Mike Untiedt lives right in the center of downtown Denver, Colorado. He can ride his bike to see the Colorado Rockies play baseball, drop in at any number of good eateries, or shop the downtown stores. Yet the oil painter’s heart and mind are often in another time and another place.

“I like painting cowboys,” says the 63-year-old Denver native of his focus on painting the outback lifestyle. “Cowboys strike a universal chord, but I try not to make it too ‘cowboy,’ so people of all backgrounds can identify.” For Untiedt, a natural born storyteller, the direction works.

Michael Ome Untiedt (Colorado)

Like a Rosary of Unfinished Prayers
Oil
24″ x 30″
“I think we all have attempted things and weren’t confident of the outcome. That is what this painting is about: how most often we step into the future with our greatest ally being our skill set and how we approach adversity.”

Michael Ome Untiedt (Colorado)

White Mule On the Ranger’s Trail
Oil
16″ x 20″
“This is a continuation of the idea generated from smaller studies. When reading accounts of the Texas Rangers, it is evident they were, as a rule, fond of the intelligence and durability of their mules, usually used for packing equipment. In this painting, I am exploring the independent ‘psychology’ of the Rangers, along with their attachment to reputation often weighted to the past. I like the symbolism of darkened skies and rough country at trails’ end.”