WAOW Artistry of the West

The WAOW Artistry is slowly being built to provide a page on our site to promote each artist. This project began late summer 2024. We have over 300 members to load here on their pages. You can search by name, location or by subject matter to find an artist.

Molly Moore • Wyoming • waow

Molly Moore draws and paints the stunning beauty and wildlife of the West.  She especially seeks to portray the souls of wild animals from real life experience. Molly divides her time between creating in her studio and exploring outdoors to observe wildlife, often painting en plein air to capture the beautiful habitat they live in.   

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Jane Hunt • Colorado • waow

Jane Hunt is the 12th most awarded artist in the United States, according to Art Data Intel.  This remarkable designation is the result of Hunt’s relentless pursuit of craft and unsurpassed beauty realized in her landscape paintings.  She has lived in Colorado for thirty years, where she frequently paints en plein air to gather information for her larger studio works.  She loves the American West and continues to be awed and inspired by the beauty surrounding her.

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Karen Ann Hitt • Florida • waow

Karen Ann Hitt is an award-winning artist, classically trained at Parson’s School of Design in New York.  That classic background is ever evident in her style, along with her love of capturing the figure and the effects of light in all of her scenes. Her paintings are noted to accentuate the effects of light, adding to their luminosity.   Her landscapes and skyscapes reflect the essence of the landmark.

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Margie Hildreth • Texas • waow

Margie Hildreth is a watercolor artist who loves the way the medium moves and blends.  It is a medium that requires a collaboration of sorts — a dance between artistic control and then allowing the serendipitous play of water and pigment to surprise and delight.  She uses vibrant color to show the contrast of light and shadow and likes to drop in unexpected colors or splatter to evoke a sense of casual fun in her paintings. 

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Diane Fechenbach • Colorado • waow

Diane Fechenbach’s artistic passion is dramatic light and shadow; and clean, saturated color.  She is particularly interested in the effect of light on snow, trees, rocks and water.  She works in a variety of media, including pastel, oil, and watercolor. Her subjects are varied, but she particularly enjoys painting en plein air.

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Susan Temple Neumann • Texas • waow

Susan Temple Neumann is an oil painter who enjoys a more painterly style of realism, which helps keep the artwork fresh and "alive." Her art is born from a desire to capture the emotion or mood of a particular scene.  A life-long fascination with native Americans, cowboys, horses, wildlife and the western landscape has fueled Neumann's art over the years and been the inspiration for her western pieces.

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Sue Wipf • Minnesota • waow

Sue Wipf worked on her parents' farm and spent time pondering the skies and the beauty around her. That experience continues to influence her values and her perspective on the world around her.  Her love for nature is expressed in her plein air paintings and studio work.  The artworks of Vermeer, Sargent, Turner, and Sorolla have influenced her.  She has studied at the Schroeder Studio and taken workshops from other master artists.

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Jane Coulombe • California • waow

Jane Coulombe is an oil painter specializing in landscape and seascape scenes.  She has spent most of her life in Southern California.  Her love for this golden land is reflected in her paintings of its land and sea.    One can feel the peace of early California and the beauty of the open land that remains, which she feels is our responsibility to preserve for future generations to enjoy.

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Janice Wright • Colorado • waow

Janice Wright is originally from Western Canada, but now calls Arvada, Colorado her home.   She is a Visual Communications graduate from the Alberta College of Art of Canada.  Wright worked as a graphic designer for over fifteen years.   A one year residence in Europe provided her the opportunity to see paintings that previously she had only see in art history books. Profoundly moved by the experience, she stopped producing commercial art and began her fine art career.

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Gloria Chadwick • California • waow

Gloria Chadwick finds joy in the wildlife sketching possibilities at the world–famous zoos, aquariums and wonderful coastline of the San Diego, California area, of which she is a native.  She is a master painter working in oils, acrylics, and watercolors. 

Chadwick is a dedicated enthusiast of wildlife conservation and delights to create art that brings attention to the animals—especially endangered species.  Her works have been accepted in many juried shows and festivals and have won numerous awards. 

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Barbara Nuss • Maryland • waow

Barbara Nuss is an award–winning oil painter of landscapes and still life scenes.  She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree Syracuse University, the Schuler School of Fine Arts in Baltimore.  She began her art career at a graphic artist and illustrator. 

Nuss is the author of the book, Secrets to Composition.  She taught still life and landscape painting at her atelier from 1983 to 1996.  She continues to share her skills through plein air workshops and atelier teaching.

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Ni Zhu • California • waow

Ni Zhu turned to painting after studying law at Beijing University and pursuing graduate studies in the U.S. and Canada. Changing her career path, she honed her passion for the media by attending classes at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and taking workshops with master painters, ultimately earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in 2020.  Zhu’s academic and creative pursuits from law to art and personal transition from China to North America have informed her practice as an artist. 

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Rose Irelan • California • waow

Rose Irelan is inspired by the diverse landscapes of the coast, desert, and mountains. Her paintings capture the energy and changing light of the natural world, using expressive brushwork and a deep appreciation for color. Whether painting the rugged shoreline, the quiet beauty of a desert morning, or towering mountains, she strives to convey the feeling of a moment rather than just a scene.

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Amanda Cowan • Wyoming • waow

 Western and wildlife artist, Amanda Cowan, spends her time outdoors drawing the horses, cows and any wildlife that she comes into contact with.  She is self taught, painting in watercolors and oils.  Her art is in private collections in Korea, Australia, Canada, France and the United States.  

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Betty J. Billups • Idaho • waow

"Betty Jean Billups is a superb Impressionist painter, blessed with the talent to produce rich and colorful paintings of her everyday experiences.  She paints powerful works of visual delight and honest truth. 

Using a bold brush and solid colors, she paints from her heart and her soul."

—     (Mr.)Jean Stern, Director Emeritus, The Irvine Museum

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Jenifer Cline • Colorado • waow

It is the connection, the joy – the reluctance to leave the scene that inspires Jenifer Cline to paint.  She considers the sense of place, the effects of light and the linkage of heart and soul to the earth as the most important aspects of her work.  She paints exclusively in oils en plein air. 

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Melanie Chambers Hartman • Arizona • waow

A Texas native, Tina Bohlman has used her home state as both the inspiration and the canvas for her art.  A self-taught artist, Bohlman is well versed in several mediums but favors watercolor and oil to create breath–taking plein air paintings and brilliant rural landscapes. 

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Janis Blayer • Arizona • waow

Janis Casco-Blayer’s studio and plein air paintings from the Northwest, Arizona, Hawaii and abroad reflect diversity in her paintings. She has worked in a variety of mediums including oil, watercolor, zinc plate etching and bronze sculpture among others. Blayer’s impressionistic style captures the spirit of animals, people and landscapes with uncanny precision and emotion. Her recent move to Buckeye, Arizona has ushered in a new era of creativity, infusing her artwork with captivating southwest landscapes, cowboys, horses, and rodeo scenes. 

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Tina Bohlman • Texas • waow

A Texas native, Tina Bohlman has used her home state as both the inspiration and the canvas for her art.  A self-taught artist, Bohlman is well versed in several mediums but favors watercolor and oil to create breath–taking plein air paintings and brilliant rural landscapes. 

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Bruce Bingham • Texas • waow

Having completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Oklahoma in 1978, Bruce Bingham has pursued further education by attending over 36 workshops and courses taught by renowned artists from around the globe. Bruce has recently returned to the United States after spending a decade living abroad and has chosen to settle in the vibrant city of Austin. Embracing the city's eclectic atmosphere, Bruce finds inspiration in capturing the local color and unique venues that Keep Austin Weird!   Bingham paints in lush, sensual oils that don’t just depict life...they celebrate it. Every brushstroke is a tribute to the beauty we often overlook. And every piece is a portal—to feeling more, noticing more, living more.

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