Archives for Charcoal

The Studio of Mary Ross Buchholz

The Studio of Mary Ross Buchholz

August 10, 2023 | by

From the windows of her studio, Mary Ross Buchholz can see a row of apricot trees and a stand of towering oaks. She can see the set of beehives that she tends and the barbecue pits where family meals are often prepared. And just past a slight hill, she can see the fence that separates her house from the pasture where the family’s livestock grazes. That’s been her view since 2002, when she and her husband Bob added the 13-foot-by-20-foot studio onto their home near Eldorado, Texas. Before then, they had three young boys running around the house and little
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Cowboy Storyteller

Cowboy Storyteller

May 4, 2023 | by

“When I was 14 or 15, my school offered an on-location drawing class in the summer,” says Arizona-based artist Steve Atkinson. “I’d get up early in the morning and go down to Yellow Creek with my little sketch pad and transistor radio, and I can remember just thinking to myself, ‘If I could do this for a living, it would be Heaven,'” he recalls of that class. If the teenage Atkinson could see himself now, he would likely agree that his life has been Heaven. His paintings have earned him many honors, the latest being the People’s Choice Award at
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The Beauty of Black and White

The Beauty of Black and White

May 1, 2022 | by

When Rachel Brownlee walked into the Mountain Oyster Club art show in Tucson, Arizona, last November, she couldn’t believe her eyes. There, hanging in a prized spot in the center of the back wall, was her charcoal drawing, At the Ready. “I was speechless,” she says. Things got even better when her drawing won the Best of Show Award and when it sold. Brownlee says that at the time she didn’t know much about pricing artwork. She was left speechless again when the man who purchased that drawing told her that he had walked into the building, saw it, had
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‘This is My Life’

‘This is My Life’

January 1, 2022 | by

Sculptor Chris Hunt has dislocated each of his shoulders at least four times and broken both clavicles, both scapulae, and a couple of ribs. The Texas-born artist and former Air Force senior airman has always jumped feet first into new things, be it riding in rodeos or introducing a new medium to his repertoire. “‘No fear’ was my mantra, and still is to this day,” he says. Hunt grew up in Damon, Texas, on a ranch on the Brazos River, where he was raised by his father Maurice and had no problem amusing himself by drawing, fishing, hunting, and riding
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Sweet Connections

Sweet Connections

January 1, 2022 | by

It was a compliment of the highest order and one that Julie Nighswonger treasures. While exhibiting her paintings at an art show, she watched as a little girl walked up to a painting of a small horse, which was hanging low in Nighswonger’s booth—and kissed it. Sure, awards are appreciated and are validation of work well done, says the Wyoming artist, but a kiss—wow! Nighswonger has won her share of awards. Her first was the Artists’ Choice Award at the Wyoming State Fair in 2003; her most recent was the People’s Choice Award at Cowgirl Up! last year. A member
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The Studio of Doug Monson

The Studio of Doug Monson

January 1, 2022 | by

If you happen to find yourself wandering through the galleries in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, do yourself a favor and venture an hour and change down US 89-S to Afton. Thanks to the hard work and bold, generous vision of wildlife artist and Afton resident Doug Monson, the little town—population 2,000—is finding a place on the map for artists and collectors alike. Monson and his wife Donna have been enamored with Afton since they visited it four years ago while searching for studio space. “It’s in a beautiful valley, a high mountain valley,” Monson says. “It’s just a really good area,
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Looking For Attitudes

Looking For Attitudes

March 1, 2021 | by

The two weeks that Trish Stevenson spent at her grandparent’s log cabin in western North Dakota each summer as a child were the best part of her year. She and her five siblings loved how different it was from their home outside Denver, Colorado. They even loved the outhouse. “It was like camping for two weeks,” she says. “It was the highlight of the year for us.” But what Stevenson remembers most is her grandfather. She remembers how tall and lanky he was, how he sat with his legs crossed in a certain way, how he rolled cigarettes with Bull
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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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Creating an Interesting Dance

Creating an Interesting Dance

March 15, 2018 | by

Some nights, Mary Ross Buchholz dreams that she is making art. “Sometimes I wake up and—oh, mercy—I didn’t finish that after all; it was just a dream,” she says in her melodic west Texas drawl. “I eat, sleep, and breathe art.” It’s an apt commentary on Buchholz’s life, a busy but joyous synthesis of ranching, family life, and, of course, art. She and her husband Bob run a good-sized ranch near Eldorado, Texas—population 1,961—and for many years she has balanced her creative endeavors seamlessly with the family business. “Maybe a little bit of our daily ranch life shines through in
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