Archives for Oil

Renaissance Man

Renaissance Man

June 5, 2025 | by

Andrew Roda has quite a past—and a future that is glowing bright. He walked onto the polo team in college despite not knowing how to ride a horse. He did a lucrative stint as an East Coast investment banker before going to Hollywood and serving as Johnny Depp’s stand-in for a Tim Burton film. He’s hiked the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-Rim in less than a day, and he’s done the Ironman a few times. Somewhere in between those adventures, he taught himself to paint— and he’s pretty darn good at it. Roda, at work in his backyard studio in Los Angeles,
Read More

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
Read More

Guiding Light

Guiding Light

June 5, 2025 | by

Jim Wodark is inspired by light. His vibrant paintings are studies in divergent values and hues, and he isn’t afraid to experiment to get what he’s after. Of course, it isn’t possible to paint only light, so he allows the contrast and brilliance—or lack of color and shadow—to guide how he uses light to make his paintings come alive. “Light is a huge part of my painting process,” he says. Wodark creates his subjects with contrasting soft and hard edges that focus on the darks, lights, and values to draw in the viewer. Using a dark value against a light
Read More

The Master

The Master

June 5, 2025 | by

What can you say about Howard Terpning that hasn’t already been said? He’s described as the grand master of Western painting, an American icon, and a master storyteller. He is all of that and more. His magnificent paintings have earned him a myriad of awards and inclusion in some of the finest museums in the country. And, yet, he is unpretentious when it comes to the many accolades he has received during the 44 years he painted the American West. Terpning will celebrate his 98th birthday November 5. He’s still sharp as a tack, but he hasn’t painted for the
Read More

Driven by Intuition

Driven by Intuition

June 5, 2025 | by

People, places, and painting—those are the things Robert Goldman loves. His award-winning, nuanced landscapes not only capture light and color, they have captured the attention of a growing roster of collectors throughout the world. Goldman’s life is punctuated with drawing classes, degrees, studies with other artists, and participation in critique groups as he challenges himself to develop new skills and new ways of seeing. He seeks out the opinions of others and pays attention to their advice. And he credits much of his success to the teachers and artists who have influenced him along the way. In the early ‘80s,
Read More

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
Read More

Plein Air Ambassador

Plein Air Ambassador

April 7, 2025 | by

Colorado Springs-based oil painter Kathleen Hudson’s hands are full. She has a thriving art career with a shelf of awards and a loyal following of collectors to show for it. She’s a mother of four children and takes joy in introducing them to the natural wonders that inspire her work. She’s also an avid traveler, continually on the lookout for new seas, skies, and mountains to depict in her epic landscape paintings. Hudson’s love for exploration is woven into both her personal life and her artistic vision. In college, she led backpacking trips through the White Mountains of New Hampshire,
Read More

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
Read More

Electric Americana

Electric Americana

April 7, 2025 | by

Colt Idol is hard at work in the studio at his home in Whitefish, Montana. That’s not surprising, but what is surprising is that he’s surrounded by 21 paintings on the floor and hanging on the walls in a U-shape around him. “Right now, I have 21 pieces in the works,” he says. “Some artists work in a more linear fashion, but I like to spend about three hours on a piece and then go on to another. I work on four or five pieces each day; it helps me get a stronger end piece by spending time with it.
Read More

Unsung Heroes

Unsung Heroes

April 7, 2025 | by

Creativity has always been the name of the game for Sean Michael Chavez. From a young age, he was driven to study and practice one art form or another—music, writing, design, painting. “I’ve always lived a life centered around creativity,” he says. “I’ve always been an artist and, looking back, to have become a professional artist seems to have been inevitable. It was my path.” That pursuit took Chavez to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1990, the year he graduated from high school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He wanted to learn more about himself, about the East Coast, and about art, so
Read More