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Gray Stone Press
| LIMITED EDITION COLLECTOR PRINTS |
I'll never forget Chuck's first western painting. The title was "After The Ride"
(pictured below along with the 8 x 5 pencil sketch Chuck sent me to make
sure I liked it before he started on the painting) and it was a still life of a
saddle on a fence. One of Gray Stone's top artists was in my office the day
the original painting arrived. He watched as I opened the box and took the
painting out. I thought it was great but the artist wasn't impressed.
"Joe, that's not a painting. That's a photograph he has laminated to a sheet
of watercolor board and varnished over it."
He then set out to separate the photograph from the board. After about
fifteen minutes of him trying to find a place to start separating the
photograph from the board, he looked at me in amazement. "Dang (not the
word he used) this is a painting".
In those days Chuck painted so realistic that his paintings looked like the
best photograph you had ever seen. After the artist left I sat there studying
the painting. I started counting the various colors and shades of color in just
the brown saddle. There were oranges and yellows and blues and reds.
There were blacks and browns and shades of all those colors. I quit
counting at fifty-seven. When you looked at it all you saw was....a brown
saddle that you thought you could reach out and touch.
About ten years later when Chuck had become one of the biggest selling
print artists and recognized as one of the top painters in the United States, a
young illustrator from Los Angeles was visiting Nashville and heard about
Gray Stone. He came to my office to find out more about Gray Stone Press.
One of his first questions was who was with Gray Stone? I replied that our
biggest selling artist was Chuck Ren.
"Oh, he can't paint" was his response. "Really?". "No, all he does is
laminate a photograph to a piece of watercolor board and varnish over it"
(pictured below along with the 8 x 5 pencil sketch Chuck sent me to make
sure I liked it before he started on the painting) and it was a still life of a
saddle on a fence. One of Gray Stone's top artists was in my office the day
the original painting arrived. He watched as I opened the box and took the
painting out. I thought it was great but the artist wasn't impressed.
"Joe, that's not a painting. That's a photograph he has laminated to a sheet
of watercolor board and varnished over it."
He then set out to separate the photograph from the board. After about
fifteen minutes of him trying to find a place to start separating the
photograph from the board, he looked at me in amazement. "Dang (not the
word he used) this is a painting".
In those days Chuck painted so realistic that his paintings looked like the
best photograph you had ever seen. After the artist left I sat there studying
the painting. I started counting the various colors and shades of color in just
the brown saddle. There were oranges and yellows and blues and reds.
There were blacks and browns and shades of all those colors. I quit
counting at fifty-seven. When you looked at it all you saw was....a brown
saddle that you thought you could reach out and touch.
About ten years later when Chuck had become one of the biggest selling
print artists and recognized as one of the top painters in the United States, a
young illustrator from Los Angeles was visiting Nashville and heard about
Gray Stone. He came to my office to find out more about Gray Stone Press.
One of his first questions was who was with Gray Stone? I replied that our
biggest selling artist was Chuck Ren.
"Oh, he can't paint" was his response. "Really?". "No, all he does is
laminate a photograph to a piece of watercolor board and varnish over it"
| Gray Stone Press 1087 Louisville Hwy Goodlettsville, TN 37072 615.855.0505 800.251.2664 |
| email inquiries to gspnash@mindspring.com |
After The Ride
Chuck Ren -Western Era