Archives for Genre

Answering the Call

Answering the Call

August 7, 2025 | by

  Ten years ago, Starr Hardridge accidentally discovered the style that now defines his work. A citizen of the Muscogee Creek nation, he was invited to submit work for the Return from Exile show, which was planned to spotlight artists from the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek, and Seminole tribes. Hardridge had been studying the basketry, pottery, and beadwork designs that those tribes had done before they were relocated to Oklahoma. He discovered that much of the traditional beadwork of his Muscogee ancestors was left behind when they left the Southeast. He wanted to resurrect that tradition in his painting
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Poetic Landscapes

Poetic Landscapes

August 7, 2025 | by

  June Dudley’s vibrant paintings capture a moment in time, an emotion, a ghost of memory. Combined with dynamic lighting and design, her attunement with color creates a mood that is sometimes whimsical, sometimes majestic, but is always inviting and approachable. “One of my collectors told me, ‘I have not seen anyone painting in the vivid and vibrant colors and detail you do, and at the same time being able to capture and convey such powerful moods,’” Dudley says. “That pretty well sums up my goal in art.” The Texas artist has always had one goal: painting. Life doesn’t always
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Keeping It Fresh

Keeping It Fresh

August 7, 2025 | by

  “I don’t like clichés,” says Western artist Brett James Smith. He recognizes that his chosen genre is replete with familiar tropes: the backlit pastoral scene, the regal Native American chief, the faithful dog, the sunlit brook, the swaggering cowboy. Although you will find those landscapes and figures in Smith’s portfolio, he is determined to paint them in such a way that you won’t mistake his work for anyone else’s. “I’m always looking for a fresher look at any subject,” he says. “My number one priority is to do things that haven’t been done, or at least to bring something
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The Excitement of Plein Air Painting

The Excitement of Plein Air Painting

August 7, 2025 | by

  “I look at the world as color notes.” So says Michele Usibelli, and to realize the truth of that statement, all you have to do is look at one of her paintings. Splashes of color and bursts of light jump off the canvas, almost daring you to look away. You can’t do it, however; her brushstrokes sweep you into and around the painting, creating a visual journey that you don’t want to end. Usibelli’s own journey began when she was a young girl growing up in Seattle, Washington. By the time she was in second grade she knew what
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Watercolor Illusionist

Watercolor Illusionist

February 7, 2025 | by

Richie Vios grew up in a house in Cebu City in the Philippines that was filled with the smell of oil paints, thanks to his father and siblings, who were all painters. “The smell of oil paint was always present in my home,” he says. “That was my childhood smell.” With all that oil painting going on, it’s a little surprising that Vios’ medium today is watercolor. Yes, he says, he did paint with oils with his father when he was in high school, but didn’t plan to become an artist. Instead, he earned a degree in architecture in the
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