Doug Monson - Western Charcoal Artist

Best Western Charcoal Artist - Fine Art

Doug Monson is a western charcoal artist that lives in Afton, Wyoming in the Star Valley. While his his entire life has been dedicated to art, it wasn’t until recently that full time success became a reality. Nowadays you can find his beautiful charcoal drawings of cowboys and wildlife hanging in his own Western Skies Gallery, Jackson Hole’s oldest fine art gallery - Wilcox Gallery , and in the homes of fine art collectors all over the world .

Its wild to look back and see how certain parts of your life come together. I make it a point to do as much backcountry snowboarding in Jackson Hole, WY as possible. The terrain and snow quality is just top notch. This past winter we were up there during a particularly cold storm which got down to -30 for 3 days in a row. The excitement overtook me, as it often does, and I forgot to treat my diesel pickup truck with the proper chemicals that would keep it from freezing. So, it froze. Literally. To the point that it was towed to the dealership in order to thaw out in their heated garage. Aside from costing a lot of money to fix, it also kept me in Jackson for longer than expected. My friends went out riding while I dealt with the truck, leaving a large portion of the day open. So I walked around town to all of the famous galleries like Wilcox Gallery, Horizon Fine Art, Gallery Wild, Heather James Fine Art, Altamira Fine Art, and Brookover Gallery, to name just a few. Jackson Hole has a LOT of fine art that can keep just about anyone happy for days at a time. I’d been meaning to tour the galleries anway, in hopes of finding a place to sell some of the work from my photography series on Cowboys. So having that day was an unwanted blessing in disguise. And the inspiration you can get from seeing so much great work can be addicting for any kind of artist.

By the time my truck was ready I was in a rush, which caused me to take the quick way home instead of taking several days sniffing around for photographs. The “quick” route took me through Afton where I stumbled upon Western Skies Gallery. Still having the gallery bug I went in and was greeted by Doug Monson, who I soon learned was a charcoal artist and the gallery owner. Upstairs above the gallery is his working studio. I was in awe of the space and asked if it would be ok to make some photographs while he was working. Doug obliged and we would up spending an hour or two just hanging out talking while he drew and I made photographs. I had no idea what would happen with the images, but was inspired by the space and his work. A few weeks later it occured to me that it would be fun to write an article on Monson, and here we are 10 months later with a feature in Western Art Collector Magazine!

Western charcoal artist Doug Monson at work on a drawing in his Afton, Wyoming studio.

Doug Monson drawing a cowboy with charcoal at his studio in Afton, Wyoming

The beautiful fine art of western charcoal artist Doug Monson

Cowboy Photography - Buckaroos

The Great Basin Buckaroo

Cowboy Photography - American West - Prints

What a blast this project has been over the past year and a half. Maybe more? Would have to go back and check to see when it really began. In December I visited the C-Punch Ranch in Lovelock, Nevada and the Winecup Gamble Ranch in Montello, Nevada. Both ranches were jaw dropping beautiful and incomprehensibly large. The C-Punch, the biggest I’ve been to so far, is 1.8 million acres. Yeah. Try wrapping your head around that. Seeing all these properties in different parts of the country has been amazing. Each region has its own beauty. Nobody ever said to pick a favorite, but there’s something about the land in northern Nevada that really does it for me. Still working on putting that into words, but it’s special, to say the least. Forgive me for not sharing too many images here, but I’ve got to hold back so there is plenty of fresh content for the book.

Click here to see more of my cowboy photography or contact me directly if you’d like to purchase prints for your home, office, and commercial space. My western wall art is available in multiple sizes.

C-Punch Ranch - Lovelock, Nevada

Winecup Gamble Ranch - Montello, Nevada

Winecup Gamble Ranch

C-Punch Ranch

C-Punch Ranch

C-Punch Ranch

C-Punch Ranch

Portrait of Trapper Rodgers

C-Punch Ranch

C-Punch Ranch

At Work

There are a lot of strategies for being productive while on the road. One of them is the “pop-in”. It’s become my go-to when rain won’t let you do much outside. That’s precisely how these images came to be. The pop-in isn’t for everybody. It used to scare the hell out of me. Then you realize there are only two answers, yes or no. If it’s a no, who cares? Just move on. Tony, the owner of this garage, was happy to let me hang out for a few minutes to make some images. Confused as to why, but it didn’t bother him any. Obviously they are going into my “At Work” series that has been so much fun to shoot. Some of the images you’ll see in the gallery are personal and others were made for clients. Better yet, some of them are personal assignments that were later published. Love when that happens.

Peru, Illinois

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Cowboy Portraits

Authentic Cowboy Portraits

Brought the lighting gear out to a cattle branding a few months ago to make some portraits of all the cowboys and cowgirls working on the ranch. Wanted the focus to just be the people and their gear without anything else to distract from that. Had a blast setting it all up and shooting in a horse trailer, but still undecided if I’ll stick with this style or not.

Click HERE to see more from this series.

Horse Trailer Studio

William Wetzel

Emily Fulstone

Jimmy Giovacchini

Shawn Nelson

Ty Marriott

William Wetzel

Sim Quintero

Katy Hanlon

Cowboy Culture Photography

Cattle Branding - Cowboy Photography - American West

Trying to get caught up on posting, but it’s not a strongpoint. Here are a handful of images made at a cattle branding in Smith Valley, Nevada last month. Such a great time. The anticipation and building excitement when everyone arrives and saddles there horses is tangible. Thankful to be a part of it and can’t wait for the next shoot of this series in general. The entire culture surrounding their way of life is really fascinating and something that needs to continue to be documented as a piece of American history.

Click HERE to see more of my cowboy photography.

Smith Valley Nevada

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The Gunsmith

Always blows my mind to think about the simple act of talking and where it can lead. A while back I stopped in Laramie, Wyoming to say hi to a barber I’ve known there for a few years. Afterward while walking Mojo around town I came upon a gunsmith shop (not this one) a few blocks off the main street. A gunsmith at work is something I’ve been wanting to photograph, so we popped in and introduced ourselves. That interaction didn’t result in the desired outcome but it was still informational/entertaining. The owner didn’t want to be photographed for a variety of reasons. Some of them valid. The rest were…….irrational??!! The somewhat brief conversation consisted of his opinion on the world today and how “you can’t even go to Denver anymore because everybody is getting shot.” He asked if I had a gun and was upset to hear that I only kept it in my truck. “That’s not good enough. You have to keep it on you! That’s when they get you, when you’re getting out of your truck !”. I’m not disagreeing that the world is a sort of a disaster, but it also seemed like his thoughts were that of a person who might not ever leave their small town. Maybe I’m wrong?! And no disrespect to small towns. They are my favorite. Afterward I asked if there are any other gunsmiths in the area. He replied with very vague information about a guy that possibly works out of his house on a dead end street down near the highway. So I went looking and somehow found the place only recognizable by small stenciled letters “Gun Shop Parking” on the chimney bricks near the front gate. Otherwise the house was totally nondescript and didn’t show any other signs of life. A knock on the door confirmed nobody was home. Not a big deal. It was on my radar for the next trip through Wyoming.

Click HERE to see more from my “At Work” series.

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Gunsmith

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Meat Processing

One thing you can always depend on during a road trip is that weather will at some point throw a wrench in your plans. It’s unavoidable. You can either sulk about it or seek out an alternative. Admittedly, I used to get bent about bad weather! It has to be sunny to make any kind of pictures that are worth a damn, I thought! False. When you’re in the mountains it’s always smart to consider snow, but it’s not often that you figure on an October storm big enough to shut down travel! Well, it happened last month when I was scheduled to shoot with a rancher in southern Wyoming on my way from Montana to Colorado. It was a hairy drive from Bozeman down through northern Wyoming and got worse as the night went on. Being October the summer tires were still on my truck which didn’t help matters any. Made it as far as Casper and hit the proverbial wall. Couldn’t keep my eyes open any more so I got a hotel with the plan to wake up at the ass crack in order to arrive at the ranch on time. Only the snow didn’t stop and every which way to Laramie was closed down. Not a single highway or back road to be had. Frustrated but determined not to let it ruin the day I began driving local roads in search of something to photograph. Early on I came upon a local taxidermist shoveling the sidewalk in front of his shop. We chatted for a bit, unfortunately he didn’t have anything going that warranted shooting. No pun intended. When asked for a recommendation he quickly pointed me towards Dan’s Meat Processing about a mile down the road. So I headed directly over there and was warmly greeted by the owner who was more than willing to let me hang out and photograph their operation.

It would have been easy to sit in the hotel waiting out the storm and catch up on some much needed rest, but why? These trips and time on the road are so valuable to me that I don’t ever want to waste an opportunity. Even if that means creating one from nothing. And the images you see here are exactly the kind of thing I would have wanted to shoot anyway! Showing the viewer a glimpse into a world they might not otherwise be familiar with or ever have access to. Being a part of cultures like these never gets old and makes me appreciate the fact that you don’t have to travel to some exotic country in order to experience something different. You just have to look a little harder. I’ve personally never been on an elk hunt. Would like to change that, but my knowledge of them from talking to people in different parts of the country is that you need to dedicate a lot of time to the hunt. Something in the neighborhood of a week seems to be standard in most places. On this morning a guy backed his truck up to the loading door with a massive elk in the bed. I asked him how long he was out before shooting it. “Oooohhh, about 30 minutes”, he said.

Click here to see more of my AT WORK images.

Dan's Meat Processing - Casper, WY

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