Tom Browning's Christmas Art

This article started out in a very unusual way. As described in the article "Bag Some Fine Art This Christmas, in late 2009, I came across the work of several well-known living artists in the gift bag section of a discount store.

One painting that caught my eye early was Tom Browning's painting of Santa with several caribou in a corral. After seeing hundreds of representations in which reindeer look like white-tailed deer with moose horns, it was nice to see one in which the caribou were painted accurately. I told Shelia, who was with me, "This is the work of a Western artist" - nobody else works this hard to get the details right. And when I checked out Tom Browning on the internet, I was proven correct - Tom's Western-themed paintings are very well known.

On a return trip to the store, I bought about a dozen bags that featured the art of well-knowing living artists, including five that featured different paintings by Tom. This year, when you're doing your Christmas shopping, keep your eye out - it's probable that none of these paintings will be available but others might.

Note: In this article and the related articles, I am including small photos of the artists' work so you can see what I like about them, but in respect of the artists' and publishers' copyrights, I'm not putting bigger versions online. I AM publishing links to the artists' web pages when available, so in many cases you can contact the artists yourself if you like their work.

How Does Good Art Get Around This Way?

The artists aren't selling the rights to their art - in a sense they're leasing them out for a particular period of time and a particular number of products. For each use, they receive some small fee that's far smaller than they would get for selling a print. But what they "lose" in direct income, they make up in volume. And in some cases, it brings direct sales from people who fell in love with artwork they spotted in a gift shop or some such.

Again, if this article inspires you to buy a gift bag with, say Tom Browning's artwork on it, all you own is the bag. You don't "own" the art in any way. So you don't have permission to scan the bag and post big images on the internet or to sell copies of the print, or to use it to print up your own Christmas cards. Nor does it give you permission to turn the bag into a craft project and resell it. But nobody is going to come after you if you mount and frame the artwork for your own use, or even, so far as I know, to give it as a gift.

Tom Browning's Art

When you visit Tom's web page, you'll see many kinds of western scenes, and a few that aren't specifically western. But you'll also get a "feel" for his style, including his careful brush strokes that look like brush strokes at the same time they're adding detail and texture to his subject matter. He also likes to have his subjects lit by multiple sources, to bring out the depth of the scene.

Tom's site now has a feature called "Santas for Sale," which shows quite a few Tom's Santa paintings, including the Santa with the caribou, which first caught my eye. Most of the Santa paintings have been sold, but as of November 21, 2010, the reindeer painting, called "Special Friends" is still for sale. I haven't asked how much, but if you prize Western art and want something with a Christmas theme, check it out.

As you can tell from the detail to the right, Tom's Santa is a jovial, whiskered fellow, as much at home bringing gifts to your door or playing with children as he is in the kitchen or workshop, or driving his sleigh. He is a classic Santa, in the tradition of the Thomas Nast and Coca Cola Santas. And by the time you've seen him in three or four poses, you'll recognize him anywhere. Santas elves are little fellows who you might not even notice the first time you glance at the painting - look in the lower right corner of the workshop and kitchen photos. The elves are there to help, but Santa is doing the "heavy lifting."

Tom Browning's Santa Makes an Early Appearance in 2010

Even funnier, just inside, on the lower right, was another of Tom's Santas - this time on a photo of a gift card. It's pretty good when you can recognize an artist's work from 1/4"-high photo (much smaller than the blow-up to the left). I have no relationship with BassProShops, except that I periodically buy my hunting/fishing brother-in-law gift cards there. But how much more fun is it to pick up a gift card with art that's rapidly becoming a new classic.

Conclusion

The examples on this page are all Santas I picked up on gift bags in 2009, but as I said, originals for some of the Santa paintings are still available, and other Santas may be coming to a gift bag or other licensed product near you in 2010.

In the meantime, if we've given you some ideas that will make your holiday decorating or gift-giving a little brighter, we've done what we set out to do.

Also if you wind up incorporating any Christmas-themed gift bags into wall art, place mats, crafts, or what-have-you, we'd love to see photos that would give other readers ideas to brighten their own Christmases.

Contact us and we'll let you know the best e-mail address to use for sending photos.

In the meantime, have a VERY warm holiday season,

Paul and Shelia Race

www.familychristmasonline.com