Spring in the Midwest can be a fickle. One it’s day warm, the next day cold, the next day a blanket of snow settles on the daffodils. Snow is exactly what thwarted a painting trip Montana artist Loren Entz had planned with Alise, his 6-year-old granddaughter, last April.
On his way to Kansas, via Omaha, Nebraska, he had stopped to visit his daughter, Rebecca, and was planning to take Alise plein air painting, after hearing a comment she had made not long before. Standing before her mother, Alise had announced, “I don’t know if I want to be a mommy like you, or a painter like Grandpa.” Entz was thrilled, both by the comment and with his granddaughter’s passion for drawing and coloring, which is reminiscent of his own childhood.

Loren Entz

When the Work’s All Done This Fall
Oil
48″ by 48″
“I often start a painting as a result of an impression that a particular place or scene has made on me. Near Byron, Wyoming, this is a typical ranch scene, where the horses and dogs have been used to bring the cattle down the mountain from summer pastures. Winter is coming on, and their work is almost done; with a little break they are hobbled and ready for more use.”

Loren Entz

Nate Wald, Rawhide Braider, Lodge Grass MT
Oil
29″ by 32″
“Nate Wald has become a good friend. He’s a rancher and a tremendous artist in his own right, as a rawhide braider. He lives and works on the family ranch southwest of Lodge Grass, Montana. He is also a member of the prestigious Traditional Cowboy Arts Association, which has its annual show at the National Cowboy Museum and Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City every October.”