Artists of The West In Production

Due to the huge success of The Northwest Artists Book we have decided to begin production on the second edition. Artists are currently being recruited for the book and pages are being designed. If you are interested in being featured in this edition please contact Cameron Blagg's manager and son, Cameron Blagg III.

Over $20,000 Raised For Charities

The artist Cameron Blagg and his son and business manager Cameron Blagg III have helped to raise over $20,000 for charity events. Events have included The YWCA of Vancouver, Linn Benton Food Share, Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon, Meals on Wheels, St. Mary's Soup Kitchen, FISH of Albany, EDUCARE AFRICA, Safe Haven Humane Society, Chintimini Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Oregon Red Cross and the CTW Duchenne MD Association.

Northwest Artists Book Released

The long awaited coffee table book entitled "Northwest Artists-A Collecion of Works By Notable Northwest Artists" was released in Ellenburg, Washington. This book features over 150 artists from around the Northwest. Each artist purchased at least one page and has their work is displayed on individual pages.
This unique project allowed artists the ability to be published in an actual book for a very reasonable cost. Each artist also received 50 books per page purchased. Those books are up to the artists' discretion on how they are distributed.

The Art Of Diligence

When Cameron Blagg was 12 years old his parents bought him a set of paints. A teacher had told them their son had artistic talent. “Don’t tell him what to do,” the
teacher said, encouraging them to let their son experiment, explore. Given the freedom, he found his way. For most of his adult life, Blagg, now 47, has worked as a full-time professional artist, selling paintings and signed, limited-edition prints. Blagg’s subjects are varied, yet most are related: wildlife, scenery, American Indians, cowboys and mountain men. They reflect his interest as a student of history. Blagg was a military brat, the son of a Marine sergeant from Oklahoma. The family moved around a lot.
Blagg calls Oklahoma, Washington, Colorado and Oregon his home states.
After graduating from Albany Union High School in 1967, Blagg worked in “regular” jobs for a few years (he has earned a certificate in welding from Linn-Benton Community College). The realization that his paintings would sell started in an ironic way, he said.
In the early 1970’s a man offered to exhibit and sell his paintings in a show. Instead, the man painted over Blagg’s signature on the paintings, then sold them with his own name on them for more money than Blagg ever expected to earn. The experience taught him several lessons. Among them, the incident made Blagg realize, “if he could sell my paintings, maybe I could, too.”
By 1974 he was ready to commit himself full time to his art. “It was time to paint ‘em and sell ‘em,” he said. To get the focus he needed, Blagg moved his wife and family into the woods north of Washougal, Washington. They lived six miles away from their nearest neighbor. The family built a log cabin, generated their own electricity with a
water wheel, lived off the land and learned to survive on the income Blagg made from selling his paintings.
In the beginning, Blagg exhibited and sold his work predominantly at Indian reservations, powwows and mountain man gatherings. For years he traveled to four or five shows a month. Today, others handle much of the legwork for him, including a son Cameron Blagg III, and other full-time artist representatives. Passengers on the Queen of the West, the new Columbia River sternwheeler, will see a healthy sampling of Blagg’s work when they travel on the riverboat, christened earlier this summer. Fifty of Blagg’s prints on western topics were purchased for permanent display on the sternwheeler. Cameron Blagg also was commissioned to paint two 4-foot-by-8-foot mural panels depicting the explorers Lewis and Clark descending the Columbia River at Beacon Rock. The mural will be in the sternwheeler’s dining room, and is expected to be installed in January 1996.
Now, with more than 20 years as a full-time working artist behind him, Blagg says his success has been a product of hard work and determination. “Maybe 5 or 10 percent of it has to do with natural talent,” he said. “The rest is the ability to stick with it.”
It’s not too much different than the requirements for anyone else who is self-employed, he said. “It’s a common misconception that you can’t make a living as an artist,” Blagg said. But, he insisted, “there are certain things you have to do. You have to produce and be prolific,” he said. “You don’t sit around and talk about what you’re going to do or what you did. You do it. . . .You get it done, get it framed, sign it and show up” (at an exhibit). “People who stop by my house don’t find me with a jug of wine and a book of verse,” he said. “I’m out there working.”
Blagg said he encourages would-be artists to take enough lessons to learn to handle their medium. “Then, don’t let your teacher intimidate you. Don’t let people discourage you.” Blagg will be among the artists participating in the Super Saturday Sale-abration, scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and sponsored as a benefit for the Albany General Hospital Foundation. The event will be held along the hospital grounds on Elm Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues southwest. Proceeds from the event will help the hospital’s InReach Clinic, a free weekly medical clinic for uninsured, “working-poor” families with children.

Maybe 5 or 10 percent of it has to do with natural talent. The rest is the ability to stick with it.