Archives for Oil

‘I’m On a Quest of Discovery’

‘I’m On a Quest of Discovery’

April 15, 2019 | by

If it weren’t for a musician cancelling a two-month recording session 17 years ago, today we more than likely would not be enjoying the wonderful paintings Michael Blessing creates at his studio in Bozeman, Montana. Faced with eight empty weeks on his calendar, Blessing, who at the time owned and operated a recording studio, decided to spend that time down in his basement—drawing. “My wife had been an art major and encouraged me,” he says. “I have two daughters, and they would bring me little trinkets to draw. Then my wife gave me an image from a National Geographic magazine
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A Universal Language

A Universal Language

April 15, 2019 | by

Utah artist Robert Duncan’s motto could be this: Explore the depth of your surroundings to mine the beauty at hand. Meanwhile, his catalyst seems to be Andrew Wyeth’s artistic philosophy. “[Wyeth] never wanted to travel much, he just wanted to dig deeper into the things close around him,” Duncan says. “He’d talk about how just a footprint in the snow, as he walked across a field, would trigger a feeling that he could dig into for days and weeks. I think that digging deeper into the things we care most about, and to appreciate the things that we pass by,
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Living By the Brush

Living By the Brush

April 15, 2019 | by

Arizona-based artist Gregory Stewart Hull is a highly regarded devotee of contemporary realism. His versatility is vividly apparent in a wide range of luminous compositions that underscore his ability to use his mastery of capturing light to its fullest potential. A Renaissance man by nature, Hull has been blessed with an inquisitive mind, a passion for perfection, and the ability to find beauty in a diverse range of subject matter, especially in mountains and coastal settings. From his earliest days, he says, his parents emphasized the importance of being well rounded, providing him with many opportunities to develop his talents.
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‘I’ll Never Retire; I’ll Always Paint’

‘I’ll Never Retire; I’ll Always Paint’

April 15, 2019 | by

For most of the past decade, C. Michael Dudash has been ramping up his annual schedule of shows. In the coming year, he’ll participate in at least half a dozen major art events, from Quest for the West at the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, Indiana, to the Prix de West Invitational at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. That means that Dudash paints between 40 and 50 pieces a year. Some are small, and some are larger, but each one requires dedicated time at the easel in his Rathdrum, Idaho, studio. “It is a lot
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Poetry in Paint

Poetry in Paint

February 15, 2019 | by

“I search for ways to create a sense of emotion and a heightened sensitivity to those moments that too often pass by unnoticed. Whether capturing an introspective moment of a figure, or the quiet stillness in an arrangement of treasured objects, I find an honesty and poetry in the story that each has to tell.” So says Cynthia Feustel in describing what she strives to achieve with each of her paintings, whether she is depicting a horse or fox, fruit or flowers, an old man carving a piece of wood, or a cowgirl sitting on a rock, lost in thought.
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Sky King

Sky King

February 15, 2019 | by

Phil Bob Borman’s mission, he says, is “to paint the world, one sky at a time.” He’s well on his way to doing so, currently painting in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, and Utah, with plans to add skies on the East Coast, Europe, and Scotland to his repertoire. “I love the light, the shapes, the magnificence of clouds,” Borman says. “I love watching them change. There are times when I’m out by myself and I can actually hear the clouds. Phil Bob Borman (Texas) Twilight’s Crown Oil 51″x38″ “The beauty of light and the day’s forces are revealed in
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Creative Adventure

Creative Adventure

February 15, 2019 | by

Although Jill Soukup was born in Buffalo, New York, she could lay claim to the status of Colorado native. Her upbringing, education, and the inspiration for her current paintings have all been influenced by the fact that she has resided in the Centennial State since she was six months old. Soukup (pronounced Soakup) is a Czechoslovakian surname, the equivalent of the name Smith in the United States, but the talented artist and her paintings are by no means common. Her father was a veterinarian, and her mother was dedicated to saving abandoned pets, so there is little wonder that Soukup
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Transcending the Image

Transcending the Image

February 15, 2019 | by

When John Coleman was 43 years old, he received a phone call that changed his life. That call was from a client, who had asked Coleman to do a construction project for him. Just as work was about to begin, however, the client received a lower bid and was going to use a different vendor. Suddenly, Coleman had three full months with nothing to do. “It was a sign,” he says now. “I knew exactly what I had to do. It was what I had always wanted to do, but I never had time to do it. Now I had
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A 40-Year Journey

A 40-Year Journey

February 15, 2019 | by

Last October, two weeks after giving a talk to a sold-out crowd at the Nicolai Fechin House at the Taos Art Museum, Jerry Jordan was flying high. He had given a presentation on his life and his work to a sold-out crowd. “The theme was ‘what does it look like to paint for 60 years and try to make a living at it?’” he says. “About 75 people attended; we had to turn people away,” he says, adding that it was the highlight of his career. During his presentation, Jordan says, he showed his very first painting—a paint-by-numbers piece he
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Bridging Cultures

Bridging Cultures

February 15, 2019 | by

For California artist Mian Situ, 2016 and 2017 were banner years. In 2016, he met, courted, and married Gloria. Their romance began on the Internet and Gloria, a resident of the Yunnan Province in China, was a little reticent, when Situ made his first long-distance overture. Situ, who was familiar with the Yunnan Province from many trips he had taken to the province to garner resource material for his art, felt a kinship with her. Eventually, his knowledge of the area, combined with how much they had in common and proof of who he was as an artist won her
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