Archives for Oil

Counting Her Many Blessings

Counting Her Many Blessings

May 18, 2017 | by

If you were a mouse in the corner of Sherrie McGraw’s studio, you would be amazed at two things: her skill, as she transforms a blank canvas into a magnificent painting—and her pirouettes, as she goes to the kitchen to make lunch. While her paintings have earned her high honors, she admits that her pirouettes still need work. At the center of her life, however, are McGraw’s love of art and her love for fellow artist and long-time partner David Leffel. A native Oklahoman, McGraw studied for a time at Central University in Edmond, Oklahoma, then studied for three years
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Personal Connections

Personal Connections

May 18, 2017 | by

When Huihan Liu was a child in rural China, he managed to save enough money to buy a small sketchbook. The store, where he could purchase it, was several miles away from his home, but Liu chose to walk instead of taking the bus, so that he could use all of his money on paper. “It was just a little piece of a sketchbook, but I was so happy to have it,” he says. “I would draw on it and then erase it, so that I could draw on it again. I drew on that paper over and over again.”
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Balancing Art and Life

Balancing Art and Life

May 18, 2017 | by

Unlike most artists, who claim to have been born with a Crayon in hand, Utah artist G. Russell Case came to his avocation a bit later, even though he was surrounded by art from a young age. His father, Garry Case, a watercolor artist of some renown was also an illustrator. He had a studio in the family home and his young son, seemingly impervious to art, was just a normal kid with interests any young boy would have. Sure, he might have dabbled in drawing and coloring, but what child doesn’t? Things changed for Case, when he was a
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I’ll Paint Anything, Within Reason

I’ll Paint Anything, Within Reason

March 18, 2017 | by

Barron Postmus can’t find much to complain about. He lives in sunny Southern California with his wife Jane Skeeter, who he describes as “the love of my life.” He has enjoyed a long career as a successful artist. He’s strong and healthy, thanks to his daily trips to the gym. And he has four happy children and six grandchildren, all of whom help keep him young. “I’ve been so lucky,” he says. “What a life I’ve had. I’m married to the girl I love, my kids are all doing well, and I make a living painting.” Even so, there’s one
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Romance and Reality

Romance and Reality

March 18, 2017 | by

Acclaim comes when artists paint what they know best, and for Utah-based watercolorist Ian Ramsay those subjects are harbors and boats. “The love of ships is in my blood,” he says. “I am almost convinced the source of my passion is genetic, because I can trace it back to both sides of my family. My paternal grandfather serviced vessels docked in Woolwich, a naval shipyard on the Thames River in London. He often took me along with him to work, and we spent a lot of time in the engine room. To this day, I can still recall the smell
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A Balancing Act

A Balancing Act

March 18, 2017 | by

Colorado artist Lori Forest relies on her acute powers of observation and her love of the natural world to bring authenticity to her paintings. Even as a young child, growing up in the rural Midwest, she spent her time drawing dinosaurs and horses, insistent on being accurate. “I was fixated on getting it right,” she says, adding that even as a young child, authenticity was crucial. After some consideration, Forest chose to study geology at Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado, saying, “I’ve always loved the earth. Geology has always fascinated me, and I think that plays a really
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Truth, Beauty, and Happy Accidents

Truth, Beauty, and Happy Accidents

March 18, 2017 | by

Ask Eric Bowman what he does for fun, when he isn’t painting and you might get a long, slightly self-conscious silence, followed by this sheepish admission: “When I’m not painting, I’m thinking about painting.” Bowman spends long days in his backyard studio in northwest Oregon, patiently creating richly textured oil paintings in a style he describes as “not as tight as realism, but not as abstract as impressionism.” Sometimes he paints figures, sometimes he paints landscapes, and occasionally he does a still life. On the rare days Bowman feels uninspired, he attends to the busywork that goes along with being
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King of the Canyon

King of the Canyon

March 18, 2017 | by

Curt Walters is a man on the move, geographically as well as artistically. He has traveled to, and painted in, several countries—Spain, England, Italy, France, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Indonesia, Jordan, Mexico, and Switzerland—and, although he has made a name for himself with his magnificently rendered landscapes, he also now is painting some figures, but more about that later. Now living in Sedona, Arizona, Walters grew up in New Mexico, the son of a dentist, who also painted on occasion. When the elder Walters gave his daughter a paint set, his son quickly stole it and began to follow a
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The Studio of Glen and Barbara Edwards

The Studio of Glen and Barbara Edwards

January 18, 2017 | by

The couple’s main home is in Smithfield, Utah. They purchased it in December 1987 to be close to Utah State University in Logan, Utah, where Glen was a professor of art. Both artists love nature, especially trees, so when they discovered a property surrounded by trees of all kinds—poplar, blue spruce, maple, juniper, Austrian pine—they knew they were home. Forty years ago, Western artists Glen and Barbara Edwards decided that their summer home in Star Valley, Wyoming, lacked a fundamental tool of their trade: a studio. So, along with Glen’s brother, a chain saw, and a book on carpentry, they
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‘I’ve Got to Keep Painting’

‘I’ve Got to Keep Painting’

January 18, 2017 | by

To say that the past year has been a rough one for Joe Anna Arnett would be an understatement. Her husband of 31 years, artist James Asher, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in the fall of 2015. Just as the couple was dealing with that news, a black widow spider bit Arnett’s foot, as she stepped into the shower. “The pain was horrible,” she says. “There are neurotoxins coursing through your body, and there’s nothing you can do for the pain. It was miserable.” But instead of dwelling on the difficulties, Arnett decided to look for the good. Some days,
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