Archives for Wildlife

Beyond Everyday Reality

Beyond Everyday Reality

November 14, 2019 | by

Ethereal and omniscient, often steeped in clouds or fog, the imagery of Wyoming-based painter, Kathryn Mapes Turner, features a mystical blending of physical and spiritual. “My style is inspired by the Celtic word CAOL AIT – places separated by a thin veil, where spaces in the solid world and the realm of spirit come close together,” she says. Bringing that concept to her work, Turner employs brushes and paint as a means of sharing with others the joy and awe of nature that lie deep within her own soul. “My relationship to the natural world is spiritual and, ideally, I
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A Personal Passion

A Personal Passion

November 8, 2019 | by

When Ralph Oberg was 23, his brother invited him to go to Alaska on a mountain climbing adventure. Oberg was doing architectural renderings and basic graphic design at the time and was completely unsatisfied with the work. The trip to Alaska provided the perfect opportunity to make a change. “When I got the opportunity to quit my job and go climb ice-covered mountains in Alaska, I took it,” Oberg says. “That decision cemented the adventurer in me.” It also gave him a closer glimpse of the glaciers that now have become a hallmark of his work. Since that trip 46
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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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Wildlife Wonders

Wildlife Wonders

June 15, 2019 | by

For years, wildlife artist William Alther had painted in his spare time, taking brush to canvas on a limited basis. Finally, in 2004, confident that he had refined his skills to a satisfactory level, he decided the time had come to make the transition from his day job with the zoology department of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and begin earning his living as a professional artist. It was a good decision. Within 15 years, galleries in Colorado, Texas, and Wyoming were carrying Alther’s evocative wildlife imagery, and his work was regularly juried into prestigious national exhibitions, including
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The Hemingway Version

The Hemingway Version

June 15, 2019 | by

Today, the name Sandy Scott is synonymous with sculpture. But there is much more to this versatile artist than meets the eye. Her experience and expertise spans decades—and abilities. No matter what Scott does, she charges full bore into it and excels at it, leading the kind of life many of us can only dream of. Born in rural Oklahoma, near Tulsa, Scott knew early on that art was her destiny. The path she took, however, didn’t follow a particularly natural progression. She’s the first to tell you that her journey has been propelled by good fortune, but it’s clear
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Hooked on the Feeling

Hooked on the Feeling

February 15, 2019 | by

If she hadn’t been diagnosed with Type I diabetes during her first year of college, Carol Strock Wasson today would be a chemical engineer rather than an artist, who is thrilling collectors with her beautifully rendered landscape paintings. In order to deal with that diagnosis and the required twice daily insulin injections, she returned home to Union City, Indiana, where she currently resides, and began to paint. “It’s the reason I’m an artist today,” Strock Wasson says. “I had painted in high school, and my mother was an artist, so I turned to art. Carol Strock Wasson (Indiana) Yellow Bucket
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Creative Adventure

Creative Adventure

February 15, 2019 | by

Although Jill Soukup was born in Buffalo, New York, she could lay claim to the status of Colorado native. Her upbringing, education, and the inspiration for her current paintings have all been influenced by the fact that she has resided in the Centennial State since she was six months old. Soukup (pronounced Soakup) is a Czechoslovakian surname, the equivalent of the name Smith in the United States, but the talented artist and her paintings are by no means common. Her father was a veterinarian, and her mother was dedicated to saving abandoned pets, so there is little wonder that Soukup
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The Studio of Don Weller

The Studio of Don Weller

November 15, 2018 | by

Little did Utah-based watercolorist Don Weller realize that, when he and his wife chose to relocate from Southern California to northern Utah in the early 1980s, that decision would become the impetus for him to begin a career as a fine artist. It was a move that would set the stage for the rest of his life—and his career. In 1960, after earning a Bachelor of Arts Degree in fine art from the University of Washington in his hometown of Pullman, Weller headed to Los Angeles, California to pursue a career in commercial art Don Weller (Utah) Don Weller Painting
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Personality and Panache

Personality and Panache

November 15, 2018 | by

Hours spent observing wildlife in its natural habitat during his youth in Wyoming instilled in Dan Ostermiller an affinity for animals. Working alongside his well-know taxidermist father, Roy, from early in his childhood gave Ostermiller technical skills that set him apart as a sculptor later in life. But, taxidermy was not something he cared for. “I grew up in that business, but never liked it,” he says. “However, it did give me a lot of tools I needed to become an artist.” Ostermiller never received any formal training, but he knew art was his future, and painting was his initial
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‘I’m Living the Life I Paint’

‘I’m Living the Life I Paint’

November 15, 2018 | by

Tim Cox has gone fishing twice already this year. That might not seem like much to most avid fishermen, but Cox isn’t complaining. It’s more fishing that he’s done for the better part of a decade. In 2010, Cox became the vice president of the Cowboy Artists of America (CAA). The next year, when he was president, the organization officially moved from its long-time headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. That transition consumed most of Cox’s time for much of his two-year term as president. “I think I averaged about four hours of sleep a day for those
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