Back in the saddle for good

charles schriddeWestern impressionist Charles Schridde’s paintings capture the excitement of a rodeo.As a boy, Charles Schridde dreamed of being a cowboy.

“I played cowboy, and Tom Mix was my favorite cowboy movie actor,” he said.

Schridde once saved up about 100 box tops from hot cereal boxes and turned them in for a six-shooter with wooden bullets.

“The little bullets would just plop out only a few inches,” he said. “I slept with it under my pillow.”

Now the 79-year-old illustrates a cowboy’s way of life in his oil paintings under the genre of western impressionism. He paints in his home studio at the new Burbank Artists Colony.

Growing up in Michigan, his love for painting came from his dad who died when Schridde was just 6. His dad’s last painting was of a snow scene, but he never finished it.

At 14, Schridde received a scholarship to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and attended several other art schools.

In 1950, his painting “Another Rider for the Range” made the cover of the Graphic, the Chicago Tribune’s Sunday magazine.

The subjects of the painting were two little boys with red hair dressed as cowboys with hats and boots looking at a newborn baby in a bassinet. The only thing that could be seen over the top of the bassinet was the baby’s red hair.

“They paid me $50 for it,” he said. “I thought it was great. I thought I was going to be very successful. I was eventually, but it was a long time before I found success as an illustrator.”

After serving in the Navy, he became a commercial illustrator then went into photography. He worked for 40 years in Detroit shooting brochures for automotive dealers.

He quit his job and moved to California in 1993, settling in Laguna Beach, a well-known artist haven, and started painting again, he said.

“I started painting scenes of cowboys competing at rodeos because I really wanted to show where cowboys could make some money, and cowboys are showmen, too,” he said.

A good portion of his paintings are cowboys riding bulls.

Capturing that exciting moment on canvas is a thrill, he said. The vivid colors are even more exciting as he paints on large canvases.

Schridde’s work has appeared in exhibitions across the country.

He had a one-man show in 2002 at the Edenhurst Gallery in West Hollywood.

He has a talent for illustrating figures of the old west, said Thom Gianetto, director and co-owner of the Edenhurst Gallery in West Hollywood and Palm Desert.

“He captures the heart and soul of the American west especially in his portraits of native Americans, as well as rodeo riders, bronco busters, mountain men, fur trappers and characters of the West.”

Schridde is a trained artist, not someone who just appeared on the scene, Gianetto said, adding he’s spent more than 60 years working at his craft.

“He understands the figure and how the figure acts in motion which is a quality of his artistry,” Gianetto said.

Schridde’s personal favorite is a painting that appeared in Cowboys and Indians Magazine.

It is titled “Paint Horse Blues” and shows a man riding a bucking horse bareback.

He also paints landscapes and portraits, he said.

“You really get to know people really well when you paint a portrait of them,” he said.

“Studying the face tells you a lot about a person. As people grow older, their face grows into their personality.”

FYI

WHO: Charles Schridde western impressionist

CONTACT: www.schriddestudios.com