Archives for Portrait

Western Nouveau

Western Nouveau

March 2, 2020 | by

To understand Thomas Blackshear II’s segue into Western art, you need to understand his storied career. It seems that the Colorado artist never does anything halfheartedly, nor does he redo the tried and true. In fact, he likes to take what other artists are rendering and tweak it to show viewers something they recognize, but he does so from an innovative perspective. Blackshear likens his work to rappers who take old music and give it a new slant. Relatively new to the Western art genre, Blackshear hit the scene about three years ago. “I’ve had a long and varied career,”
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‘My Art is About Messages’

‘My Art is About Messages’

December 12, 2019 | by

Oreland C. Joe is committed to three things in life: his family, his art, and encouraging young Native Americans to preserve their culture. “The most valuable lesson one could ever learn in any field,” he says, “is to give your success back to the children and the community.” That is exactly what Joe is doing through a foundation he started in 2018, but more about that later. Joe has earned great acclaim for the artwork he creates, which includes paintings, stone carvings, bronze sculptures, and jewelry. He has won more awards than we have space to list here, and his
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‘How I Got Here’

‘How I Got Here’

December 12, 2019 | by

During a visit last October, Susan Lyon made three admissions. The first is that she never considered herself a natural artist. She hadn’t impressed anyone with her drawings as a child. She wasn’t the student who was always chosen to illustrate the school yearbook cover or design the hallway mural. Later, while studying at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, Illinois, Lyon noticed that some of her classmates seemed to be able to see spatial relationships and copy them perfectly. For her, it was a struggle. “I wasn’t someone who had ever been very confident in drawing,” she says.
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Mixing It Up

Mixing It Up

December 12, 2019 | by

As has often been said, timing is everything. This was especially true in the case of Utah artist Jason Rich. As he’ll tell you, the stars aligned, and his time as a career artist came quickly—before he had even finished his college education. But let’s step back and follow the route that took Rich to his art career. His father, an elementary school teacher, owned a small horse farm in southern Idaho, where he raised and trained horses to sell. One of five siblings, Rich was the only one who worked alongside his father, growing not only to love—but to
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The Studio of Mary Ann Cherry

The Studio of Mary Ann Cherry

December 12, 2019 | by

Given the diverse range of her talents and commitments—oil and pastel painter, workshop instructor, novelist, and current President of the Women Artists of the West—it’s not surprising that Mary Ann Cherry loves the opportunities she enjoys by having two working studios. She does the majority of her creative work in a studio at the family home she shares with her husband Bob. Situated on two acres at the edge of the Snake River, just a few miles north of Idaho Falls, Idaho, that studio is informal, with a rural feel that is somewhat of an extension of the outdoors. “When
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The Studio of Jim Rey

The Studio of Jim Rey

December 5, 2019 | by

Jim Rey has painted in a variety of studio spaces: a bedroom, an alcove, a family room, a garage, even a rented room in a country motel. And he happily did so, as he pursued his dream of becoming an artist, after working in commercial art for several years and later in the computer industry. In 2012, Rey finally was able to claim for himself an actual studio at the home he shares with his wife Sharon in Durango, Colorado. It was a long time coming, but it was well worth the wait. Rey had started painting in the early
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What is Art?

What is Art?

December 5, 2019 | by

It’s a question that has been asked for hundreds of years: What is art? While there are several definitions of the word, what one person perceives as art might not be perceived or accepted as art by another person. One of many definitions of art is “an expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power.” Using that definition certainly leaves the door wide open for labeling many different types of creations as a “work of art.” In most
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‘I’m Called To It’

‘I’m Called To It’

November 13, 2019 | by

Tina Garrett credits her best friend, Laura, with giving her the advice she needed to head down the path to becoming an artist. “She said, ‘You are an artist at heart; stop trying to be something you’re not,’ Garrett recalls. At the time, she had quit her job as a freelance designer and illustrator for a publishing company and was trying to decide what to do next. Her husband Adam, a firefighter and registered nurse, suggested she become a dental hygienist so that, when they retired, they could do traveling nursing and dentistry. The thought of being a dental hygienist,
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Aesthetic Visions

Aesthetic Visions

July 14, 2019 | by

Stark rock outcrops towering over desert vistas, waves breaking on a coastal paradise, billowing clouds over serene mountain settings—for many years, those were the images that Glenn Dean most frequently chose to celebrate on canvas. Recently, however, he has expanded his subject matter to encompass the realm of figurative work, as well. “In my early landscapes I avoided painting figures as a way of purifying the landscape,” he says. “People were included on a small scale to show the enormity of a canyon wall, or the size of the clouds. However, beginning in 2012, I transitioned into painting a lot
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‘A Beautiful Medium’

‘A Beautiful Medium’

June 15, 2019 | by

“A pencil drawing is classy. It’s classic; it’s timeless. It’s almost like a little black dress or a nice black suit; everyone should have one.” They should indeed. And if that pencil art happens to have Brenda Murphy’s name attached to it, it’s even more classic. Her pieces are magnificently drawn. The detail and texture are exquisite. There is no need for color. In fact, Murphy says, “It’s a compliment, when someone looks at one of my graphite drawings and says, ‘It doesn’t need color, because I can visualize it.’ They see beyond the black and white. It gives them
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