Baron Barrymore Halpenny
       Illustrator and Cartoonist

WESTERN PAINTINGS :: WILD WEST GALLERY ::

The Western Genre is principally a North American fictional theme that generally focused on the United States of America. It has been greatly romanticised over the years (though it does have its basic roots sometimes stem from historical facts), mainly from the American peoples viewpoint, as this was an important period in the creation of their nation and a time when many of their towns were “born”.

The time of the Western Period is very, very loosely set between the 1850’s and 1890’s, but even these get stretched. This could be because between the American Civil War and the First World War the United States of America came of age. In a very short span of time for a Nation, which was less than 50 years, it transformed itself from a rural republic through to an urban state.

The frontier effectively vanished as mighty giant factories, rail roads, cosmopolitan cities and vast agricultural holdings (often held by conglomerates) marked the land. At the beginning of all this was the cowboy and his often stubbornness to accept the change and keep to the old ways. This is in the psyche of the American people.

The cowboy represents independence, strength, adventure and sheer determination.

Fact and Fiction are somewhat blurred, but it is the “Spirit” of the Wild West, that is effectively trying to be captured and especially that that is created by Hollywood and the fantastic Spaghetti Westerns. I have to say that the Spaghetti Westerns are my inspiration for my Western Art Paintings.

WESTERN PAINTINGS :: WILD WEST GALLERY Though I will do abstract forms and the occasional full detailed painting, my Western Art Paintings are however mostly, well, nearly all, of the silhouette style. This is for many reasons. It is in actual fact harder to do a good silhouette Painting than people realise, for you have to get the balance just right so that people can see and feel what is going on. A silhouette Painting also allows for the beauty and colourfulness of the sky to be more dominant and this in turn brings the eye to the silhouettes that allow the viewer to see and imagine what they want to see … and who they want that cowboy to be. Is it George “Gabby” Hayes driving the “Stagecoach”? The Cowboy is also one of the greatest and most easily recognised figures in a silhouette. And of course the silhouette when greatly enhanced by a dynamic sky makes a captivating and Graphic Painting that is instantly noticed, recognised and remembered. Here is a selection of my Western Paintings, all with a Wild West theme.
Keep Riding Oil & Acrylic	Stage Coach Oil & Acrylic	Trailed Oil & Acrylic
Trail Blazer Oil & Acrylic	Yellow Dawn Oil & Acrylic	POSSE 1 No1 in a Trilogy Painting in Acrylics
POSSE 2 No2 in a Trilogy Painting in Acrylics	POSSE 3 No3 in a Trilogy Painting in Acrylics	POSSE As the Trilogy looks complete

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