Archives for Landscape

Silver Linings

Silver Linings

September 1, 2021 | by

“I always thought when you went blind, it was black. It wasn’t,” says watercolor artist Marlin Rotach, who noticed changes in his vision in the spring of 2018. “It was flesh-toned, and it was just like a curtain going across my eye until I had no sight at all.” After visiting a specialist, Rotach learned that he was suffering from a detached retina, a condition that required two surgeries and left him blind in his right eye for five months. Unable to paint, but still able to use a computer, Rotach decided to try writing biographical vignettes about historical artists
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A Never-Quit Mentality

A Never-Quit Mentality

September 1, 2021 | by

It was a long Sunday afternoon for Todd Connor early this summer as he was filling packing boxes for a move from McAllister to Fort Benton, Montana, just northeast of Great Falls. But the day was filled with pleasant surprises. While cleaning out his studio, he discovered hundreds of small canvases, all plein air paintings. “I don’t get to do plein air much anymore,” he says wistfully. Don’t think for a minute that Connor sees his sun-swept portraits of pioneers, landscapes, and First Nation warriors as uninspired, 9-to- 5 studio work, however. Art is his challenge, second only to the
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A Spiritual Connection

A Spiritual Connection

September 1, 2021 | by

It’s a Monday morning in late May, and Linda Mutti is feeling lucky. “I am gonna paint today,” she announces jubilantly. “And then I’m doing a mentoring class, and then I’m going to hang with my two little rescue dogs. They’re very yappy, but I adore them. They like to come hang out in the studio.” If Mutti’s day doesn’t sound sufficiently idyllic, consider this: The studio in question is on the second floor of her home in Santa Barbara, California, with a panoramic view of the Santa Ynez Mountains. If she feels like painting outside instead of in the
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A Clear and Unique Vision

A Clear and Unique Vision

September 1, 2021 | by

If you ask Phil Epp how he developed the style that has come to define his sky-filled Southwestern landscapes, he’ll shrug and admit that it’s not something he can easily explain—nor something he fully understands himself. It started with his childhood love of cowboy art, horses, and the view from his bedroom window in his childhood home in Nebraska. Then it merged with painters he was introduced to in college—from Picasso to Jackson Pollock—and to the work of color field painters, like Mark Rothko, who used large areas of unbroken, flat colors on their canvases. Read the full article in
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Talent Knows No Age

Talent Knows No Age

July 1, 2021 | by

In 2004, after 30 years in the car business, John Marzolf sold his three dealerships and retired. Two years later, however, he was bored and looking for something to do. “I loved art, and I collected art,” he says, “so I decided to buy and sell art.” While visiting the Biltmore Galleries in Scottsdale, Arizona, Marzolf purchased a Frank Tenney Johnson painting for $275,000 and met the gallery’s owner, Steve Rose. “I liked Rose,” Marzolf says, adding that three times he asked Rose to sell the gallery to him. “The fourth time I said, ‘Why don’t you sell it to
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In Search of a Vanishing America

In Search of a Vanishing America

July 1, 2021 | by

“I paint, and I ride my bike,” says watercolorist Robert McFarland. “That’s pretty much my life.” Those two pursuits might sound like opposites, but McFarland has found that they complement each other nicely. “If I’m on a bike ride, I’m always looking around for a subject,” he says. “If I go by something, it sounds weird but the subject will kind of speak to me.” During his thirty-plus year career, the subjects that have most often caught McFarland’s eye are what he calls “scenes of vanishing America.” His luminous depictions of forgotten landscapes, decaying buildings, and abandoned houses have been
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The Studio of Robert Moore

The Studio of Robert Moore

July 1, 2021 | by

When Robert Moore tells you he’s headed to his studio, erase all ideas you might have of an artist painting in a small, dark room in a cold, brick building. Moore’s studio is the first thing you see when you head into town, past the ‘welcome’ sign. It’s a massive, 10,000-square-foot warehouse, right in the center of downtown Declo, Idaho—population 526. “I painted in barns, garages, and churches before it,” says the 63-year-old impressionist. “There’s something special about this location.” Read the full article in the July/August 2021 issue.   Well With My Soul Oil 70” by 96” Winter Oil
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A Life Fully Lived

A Life Fully Lived

May 1, 2021 | by

P.A. (Peter) Nisbet’s dramatic landscape compositions go beyond mere pictorial renderings to draw viewers in and challenge them to find meaning within their beauty. Each painting represents an individual journey of discovery made by the artist himself. The recording of these personal experiences has become the hallmark of every Nisbet painting; rarely has he depicted a location he has not visited in person. When he puts brush to canvas, what he is sharing is a visual record of his experiences, enriched by sensory perceptions such as the feel of the wind, the sound of a stream, or the fragrance of
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‘I Can’t Turn it Off’

‘I Can’t Turn it Off’

May 1, 2021 | by

For a long time, Bruce Cheever was best known as a landscape painter. His atmospheric, often nostalgic scenes had earned awards, recognition, and a solid following of collectors. Those landscapes are still his recognizable pieces—and landscapes are still his favorite subject to paint. During the past several years, however, he’s been steadfastly broadening his universe to include still lifes, figures, wildlife, and more. “My goal is to be able to sit down and paint any subject with equal confidence,” Cheever says. “I’ve tried to push my boundaries out further so that I feel comfortable tackling any subject. I wanted to
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‘I Found My Passion’

‘I Found My Passion’

May 1, 2021 | by

In September, Sheri Farabaugh hopes to board a plane headed to Russia, where she will join a group of artists who will spend two weeks painting with Eric Rhoads, a plein air painter and publisher of PleinAir magazine. They will visit galleries and art institutes in St. Petersburg, several villages where the Russian Masters painted, and Moscow. Farabaugh hopes that trip will help her to become more proficient at plein air painting. She is brutally honest about her capabilities in that area, saying, “I’m a horrible plein air painter; I’m trying to figure out why that is. Narrowing down my
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