Although Tom Dorr ranks among the nation’s most prolific painters of Western art, the Phoenix-based artist, who was born in Chicago, Illinois, and spent his early years in Kansas City, Kansas, had little affinity for subjects west of the Mississippi. That changed, when his father’s employer, AT&T, transferred the family to Colorado Springs, Colorado, in the early 1950s.

“I was about 12, when we arrived in Colorado, and by then I had already discovered my love for painting and drawing,” Dorr says. “At that time, there were still a lot of old farms and ranches in the area, so I began creating compositions, focusing on weathered barns and old trucks. However, I didn’t get serious about my art until I got to high school.”

Tom Dorr (Arizona)

Headed Home
Oil
20″x16″

“Following a trail up a canyon that I have pictured many, many times.”

Tom Dorr (Arizona)

Building a Loop
Oil
40″x50″

“This piece was drawn and painted from my favorite ranch in southeastern Arizona. I am often with one of the best working cowboys I know.”