This episode is different than the usual format. I was having a show that focused on drawing and I had invited 47 artists for what I called "Masters of Drawing." These individuals are who I consider to be the very best in that field. They're all artists that primarily do paintings, but I wanted to really focus on that basic structure of most fine art, which is drawing.

It's the thing that you do when you're a kid regardless of whether you're an artist or not, when you're three and you first get a crayon or a pencil. These individuals not only got that crayon and pencil, but they kept using it and using it. If you watch this podcast on YouTube, which I recommend, you can literally see them talking about drawing, speaking with their hands as if a pencil or pen was in their hands. It's really fascinating to watch because you can see each of these people's minds just go to that moment in time.

So I learned a lot personally about drawing, and I think you will, too. These are three individuals on this first podcast that really have, you know, at 100 years of drawing underneath them or more.

I have Chuck Pyle, Ezra Tucker, and Thomas Blackshear, the Masters of Drawing.

Mathieu Nozieres is a name you're going to remember... I say that because I can just see something in this young man. His trajectory and the way he looks at art... his commitment to Western art specifically is incredible. He actually immigrated from France to Los Angeles with his wife, who's also a wonderful artist as well.

You see, Mathieu has this unique story of being a comic book artist going into fine art, traveling and studying all over the world. From Romania to Belgium, India, China, Russia, all these different places, searching for knowledge to become a better artist and then finding Western art and going, "oh... that's it. Here's my lane. I love art history. I love the West. This is where I'm supposed to be."

So it's a fun ride. Just hearing where he's mentally at this point in his career is a treat. We'll look back someday, you know, 20, 30 years from now and you'll go, oh yeah, that was the first time he stepped on the scene. That was who Mathieu Nozieres was when he started his legendary Western art career.

So yeah, I enjoyed this podcast a great deal and I hope you do aswell.

This is the only podcast I've ever done where I put six different individuals in one episode, all talking about one subject. Drawing.

It's such an important part of being an artist because when you are just a little kid, you pick up those crayons, you pick up the pencils, you start drawing and - the people that get excited and somehow get turned onto that? Well, those are our artists.

I wanted to do this major show with all these artists and I've got 47 in this show called Masters of Drawing, where they get to show that expertise that they've had ever since they were little kids. I wanted to interview different artists and see what they had to say about the process.

So it's really a focus on drawing and about the show. The individuals in this episode include Josh Gibson, Kathryn Stedham, William Haskell, Whitney Gardner, Howard Post and Jim Woodside. They all have the same thing in common. They are Masters of drawing.

I think you'll find this fascinating. I know I did.

I had Susan Lyon on the podcast today. What a joyfulperson she is. I had never met Susan, but I'm very familiar with her work and her husband Scott Burdick's work and we had a great time. We talked about her life and how she got where she is today as an artist.

We speak about how she found her voice not only as an artist, but as a teacher. Which she does through her own website and through Patreon, which she feels is as much her calling as the art. So people can hear those types of things that she teaches and does, and then you can take that and go and see and learn and even sign up for classes so you can work with a master.

And she is a master and her drawings are amazing. We talk about a show that I'm doing, which is called Masters of Drawing that opens on February 15, 2025. She's a part of that show and it was fun just to discuss everything that goes into her drawings.

So I had a great time. I think anyone who listens or watches this will realize what an immense gift that Susan Lyon is to the world of art.

Unique podcast today because I'm actually being interviewed by Michael Clawson, who's the editor of Western Art Collector and he has his own podcast, which is the American Art Collective. So you'll be able to listen to this podcast on either platform.

He wanted to come down and talk to me about Maynard Dixon and interview me. And I said, well, why don't you just use my studio and we can do it together? You know, you interview me just like you would any other guest, and I'll tell you whatever you want to know. And we did that. I talked on Dixon for a very long time, for about an hour and 15 minutes.

It was a very interesting podcast, because when I do a lecture, it's more of a chronological, you know, follow along, connect the dots kind of thing. This really was more of a question/answer format type of podcast.

Michael specifically wanted to do this interview because I have a new Maynard Dixon and Native American Art Museum that opened next to my gallery here in Tucson, Arizona. He wanted to let his listeners and readers know about this museum, which is kind of a lifelong conglomeration of all the things that I've collected and learned about Maynard Dixon.

So It was very kind of him to have me on his podcast to do that and to talk about Dixon while we celebrate his 150th birthday. If you like Maynard Dixon, I think you'll find this podcast very interesting.

I had Bob Ashley on today and what an interesting guy he is. I really enjoyed this podcast because it speaks to something that I've always enjoyed, which is herpetology. As a child I was fascinated with reptiles and I'm still fascinated with them. Anybody who knows me has probably seen me move rattlesnakes off the road because I don't want them to get hurt. If you like herpetology, you're going to love this podcast (plus it's the year of the snake). If you don't like herpetology and snakes, then you may not find it as interesting as I did.

Bob has the Chiricahua Desert Museum, which is right on the border of New Mexico and Arizona off the I-10. It's not that far from Tucson and it's not only a museum of desert animals, but a museum that preserves and displays Apache material called the Apache Museum and Geronimo Events Center.

He really is one of the top people in this field and a ton of different research gets done as a result of his commitment to herpetology, but he loves Native American art, specifically Apache because he lives and operates his museum in that region. He's very close to the point where Geronimo surrendered to the U.S. government. The museum has lots of different things that you can see and the whole history of that region from an indigenous standpoint, from Mimbres on up.

Unique podcast, unique individual. I hope you do listen to it and I hope you go and visit it, which is at the Chiricahua Desert Museum, because it's a very interesting place to go. That's what this podcast is all about and that's what Bob Ashley is all about. He and I have, a similar love for snakes, herpetology, and Native American art.

Artist William Haskell speaks on his art and life at the Mountain Oyster Club in Tucson, Arizona for the Friends of Western Art.

I did a different type of a podcast today. Maybe something I'll do more of, if I find a certain topic really interesting. That's the thing for me. If I'm going to talk or try to share stories, generally I am talking to a guest, I'm interviewing somebody and listening to their story.

What happened was I went to see "A Complete Unknown," a movie with Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan. As I'm watching the movie, I'm thinking, you know, T.C. Cannon is so inspired by this guy, and you can see correlations. I can, because I understand and feel the relationships that T.C. Cannon had to Dylan’s music. So I did a little bit of a deep dive just to find out a few things about them and how they connected and why and the things that would affect them, specifically, T.C. Cannon.

I think it might give you a sense of who this person was, especially when you look at T.C. Cannon's paintings and his drawings because his drawings are some of the most personal, as they often are with his own writings, his own poetry, in some cases, even Dylan's songs and lyrics.

In fact Cannon does a couple of paintings that are directly related to Dylan's lyrics. So before you go see the movie “ A Complete Unknown” you might want to listen to this podcast and just got a sense of Cannon and how he was affected and might make the viewing experience a little different for you. I know it did for me when I was watching it. Terrific movie, by the way.