Posts by Sara Gilbert Frederick

Sharing the Desert Landscape

Sharing the Desert Landscape

October 8, 2026 | by

Contemporary Western Artist Kevin Chupik Draws Inspiration From the Arizona Desert   Kevin Chupik knows what it’s like to live in the desert. He understands the desolation, the silence, and the sweltering heat. He knows all about the suffering that’s part and parcel of the landscape. And he loves all of it. “It’s a twisted thing, but the rewards are tangible,” he says. “The audible silences that make so much noise, the crunching of the rocks under foot, the caw of the ravens, and the sound of the wind—is all so very real when you experience it.” Chupik first fell
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The Evolution Continues

The Evolution Continues

August 6, 2026 | by

How Kelly Leahy Radding Turns Birdwatching and Outdoor Exploration into Award-Winning Paintings On a recent May morning, Kelly Leahy Radding sat on the deck of her rural Connecticut home and watched the birds flying by overhead. The 20 acres that she and her husband Greg live on is located half an hour southeast of Hartford and is surrounded by woods that Radding explores almost daily. It’s also on the migratory path of the birds that return to the East Coast each spring. “I sat for two hours, just watching and listening to the birds,” Radding says. “I think I counted
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Collaborating With Clay

Collaborating With Clay

June 9, 2026 | by

A Creative Partnership: Chris Youngblood and Jennifer Tafoya Unite Their Talents in Pueblo Ceramics   The first time Chris Youngblood and Jennifer Tafoya collaborated on a piece of pottery, Youngblood finished his work two days before the art show that would feature it. That left Tafoya with fewer than 48 hours to complete her part of the project. Youngblood had created the clay vessel and then worked with Tafoya to create the design, which he carved into the clay before polishing it and firing it. “I didn’t fully understand what it would take for her to do her part,” he
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Changing Lanes

Changing Lanes

April 8, 2026 | by

From the Seattle Seahawks to Western Art: Aaron Hazel’s Creative Journey The last time the Seattle Seahawks played the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, Aaron Hazel had to rethink his whole life. He had built much of his early artistic career painting the Seattle Seahawks. Not only was he painting and selling vignettes from the team’s big wins, but players were commissioning him to paint large portraits and other scenes. In 2014, when the Seahawks trounced the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XL-VIII, Hazel’s work became so in demand that he was able to leave his bartending job
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The Studio of Krystii Melaine

The Studio of Krystii Melaine

February 4, 2026 | by

How a Dream Studio Inspired Wildlife Artist Krystii Melaine’s Next Creative Chapter   When Krystii Melaine and her husband Michael moved from Australia to the United States 15 years ago, they settled in Spokane, Washington. They had a large, lovely house with a tree-filled backyard that sloped down to a river. They regularly saw moose, eagles, coyotes, porcupines, owls, and many other birds from their windows. “It was fabulous,” she says. Melaine loved that house, but Michael was concerned about keeping it up as they got older. So, he dangled the one thing he knew would convince his wife to
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A New Life

A New Life

December 8, 2025 | by

Phoenix Artist Jerry Salinas Turned Decades of Illustration Experience into Fine Art Success   When Jerry Salinas turned 50, his wife gave him an unexpected gift. She knew that after more than 20 years as an illustrator for commercial clients, he was ready for a change. But she also knew that she needed to give him a gentle push in that direction. So, on his birthday, she told him to stop doing commercial work. That marked the official start of Salinas’ fine art career, a move he had been itching to make since he started illustrating back in the early
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Chasing the Top Spot

Chasing the Top Spot

October 8, 2025 | by

  Every fall, Rebekah Knight’s mind is on the Federal Duck Stamp Contest. She’s entered the annual competition for the past 16 years—every year since she turned 18. She also participated in the Federal Junior Duck Stamp Contest for five years before that, winning the competition the third time she entered, when she was 15. That experience gave Knight the confidence to pursue art as something more than a hobby and helped to launch her career as an artist. “I had always known that I wanted to do art and that I had a talent for it, but I also
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Answering the Call

Answering the Call

August 7, 2025 | by

  Ten years ago, Starr Hardridge accidentally discovered the style that now defines his work. A citizen of the Muscogee Creek nation, he was invited to submit work for the Return from Exile show, which was planned to spotlight artists from the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek, and Seminole tribes. Hardridge had been studying the basketry, pottery, and beadwork designs that those tribes had done before they were relocated to Oklahoma. He discovered that much of the traditional beadwork of his Muscogee ancestors was left behind when they left the Southeast. He wanted to resurrect that tradition in his painting
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Unique Interpretations

Unique Interpretations

June 5, 2025 | by

Most of Peggy Judy’s paintings are born of a single photograph. Even though she might have taken 1,200 shots before that one and another 100 after, she knows exactly what she’s after and what shot will give her what she needs. “I’m always taking the photos quickly, but then something happens,” she says. “The right composition just naturally happens, and I’ll know as I’m taking it that that’s the one. It’s because the lighting is such that it breaks everything down into shapes, and that’s all I see—the shapes, the colors, and the lighting.” Back in the studio, that prized
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Dogs, Landscapes, and More

Dogs, Landscapes, and More

April 7, 2025 | by

Every now and then, James Swanson, who lives in LaGrange Park, Illinois, likes to spend time at a lake near his cottage in Michigan. He takes his two dogs—Bjorn, an English cream golden retriever, and Fenrir, a golden retriever—with him and throws tennis balls for them to chase. For them, it’s purely fun. For Swanson, however, it’s all work. Every time he throws the ball, he aims it in a different direction or to a different depth. He throws it from the dock. Sometimes, he gets into the water himself. He does whatever it takes to to get a new
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