Throughout her life, voices have spoken to J. Peralta, acknowledging her talent and urging her to create art. Fortunately, she paid them the attention they deserved and, in doing so, changed the course of her life. The first was the voice of her kindergarten teacher who, after taking note of Peralta’s incredibly detailed drawings, announced to Peralta’s mother, “She will be an artist.” The next would come many years later and would provide the encouragement Peralta needed to pursue art and, in the process, to share with the world paintings that showcase her brilliant use of color and light. “It
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Archives for Portrait
The Studio of Blair Buswell
Utah sculptor Blair Buswell’s initial response to having his studio immortalized within the pages of a magazine was, “It’s just a warehouse.” But warehouses, as utilitarian and functional as they are, just store stuff. This warehouse look-alike has far more grandiose aspirations. To the uninitiated observer, from the outside the wonders that reside within are not apparent. But, it’s a different story once you take a look inside. Over the years, Buswell has had six or seven studios, ranging from extra bedrooms to office buildings, historic homes, and even the downstairs of a dentist’s office. With every move, the best
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A Penchant For the Past
Known for evocative historical paintings that depict the lives of the Eastern Woodland Indians and non-native settlers, who lived in the region surrounding his home in Western Pennsylvania during the 18th century, John Buxton, like several successful fine artists, began his career as a commercial illustrator. Determined to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a professional artist, in 1959 Buxton journeyed west to begin formal art studies at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, California. Getting his priorities straight a few years later, Buxton returned to his studies and earned his Professional Arts Degree in 1962, which
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I’m Never Bored
A drive to yoga class about 10 years ago provided an aha moment for Teresa Elliott. As she drove by a pasture of longhorns, she was so taken by what she saw that she returned the next day and took photographs of them. “There was a bull there,” she says. “It was hot, and he was miserable and stomping his feet. I took a snapshot and went back home and that was my first painting.” Little did Elliott realize how popular her longhorn portraits would become, how eagerly collectors would seek them out. She painted them because she loved them
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Eiteljorg Museum Receives Multimillion-Dollar Art Collection
Imagine, if you will, that you receive a phone call from someone telling you that you soon will be receiving a gift. When that gift arrives, you open it and find inside millions of dollars worth of artwork—paintings by the likes of Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, N. C. Wyeth, and Howard Terpning, along with magnificently crafted Native American artifacts. You are stunned. You are thrilled. And you are grateful. That is exactly how the folks at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana, felt when the attorney for the estate of the late K. S.
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Cowboy Artists of America Celebrates 50th Anniversary
With the celebration of the Cowboy Artists of America’s 50th anniversary, one has to wonder if the founding artists—Joe Beeler, Charlie Dye, John Hampton, and George Phippen—could have envisioned what the organization would become and that it would still be going strong five decades later. Those four men, along with dozens of others who were invited to join the prestigious organization over the years, were committed to creating authentic representations of life—and work—in the American West and to doing so with the highest of artistic standards. Four members of the CAA—John Coleman, Martin Grelle, Bill Nebeker, and Jim Norton—recently took
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The Joy of Painting
Suchitra Bhosle was in Seattle, Washington, looking for a job that would put her new MBA degree to good use, when she received news that her father had passed away. She put her job search on hold to travel back to her native India—and returned to the United States with an entirely different focus in mind. Back in Seattle, Bhosle stopped sending out resumes and started looking for workshops that would help develop the aptitude she had always had for art. Suchitra Bhosle Arches of II duomo De Taormina Oil 16″ x 12″ “The movement of the interior light of
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Creating New Challenges
Carrie Ballantyne once told a young cowgirl that she didn’t think she was much of a storyteller. Her paintings—portraits of western men, women and children, often focused mostly on their faces—were too limited, she said, to tell stories. “This young cowgirl looked so surprised,” Ballantyne remembers. “She stopped me and said that she saw a story in every face I portrayed.” That revelation changed everything for Ballantyne. Carrie Ballantyne (Wyoming) Wyoming Flower Child Oil 18″x14″ “I have been lucky, through the years, to be able to work with my family and close friends. It makes my job more pleasurable, when
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My Richest Blessing Is My Imagination
Whether he is depicting a Native American hunting party, a stagecoach arriving in a frontier town, or a cowpuncher riding night herd in the moonlight, the imagery of Montana-based artist Gary Lynn Roberts clearly reflects his belief that he lives and works in God’s country. For him, it’s a reality in more ways than one. Living on a remote 100-acre spread in the majestic Bitterroot Valley some 50 miles south of Missoula, Roberts doesn’t have to venture far to find the towering snow-capped mountains, sparkling rivers, and native wildlife that so richly complement his compelling compositions. Gary Lynn Roberts Wapiti
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A Creative Calling
Albin Veselka wants to talk about art. First, though, he wants to say a few words about the meaning of life and the purpose of art. “I’m always trying to uplift people; I think it’s important to better the world,” says Veselka, whose Christian faith, along with his missionary zeal for art, guide his creative journey. “My faith helps me to do that—to uplift people and to show them something through my art.” This spirit of expansive generosity suffuses Veselka’s work, as well as his artistic philosophy. Albin Veselka Sunset Tide Oil 24″x15″ “I love the way white reflects all
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