Mark Boedges’ oil paintings are filled with a focused light, both subtle and brilliant, that captures the quiet majesty of the American West and the complexity of its varied landscape. His paintings weren’t always this way, however, and his path to clarity, both in his subject and in his life, was full of twists and turns.

A St. Louis, Missouri, native, Boedges says that St. Louis wasn’t a hotbed of artistic activity, but its museums provided enough inspiration through works by Monet and other landscape painters to make an impression on him. “The Impressionists were the first big influence on me because, in the art museum, it was a lot of dark paintings of dead people, which honestly just didn’t do anything for me,” he says. “And then you would turn the corner and walk into the Impressionist room and, all of a sudden, there’s color and light. I would think, ‘Oh, there we are; yeah.’ That was my jam. From then on it was always landscapes.”

Read the full article in the January/February 2026 issue

Reaching for the Light From Above

oil
24″ by 18″

 

Hidden Lake

oil
40″ by 60″