Archives for Acrylic

A Dream Realized

A Dream Realized

March 1, 2021 | by

Mikel Donahue has only been painting full time since 2010, but he’s already racked up an impressive list of honors and awards. The highlight of his career as a fine artist, he says, came in 2016, when he was voted into membership in the prestigious Cowboy Artists of America (CAA). It was the second time he had been considered for that honor, the first having been a few years earlier, when Paul Moore, a friend and CAA member, had recommended Donahue for membership. “If a member sees work by someone, and they like it, they put the artist’s name up
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Faith and Perseverance

Faith and Perseverance

November 1, 2020 | by

Kevin Red Star has been painting scenes of Native American life for more than 50 years. Described as a master artist, visual historian, and an ambassador for his native Crow culture, his paintings have earned spots in several prestigious collections that include the Smithsonian, the Denver Art Museum, and the Heard Museum. Red Star’s works extend far beyond the United States, however, and are included in the collections of museums in China, Belgium, Japan, and Germany. His paintings also have earned a myriad of awards, including the 2018 Montana Governor’s Art Award for lifetime achievement and the 2018 James R.
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‘How I Got Here’

‘How I Got Here’

December 12, 2019 | by

During a visit last October, Susan Lyon made three admissions. The first is that she never considered herself a natural artist. She hadn’t impressed anyone with her drawings as a child. She wasn’t the student who was always chosen to illustrate the school yearbook cover or design the hallway mural. Later, while studying at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, Illinois, Lyon noticed that some of her classmates seemed to be able to see spatial relationships and copy them perfectly. For her, it was a struggle. “I wasn’t someone who had ever been very confident in drawing,” she says.
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The Wonder of Wildlife

The Wonder of Wildlife

May 15, 2018 | by

Hailed as one of the nation’s premier wildlife artists, the path Montana-based painter Daniel Smith traveled in reaching this position of renown has been one of dedication and evolution. Born in Mankato, Minnesota, in 1954, he says he was genetically infused with a love of art and nature thanks to his father, an inveterate outdoorsman, who used his own wood-burning skills to give visual testimony to his inherent love for wildlife. He goes a step further, saying that same gene seems to have been passed on to his son, Adam. “After dabbling with art a bit in high school, at
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Simple Serenity

Simple Serenity

March 19, 2016 | by

Pristine and peaceful, the paintings of Canadian artist Jeremy Browne are a celebration of freedom, nature’s beauty, and man’s relationship to the natural environment. Like Monet’s haystack imagery, which explores the perception of light across various times of the day, seasons and weather conditions, Browne’s paintings create similar visual essays that celebrate his own fascination with the inherent natural beauty found in rustic, rural homesteads enhanced by the glow of sunrise, evening shadows, or moonlight reflections on a snow-covered landscape. Born in 1977 in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, Browne’s early upbringing imbued him with an inherent love for the simplicity of
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No Restrictions

No Restrictions

September 22, 2014 | by

Jenness Cortez had several ideas in mind when she started planning her recent painting titled Conversations with a Cowboy. She knew she would build the composition around Frederic Remington’s painting Stampede by Lightning and that she wanted to include photographs of real cowboys with it. She also had a Charles Russell painting in mind to include, along a bronze sculpture titled Buckaroo. Jenness Cortez The Color of Night Acrylic 24″ x 18″ “This is a tribute to Frederic Remington’s nocturnes that explored the mysteries and drama of night.” Jenness Cortez Native American Medicine Acrylic 30″ x 24″ “Facilitating connections between
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Passion and Paint

Passion and Paint

September 25, 2013 | by

He’s young, he’s enthusiastic—and he’s talented. At just 29, Adam Smith is making quite a name for himself with his wildlife paintings, and he’s more than a little thrilled at having the opportunity to partake of everything involved in that process, from travel to research to the actual creation of his realistic renditions. Adam Smith (Montana) Hide and Seek Acrylic 24˝ by 30˝ “Wolves are in their prime during the winter months. A little game of hide and seek will soon give chase.”
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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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Natural Beauty

Natural Beauty

January 25, 2013 | by

Happily working from his home studio, situated between two wineries in Penticton, British Columbia, Terry Isaac couldn’t be more pleased with his life—personally and professionally. He realized success early in his career and, now married and the father of four, his days are filled with the wonderful chaos that comes with an active family and the joy that comes with sharing his love of nature through his paintings. Terry Isaac (Canada) Full Steam Ahead Acrylic 27″ By 20.5″ This piece was inspired by the geothermal activity in Yellowstone National Park. I am a bit of a closet geologist and am
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