have a great selection of new "Plein Air" field sketches available right now... they run around $250.00 - $300.00 (unframed).

"Grimes County Line" SOLD (12 x 24)

"Union Grove" (12 x 24)

"Summers Mill Falls" (11 x 14)

"Summers Mill" (11 x 14)

"Adams Rd Bluebonnets" (11 x 14)

"Old Baylor Spirit" (16 x 20)

Pet Portraits... You Bet

Show me an aritst who makes a living and I'll show you one who has painted pet portraits. Artists often avoid them, and only do them under duress, and there is a reason for that timidity. Portraits are difficult... and people who commission portraits have very specific expectations... and especially about the immortalization of a beloved pet. You may have to possess a dangerous amount of hubris to even take on such a task... but pet portraits are up there with the "best sellers," and can often be a key to financial survival.

Some of my first commissions 50 years ago were pet portraits... (I include livestock and horses in this category) and those jobs introduced me to the agony and ecstasy of pet portraiture. I did them, considering them the "dues" I had to pay... but benefitted greatly from the experiences, which drove me into new horizons. It was almost haunting when a lady I knew for years, one day told me that she had commissioned me to do her horse forty years before... and it had been so long that I did not even recognize her, or remember the painting. So that proves that no matter how daunting the task, you will not be scarred for life! And you will put a little bread on the table...