Archives for Landscape

Chasing Her Dreams

Chasing Her Dreams

August 6, 2026 | by

  Katherine Irish has chased—and caught—two dreams. The first one came to her when she was a young girl. She had pulled out the “P” volume of the family’s set of encyclopedias and flipped through its pages until she landed on “painting.” The masterpieces featured within those pages fascinated her. “I studied those paintings for hours,” she says. A dream was born. The second dream came to Irish many years later while she was studying art and living in New York. In 1981, she took a painting trip to New Mexico and was fascinated by what she saw there—the landscape
Read More

The Nostalgic West

The Nostalgic West

June 9, 2026 | by

  A trip to the principal’s office in first grade might have been the catalyst that pushed Dennis Ziemienski toward art. When he drew a full wine glass next to a bottle, his principal called his parents in for two reasons: One, he worried Ziemienski might be “imbibing” at home, given the adult subject matter. Two, the principal, who was also an artist, noticed that the child had correctly drawn the top of his wine glass as an ellipse. The kid could already render complex visual perspectives instead of simple outlines. “Let this kid go into art, because he has
Read More

Ink, Oil, and Graphite

Ink, Oil, and Graphite

June 9, 2026 | by

  You would think that having parents who are successful artists would naturally set their offspring on a path leading directly to fine art. Not so if that offspring is Maia Chavez Larkin. “I was certain that I would never be an artist, because it seemed like a tough way to make a living,” she says. “I thought it also meant being nervous about finances. It seemed like a hard life and a tough way to make a living. I thought I’d have a real job.” After years of working as an illustrator, four years ago Larkin became what she
Read More

Fresh Mind, Fresh Eyes

Fresh Mind, Fresh Eyes

June 9, 2026 | by

  You might not recognize Simon Lok’s name, but you have almost certainly seen his work. If you watched any of Disney’s animated feature films in the late 1990s and early 2000s—“Mulan,” “Atlantis: The Lost Empire,” “Brother Bear,” or “The Princess and the Frog” to name just a few—you’re familiar with his use of color, light, and landscape to create a vivid and memorable palette and setting for those films’ characters and their adventures. Lok, who is listed in those films’ credits as Sai Ping Lok, was freshly graduated from art school at California State Long Beach when Disney hired
Read More

The Color Connection

The Color Connection

June 9, 2026 | by

Once the gate opened, Jessica Garrett-Lawrence ran through it like a wild bronco. Less than a year after she started to paint seriously, galleries began to take on—and sell—her work. One of those galleries was in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where almost a dozen of her paintings sold in just six weeks. It’s not surprising that her vibrant landscapes caught the attention of gallery owners and collectors so quickly. Garrett-Lawrence portrays nature in all its glory, from aspen trees, mountains, and streams to sunrises, sunsets, and moonrises. She paints flowers, up close and personal, as well as an occasional still
Read More

The Studio of Susie Hyer

The Studio of Susie Hyer

June 9, 2026 | by

  Tucked amid a ponderosa pine forest in Evergreen, Colorado, Susie Hyer’s studio is nestled into the side of one of the forest’s prolific hills. Built next to her house, the 900-square-foot structure, she says, “is large enough to have a square dance in, if I moved everything else out. We built it so that, if we ever sell the property, it could be modified for a mother-in-law apartment, but for now it has no water or bathroom.” Hyer and her husband Jeff built the studio after she outgrew the renovated two-car garage where she had worked. In the past,
Read More

A Deep Connection

A Deep Connection

April 8, 2026 | by

“When I first experienced Glacier National Park, it was like I’d come home,” says Michael G. Booth. “The rugged mountains, the isolated beauty and exalted display of nature fit me like a glove.” Booth has spent the past four decades with one foot in a college classroom and the other on the trail. An accomplished painter, sculptor, and potter, he has built a life’s work in the American West that marries academic rigor with the heart of a storyteller. Booth studied at Boise State University and Utah State University, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and then a Master’s
Read More

Romantic Realism

Romantic Realism

April 8, 2026 | by

  When viewing one of Tom Perkinson’s landscape paintings, you will catch yourself thinking, “Where did he see this?” The answer is simple: in his mind’s eye. “I’m an intuitive painter,” Perkinson says. “I’m a painter of fiction.” He’s not a plein air painter, and he doesn’t work from photographs, unless it’s a landmark structure. He simply looks inward, using his imagination to create—and then paint—whatever comes to him. And what comes to Perkinson are stunning landscapes filled with light and brilliant colors. “I want viewers to see the world in a different way,” he says. “I want them to
Read More

The Studio of Heather Burton & Dave Santillanes

The Studio of Heather Burton & Dave Santillanes

April 8, 2026 | by

  Since meeting in Maui in 2014, artists Dave Santillanes and Heather Burton have been side by side in many ways: dating, marriage, parenting, and living as full-time artists in Colorado. Since September 2025, when they moved from Wellington, Colorado, to Colorado Springs, they have also been side by side when painting in their spacious studio on the main level of their home on the northern part of town near Black Forest. The main-level studio is the first room a visitor sees, and once in the studio, the view is as inspirational as their art. “We look right out at
Read More

The Grand Canyon Master

The Grand Canyon Master

February 4, 2026 | by

  It was love at first sight. Curt Walters was 19 when he first laid eyes on the Grand Canyon. “It changed my life,” he says. “There was an intensity to it—the depth, the layers, amazing clouds, and the atmosphere. It was like seeing the whole world at one time. I felt real joy there, and I was determined to paint it.” Today, 57 years later, Walters is still painting it. The Grand Canyon captured his soul and never let go. Several years ago, this magazine referred to him as a master impressionist landscape painter and described him as “the
Read More