Archives for Landscape

Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland

December 13, 2019 | by

Something magical, almost mystical occurs with a snowfall. It brings with it great joy, which is readily apparent when you watch a young child seeing snow for the first time, or attempting to swallow the flakes as they fall. They also seem compelled to lay down in it, swinging their arms and legs to and fro as they create snow angels. Snow evokes a myriad of emotions. It can carry with it a sense of peace and wellbeing that for some involves sitting inside by a fire and watching the snow gently falling outside. On the other hand, it can
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Joseph Alleman Perfectly Imperfect

Joseph Alleman Perfectly Imperfect

December 12, 2019 | by

There’s only so much time you can spend driving, trying to find that perfect barn,” says Joseph Alleman, whose very livelihood depends on the quality of barns he’s able to locate and depict. Sometimes he renders them in dense, saturated watercolor; more often, he uses oils to achieve the opaque surfaces and clean lines for which he’s known. Driving in search of those barns, Alleman recites the inner monologue that kicks in as the mile markers pass: “I’ve got to get out of the car. I’m wasting too much time. Let’s just stop here and make the best of it.”
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Unique Expressions

Unique Expressions

December 5, 2019 | by

Summers are hot in Texas—and this past summer was one of the worst that Nancy Bush can remember. She was born and raised in the Lone Star State and has lived there almost all of her adult life, so for the most part she’s used to the heat. But this summer, she says, was harder than usual. “It was a brutal summer this year—warmer than past summers,” she says. “But hot is hot, and that’s what we have down here now. Of course, most everyone has air conditioning here, or there would for sure be a massive migration to the
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Letting Fly

Letting Fly

December 5, 2019 | by

There is nothing subtle about an Alan Wolton painting—and that is just as he has planned it. His colors almost sing with energy, causing viewers’ eyes to dance through the painting, pausing here and there before moving on, through and around the light, and savoring every aspect of it. Wolton’s magical paintings have earned him master signature status in the Oil Painters of America (OPA), as well as several awards, including 2017 Sedona Legacy Artist and OPA’s 2014 Distinguished Artist of the Year. While he appreciates the kudos, what really gets his adrenaline going is the act of applying paint
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A Sense of Peace

A Sense of Peace

December 5, 2019 | by

When Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution came to an end in 1976, China began to open its doors to the West. During the following four decades, several well-trained and highly talented artists journeyed across the ocean to America. Landscapist Calvin Liang was among the most gifted of those newcomers. From the time he was old enough to hold a pencil, Liang knew that he wanted to be an artist. Achieving that goal, however, would require patience and determination; it wasn’t until he was almost 40 that his dream became a reality. By the time he was 12, Liang’s career choice seemed
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Essential Elements

Essential Elements

November 14, 2019 | by

“I’m self-taught,” announces Kathryn Stats, painter of sun-washed desert landscapes and vivid still lifes, then quickly adds, “which didn’t mean I didn’t take any lessons; it means I didn’t graduate in anything!” Stats’ artistic journey was unconventional from the start. “I have a great uncle by marriage [LeConte Stewart], who was a fine, fine, well-thought-of artist,” she says. “I rode horses in the summer from morning until night in the same county he lived in. We had his paintings on our walls, and I tended to see landscapes through his eyes. I really think that had an influence.” Initially, that
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The Studio of Peggy Immel

The Studio of Peggy Immel

July 15, 2019 | by

For the past three years, Peggy Immel has been happily painting in a studio south of downtown Taos, New Mexico. Although she says it’s nothing fancy, it certainly meets the needs of the landscape painter, providing her with the space and privacy she needs to create the majestic scenes that have captivated here since she moved to the area 17 years ago. Although Immel spends much of her time painting en plein aire, her studio has everything she needs when she is putting the finishing touches to her work, framing her paintings, or taking care of other business needs that
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Spirit and Splendor

Spirit and Splendor

July 15, 2019 | by

A couple of Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes really speak to oil painter Ron Rencher. One of his favorites is this: “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” Rencher currently is in hot pursuit of the beautiful; he’s in the middle of a move to Taos, New Mexico, a place he once lived and still considers his artistic home. During a visit with him in early May, Rencher said he and his wife Carlene were in the thick of moving-related business: renting the U-Haul, closing on the
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Beautiful Moments

Beautiful Moments

July 14, 2019 | by

For nearly 20 years, Utah artist Nicholas Coleman has created realistic paintings, with impressionistic overtones, as he preserves the history of the American West. His Western history and art education began at his father’s side. “[My dad] was always buying me sketchbooks, or we’d go to the art store and get colored pencils or clay,” Coleman says. His father also bought him history books and told stories of cowboys, Native Americans, and mountain men to expand his son’s knowledge of the country’s heritage. As early as age 3, Coleman worked alongside his father, renowned artist Michael Coleman. The younger Coleman
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Passion and Paint

Passion and Paint

July 14, 2019 | by

Churches and cemeteries hold a special fascination—and offer a special inspiration—for Walt Gonske, so much so that he has traveled to several states and foreign countries to capture their beauty and, in essence, to tell their stories. That fascination took hold almost immediately, when Gonske moved from New York City to Taos, New Mexico, 47 years ago. Having spent the first 30 years of his life on the East Coast, he was so taken with New Mexico that, when he visited his sister there in 1971, he went home, saved his money for a year, and made a permanent move
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