Cheyenne County Art Guild select McElroy as 'Artist of the Month'

Born and raised on Nebraska cattle ranches, J. I. McElroy has a great love and respect for nature, wide-open spaces, and the natural interplay between the land and its inhabitants. These are depicted almost exclusively in her artwork, which is accomplished in a realistic style.

"Sometimes, I simply try to pass on the humor, wholesomeness, and wonder of people, animals and events that I am encountering on life's highways," said McElroy, who was named the Cheyenne County Art Guild's Artist of the Month this week.

Another joyful experience to her through art is being a member of the Cheyenne Co. Art Guild, the Association of Nebraska Art Clubs, the Ogallala Art Society, and the American Plains Artists.  She said that she is thankful for the many friendships and learning opportunities that she is enjoying through her association with these great organizations, the people in them, and through art in general. 

McElroy said her favorite medias are watercolor, acrylic, and graphite pencil and charcoal.  "Usually the scene I see, the humidity in the air or lack thereof, the sun's position in the sky, or the mood of the scene will tell me which media I want to use to try to take that real-life scene and put it down on a two-dimensional surface," she said.

Sometimes after working with color for quite a while she thinks it is just a wonderful vacation as well as a challenge to work in black and white again with graphite pencils and charcoal.  She said she .likes the challenges presented by each media. 

Challenges are one of the many things she likes about art.  For McElroy the first challenge presented is being brave enough to put that first stroke of pencil or paint onto the new blank sheet of paper or canvas.  The next major challenge is to keep going with a painting or drawing when she hits a halfway point in its progress where things are developing, but still not very pretty-when she wonders whether to keep painting or throw it away and start over.  And the final challenge for her is to know when the painting is done--when that final little touch-up is the last one the painting needs.  The whole process is a challenge to her, and yet one she considers to be so educational and so much fun while seeing how the artwork develops.

"If in the end I like it, then that is good," McElroy said. "And if someone else likes the artwork and it gives him or her pleasure to look at it, then that is extra special!"

Her artwork and/or prints or cards may be seen at Sidney Feed; soon at Art at Lodgepole Creek; Price Gallery & Framing, Valentine, Neb.; her studio-gallery, The Bunkhouse, southeast of Gurley; and in public and private collections internationally. Upcoming shows and exhibits in 2015 include the CCAG Spring Art Show in March, Sidney; Ogallala Art Society Show in April at the Meadowlark Gallery in Grant, Neb., and at the Petrified Wood Gallery in September in Ogallala; the American Plains Artists 30th Annual Juried Show, August-October, at the Great Plains Art Museum in Lincoln, NE; a Featured Artist Show at the Most Unlikely Place in Lewellen in October; and the 2Shot Goose Hunt Art Show in December in Torrington, Wyo.

McElroy's artwork has won many awards at various times including Best of Show and People's Choice at the Cheyenne County Art Guild's Spring Show; the Third Place Award, Award of Excellence, and the Purchase Award at the international American Plains Artists Juried Exhibit & Sale in Midland, Texas, and Lincoln, Neb.; many first-, second- and third-place awards at the Holyoke Art Show, Cheyenne County Fair, Wray Art Show and Yuma, Colorado Art Show and several others.

A signed and numbered 15-inch by 30-inch print of "Camouflaged but Uneasy" (a herd of 10 pronghorns) will be on display at the Sidney Public Library through Jan. 11.  Twelve other artworks by J. I. McElroy will be on display at the Cheyenne County Community Center.  The public is invited to view the artwork.