Robert Peters is talking to me on the phone, but he’d rather be painting. As a successful Western landscape artist with a 30-plus-year track record, he understands the necessity of the peripheral aspects of the artistic life: the marketing hustle, the gallery shows, the website design, the research, the magazine profiles.

Peters is a good sport, answering my many questions in a friendly and engaging way. But, as he speaks, I picture him pacing his studio in Prescott, Arizona, hoping the clear morning light will last longer than our conversation. I picture him frowning thoughtfully at an in-progress canvas, making a mental note to return to an area that isn’t yet quite to his liking. I picture him spinning a paintbrush between his fingers, itching to get back to the business of painting.

On his idea of a perfect day, Peters would spend five or six hours in his studio, creating one of the vast Western landscape oil paintings for which he is best known.

Robert Peters (Arizona)

Swan Valley Idyll
Oil
30″ x 40″
“This bucolic valley in Idaho surrounds the Snake River, just across the Wyoming border from Teton National Park.”

Robert Peters (Arizona)

Song of March
Oil
28″ x 30″
“Some of the most dramatic and colorful Rocky Mountain winter scenes occur in March. With an abundance of fresh snow, bright sunlight, and colorful willows, the effect can be breathtaking.”