A Testimony to Her Art and Her Story

Kathryn Merrill has a lot going on right now, in both her life and her art. The accomplished Oklahoma artist, who brings ranch scenes to vivid life with colored pencils and oil paints, is in a particularly vivid period of her own existence. During the past year, she married Sid, who works in the oil and gas industry, and became a stepmother to his two children.

“I’ve had a huge life change,” she says. “We have four children between us. We probably moved pretty fast [on marriage] because we just felt like we had to have things in place to be a good family—a place for them because we knew that their mom was very sick with ALS and the end was coming.”

Even before these recent milestones, Merrill’s life was a full one. “We have 16 acres and our home and my studio and my beauty shop,” she says. “I work three long days a week, doing hair, and then I have my art on the side. That’s how I’ve done it for years and years.”

Read the full article in the July/August 2024 issue.