Posts by Barbara Coyner

A Universal Chord

A Universal Chord

March 20, 2015 | by

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
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Still Climbing

Still Climbing

January 20, 2015 | by

How do you celebrate your birthday when you hit 60? If you are Colorado artist Ralph Oberg, you book a trip to Nepal. While it might not be on everyone’s bucket list, Oberg wanted to satisfy a deep longing to see the infamous peaks of that remote country. It was fittingly his first trip off the North American continent. Ralph Oberg Born to Run Oil 28″x36″ “By three weeks of age, pronghorn fawns are on their feet, ready to go. To avoid predators and keep up with mom, this is an important evolutionary adaptation. Soon they can run with the
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Stalking Perfection in the Great Outdoors

Stalking Perfection in the Great Outdoors

November 22, 2014 | by

When Michael Coleman was in kindergarten, his drawings were so intricate that his teacher suspected his mother was giving him art lessons at home. Actually, what his parents were doing was raising their son as something of a free-range chicken. Michael Coleman Geyser Basin Oil 40″ x 30″ Yellowstone in October, when light and vapor is at its turn-of-the season best! Michael Coleman A Gathering of Wolves Oil 30″ x 40″ In a gathering of wolves, a come together call from the heart of the woods and out of the shadows.
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‘It’s a Spiritual Thing’

‘It’s a Spiritual Thing’

July 22, 2014 | by

He created jewelry long before he created legislation in Congress. At 81, Ben Nighthorse Campbell reaches back into his memory to a time he and his dad walked the railroad tracks, letting the big locomotives flatten pennies for the jewelry they made. “Making jewelry was a matter of necessity,” Campbell says of those early days in Auburn, California. “We made things out of coins. We pounded them out, working mostly with Navajo designs. Letting the trains flatten pennies and silver dollars made the work easier for us.” Ben Nighthorse Campbell Reversible Bear Pendant Silver Sterling silver with turquoise sugilite, roserita
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‘I Want to Surprise Myself’

‘I Want to Surprise Myself’

May 22, 2014 | by

Cross-pollination. It’s a term Colorado-based oil painter Michael Lynch uses to describe his big break into full-time art. That was more than 35 years ago, when he hooked up with other representational artists who reassured him that there was a place for such art amidst the transition to modern art. By then, Lynch already had explored trendy college art programs before settling on a degree in political science from Regis College in Denver, Colorado. He’d entered the workaday world, even considering a career as a lawyer, but his leanings were always toward representational art. Michael Lynch China Cove Oil 6˝
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Pleasing the Eye, Gladdening the Heart

Pleasing the Eye, Gladdening the Heart

March 22, 2014 | by

That inspirational verse, taken from his church’s sacred writings, is a rallying cry for Joshua Clare. Seldom constrained by subject matter, the Utah oil painter might choose to paint a barnyard scene, or perhaps capture the evening glow of a desert setting. In his mind, however, he is aiming beyond the elements of art to deliver a specific feeling to the viewer. Joshua Clare (Utah) San Juan Range Oil 36″ x 48″ “Ridgeway, Colorado, and the surrounding area is one of my favorite places in the world. It’s incredibly beautiful. This view of the San Juan Range was painted from
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The Studio of Zhuo Liang

The Studio of Zhuo Liang

January 22, 2014 | by

“I looked for the ideal house for two years,” Liang says of the Agoura Hills, California home that yielded the appropriate space needed for his new studio. The area, approximately 40 feet by 40 feet, features a ceiling that rises a full two stories. “You immediately sense the height and it gives you a very good scale, especially if you paint large,” he says, noting that smaller spaces can often make a painting feel out of proportion and larger than it really is. Z. S. Liang (California) Joe Kipp Trader, Missouri River, 1879 Oil 44˝ by 68˝
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A Glimpse of My Soul

A Glimpse of My Soul

November 25, 2013 | by

The setting sun paints dramatic colors on the nearby 7,000-foot peaks as Karin and Wayne Hollebeke wrap up their ranching chores. Pumping water by hand from their well, they are both reminded of the pioneer lifestyle that was once prominent in this part of rural Utah. The Hollebeke ranch is certainly quieter since Wayne retired from law enforcement nine years ago. The cattle are gone and only three horses remain. But gardening and canning are still high on the list as summer winds down, and after that there might be a little daylight left for fly-fishing. With fewer ranching responsibilities,
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Feeling the Light

Feeling the Light

July 25, 2013 | by

Douglas Aagard harkens back to the summers when he hiked Utah’s backcountry, helping his grandfather herd sheep. As a teenager, he had his own version of summer camp, cooking and helping with the chores as his Danish grandpa grazed his bands of sheep. Now in his mid-forties, Aagard keenly recalls the high mountain meadows, the quaking aspen, the little silver trailer, and the unique pastoral setting as if he had been there yesterday. Douglas Aagard (Utah) Portrait Of A Maple Oil 48″ By 36″ “I found this amazing tree while out hiking with my son. I had to paint it
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No Substitute for Being There

No Substitute for Being There

May 25, 2013 | by

Last November when Daniel Smith was roughing it at the Tundra Buggy Hotel at Cape Churchill, Canada, he was just doing what comes naturally to a wildlife artist —research. Some of his companions on the Arctic excursion were professional polar bear researchers, so Smith had the benefit of scientific knowledge as he observed the bears up close and personal. Having traveled to Africa seven times, as well as journeying to Alaska on several occasions, Smith knows there is no substitute for those in-person treks to keep him fresh in his painting. He’s already scheming to get to Svalbard, Norway to
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