Archives for 2026 September-October Issue

Sweet Success

Sweet Success

August 6, 2026 | by

Award-Winning Western Artist Albin Veselka Draws on His Cowboy Heritage and Ranching Background   Albin Veselka has paid his dues, just as most successful artists have, and is now reaping the rewards of overcoming the struggles of developing a career in the world of fine art. He participates in several invitational events, including the Cowboy Artists of America’s Show, the Coors Show, the Buffalo Bill Auction, the Out West Art Show, the Coeur d’Alene Auction, and a few shows each year at Settlers West Gallery in Tucson, Arizona. Veselka lives with his wife Jenee and their four children in the
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Excellence and Beauty

Excellence and Beauty

August 6, 2026 | by

How Atelier Training Helped Jonathan Noon Transform a Passion for Drawing into a Fine Art Career   Named after the French word for studio, atelier schools are where students immerse themselves in an intensive series of training in realism. For months on end, they draw and paint repeatedly, often the same subject—usually still lifes or human models—with a focus on detail. Along with most of the world, Jonathan Noon had some time on his hands during the pandemic, so he decided to seriously explore his interest in drawing and painting. Up to that point in his life, he had set
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The Drama of Black and White

The Drama of Black and White

August 6, 2026 | by

Influenced by Cherokee Heritage, Stephanie Campos Creates Striking Realist Portraits of Native Americans When Stephanie Campos was in kindergarten, her teacher gave the class a drawing assignment. She finished her drawing and gave it to the teacher, who then asked her to draw it again. “I think she wanted to know that it wasn’t ‘accidentally’ good,” she says. “Then she called my parents and said, ‘Your daughter is an artist.’” She is indeed. Today Campos is known for her realistic charcoal portraits of Native Americans. Her work has caught the attention of collectors—and other artists. In fact, when asked about
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The Puzzle is Complete

The Puzzle is Complete

August 6, 2026 | by

How Hannah Harper Turns Years of Outdoor Experiences into Stunning Wildlife and Landscape Paintings Hannah Harper once watched a black bear bound out of the forest while she was parked at a trailhead in Glacier National Park. It playfully romped through a beautiful buffet and stuffed itself with a critical, early spring food source by eating grass and wildflowers and then ambling back into the forest. That experience formed the backbone of a painting Harper created years ago, and she’s now in the planning phases of another painting that will use the same reference photos in a unique way. “I
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The Studio of Walter Matia

The Studio of Walter Matia

August 6, 2026 | by

Award-Winning Sculptor Walter Matia Combines Artistic Vision with Entrepreneurial Discipline   Maryland sculptor, Walter Matia, is a practical and pragmatic businessman; he has to be. “Sculpture is a business; you can’t treat it like a hobby,” he says. “There’s way too much money involved and too many things to keep track of.” Becoming a sculptor was a natural step for Matia. From the time he was 16 until he was 23, he worked at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in Ohio, alongside the exhibit staff. “I also worked with a taxidermist there, Larry Isard, who was also a sculptor,
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Chasing Her Dreams

Chasing Her Dreams

August 6, 2026 | by

How Taos Artist Katherine Irish Turned Her Love of Nature and Clouds into a Celebrated Painting Career   Katherine Irish has chased—and caught—two dreams. The first one came to her when she was a young girl. She had pulled out the “P” volume of the family’s set of encyclopedias and flipped through its pages until she landed on “painting.” The masterpieces featured within those pages fascinated her. “I studied those paintings for hours,” she says. A dream was born. The second dream came to Irish many years later while she was studying art and living in New York. In 1981,
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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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Celebrating Richard Schmid

Celebrating Richard Schmid

August 6, 2026 | by

  How do you honor the life and work of someone as talented and generous as Richard Schmid? How do you celebrate a master artist who championed the beauty and integrity of representational work through his magnificent paintings? How do you acknowledge an artist who generously shared his knowledge by mentoring countless artists in various stages of their journeys? How do you celebrate and recognize the joy he found in creating art? The answer is this: You gather with others who loved, appreciated, and learned from him. That will be the case in October, when the Palette & Chisel Academy
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