Noted Western artist returns to Sisters

A living buckaroo legend and accomplished artist, Len Babb returns to Sisters for a show at Black Butte Ranch on Saturday and Sunday, May 19 and 20, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The show in the Black Butte Community Room will feature Babb's original oil paintings, watercolors, pen-and-ink drawings, and sculptures.

Len's art has been favorably compared to Western artist Charles Russell, and it is a comparison Len embraces. Babb told The Nugget: "Russell once said that big hats and high-heeled boots don't make cowboys, but bib overalls and muley cattle don't make pictures. And Russell's wife was pretty protective of him. She said that 'If it isn't like Russell, it's wrong.'"

The comparison to Russell's work is probably inevitable, but Len Babb's art is entirely his own.

Working out of his handbuilt log-cabin studio on a sagebrush hill overlooking Paisley, Babb brings vivid buckaroo images to life in celebrated works such as "Running Iron."

His studio is packed with memorabilia from a lifetime spent in the saddle, as a working cowboy, buckaroo - and together with one of his sons - as an accomplished and much sought-after saddlemaker. From early childhood, Len has worked on cow outfits large and small, famous and infamous, from Wyoming to Oregon.

For more information visit www.lenbabbwesternart.com.