Curt Walters is a man on the move, geographically as well as artistically. He has traveled to, and painted in, several countries—Spain, England, Italy, France, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Indonesia, Jordan, Mexico, and Switzerland—and, although he has made a name for himself with his magnificently rendered landscapes, he also now is painting some figures, but more about that later.

Now living in Sedona, Arizona, Walters grew up in New Mexico, the son of a dentist, who also painted on occasion. When the elder Walters gave his daughter a paint set, his son quickly stole it and began to follow a path that would lead him to where he is today—an award-winning artist, who has been described as “the greatest living Grand Canyon artist.”

That path, however, was not without some major bumps, the most debilitating one undiagnosed dyslexia, which left young Walters struggling to read and write at the same level as his classmates.

Curt Walters (Arizona)

Frozen Brilliance
Oil
20″ x 20″
“One of the great joys of living in Sedona is that I can find myself standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon two hours after deciding to go there for the day. One winter morning in March 2015, we awoke to new snow, and I quickly hurried to the south rim. A bone-chilling day, with new, white snow against the darkness in the depths of the canyon, made for an exciting display of contrasts.”

Curt Walters (Arizona)

Apotheosize
Oil
36″ x 28″
“Since 1979, I have found a great deal of enjoyment painting the old fruit orchards in Oak Creek Canyon. Among my favorites is the orchard of the old Pendley homestead, just south of Slide Rock State Park. I began this painting in the spring of 2015, but bad weather forced me to abandon the painting, and I decided that I would once again return (spring 2016) to continue and complete the foreground. To my great sadness, the foreground apricot tree was mostly gone, having been split in half by a storm sometime during that year interim. For me it was almost like the passing of an old friend. Like this grand tree, many long-lived monuments that bore testament to the founding of Sedona are fading away, both from memory and the visible world.”