Posts by Mark Wilcox

The Studio of Don Oelze

The Studio of Don Oelze

April 7, 2025 | by

Some days, Don Oelze’s studio, tucked into a ponderosa forest under a mound of artistic boulders, resembles a movie studio as much as a painting studio. “I have a couple of really big photo shoots at my house every year,” Oelze says, adding that other artists join him for those shoots, which include models in authentic costumes and horses and a wagon outside on a hill. Oelze’s studio is divided into two halves in a 1,400-square-foot outbuilding that is just feet from his house. He currently paints in what he calls Studio B, while most of the props, costumes, and
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The Studio of Teresa Elliott

The Studio of Teresa Elliott

December 13, 2024 | by

A perky, curious French Charolais, swirling the reflective water it’s churning through, gazes over Teresa Elliott’s shoulder. She’s not outside, but the half-finished, 23” by 30” painting of the cow that sits on her easel feels at home in the dry, open landscape outside her studio window. Elliott’s studio overlooks the Que Dice Ranch with 10,000 open acres of hills, buttes, and desert plants. Cattle often wander through the vista, so it’s not surprising that Elliott has made them her subject matter ever since she pivoted away from graphic design, copywriting, and illustration and into a full-time career as a
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Storyteller With a Brush

Storyteller With a Brush

August 8, 2024 | by

Patrick Saunders has worked at a variety of jobs, from marketing and teaching to a stint as a Hallmark artist. Today he is a fine artist who paints everything from pet portraits to landscapes to florals. It took quite a while for him to get to where he is today but the route was well worth his effort. One thing that    hasn’t changed over the years, however, is his focus on telling stories with his art. Saunders, who lives in San Antonio, Texas, has earned a myriad of awards for his work, including a gold medal from the Oil
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Leaning Toward His Easel

Leaning Toward His Easel

September 1, 2020 | by

When viewers take note of the authenticity in Teal Blake’s body of Western artwork, they get a simple reminder that whatever painting he’s working on, it isn’t his first rodeo. In fact, before he got serious about art, Blake was on the college rodeo circuit and was so obsessed with it that he flunked his art classes. “At that point in your life nobody can tell you anything,” he says. “I wanted to be off chasing horses and be in the brush and live that wild life for a little while. I didn’t pay as much attention as I should
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It’s A Wild Life

It’s A Wild Life

July 2, 2020 | by

Standing in a place she describes as “bear Eden” on the infamous Katmai Coast of Alaska, Kelly Singleton didn’t realize she was standing between two male bears about to duke it out over a sow. Before she had arrived, her coworkers told her they were sure she was going to get eaten by bears in a place where it had happened before. “You get out there and sometimes you’re just surrounded by bears,” Singleton says. Up until that point, Singleton, who had lived in Maryland for her entire life, had never even seen a wild bear. “When looking through the
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