Sally Delap-John is best known for her plein air landscapes and village scenes, especially those inspired by the light, architecture, and natural beauty of Northern New Mexico. Her work often captures the rugged landscapes, old adobe villages, and sweeping skies of the region in vibrant oil paintings.   She works alla prima — that is, completing a painting in a single session, whether in the field or from life in a studio setting.

Laurel Lake McGuire is an American artist best known for her expressive watercolor paintings created in the realist tradition with a strong focus on landscapes, still life, floral subjects, and plein air work. Her art draws inspiration from her travels and the diverse environments she has experienced across North America.  McGuire’s plein air process involved carrying her gear in an R.V. and pulling it to sites with a wagon so she could paint quickly on location — a method that deeply informs her later studio work.   She uses classic watercolor techniques that evolve into a layered, solid style that conveys both detail and atmosphere.

Barbara Summers Edwards, born and raised in Southeastern Idaho, is a fourth generation native of the American West. Graduating from Utah State University in illustration and working as a freelance illustrator, Barbara evolved as a fine art oil and watercolor painter. Commonly portraying figurative imageries, her painterly, realistic paintings have received numerous awards as they have been exhibited in international, national, regional and state juried, invitational, group and two person exhibits.

Pat O’Brien is an Arizona artist known for her oil paintings of landscapes, western themes, desert imagery, old vehicles and animals.  She often experiments with palette knife techniques, undercoat painting, color exploration, and expressive brushwork, and sometimes nearly complete abstraction of her subject. 

Simone B. Silva is a contemporary landscape artist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  She is known for her plein air and studio oil paintings that capture the subtle interplay between history, cultural heritage, and the light, atmosphere and beauty of the American Southwest.  She works in oil, primarily on panels.  Her style tends to realism with painterly interpretation. 

Kadra Nevitt is a Kansas-based artist known for her evocative works centered on Western themes, outdoor life, natural landscapes and animals —most notably horses.  She blends heartfelt subject matter with technically strong pastel and watercolor work to evoke the beauty and spirit of the American West.  She is self-taught and has developed a reputation for life–like portrayals that lean toward soft realism with expressive technique. 

Barbara A Parish is a professional watercolor artist, workshop teacher and author of watercolor instruction books.  Her colorful, sensitive paintings of flowers and landscapes are executed in the tradition of classical realism using time–honored techniques. 

 Kathryn A. McMahon is an American artist known for her impressionistic oil paintings, especially landscapes and marine scenes. Her work reflects traditional impressionist techniques — distinctive use of light, color, and short brushstrokes to capture the feel of nature.  She has traveled all over the world, always taking her sketching or painting materials with her to inform and inspire her new output. 

Barbara Meikle is an artist who paints the simple world outside of her door in Tesuque, New Mexico. Meikle has been an artist from childhood, sketching the horses she loved and took care of in order to ride. After earning a BA in painting and printmaking at the University of Denver and studying watercolor at Cambridge University in England, she returned to New Mexico in 1990 to pursue her dream of owning a gallery. Barbara Meikle’s bright and vibrant work includes horses elegantly in motion or the expression of whimsical donkey or the dynamic beauty of the Western landscape.  Barbara’s artistic success has allowed her to give back to the animal community she loves by donating to equine rescues and animal shelters throughout the Southwest, including Equine Spirit Sanctuary in Taos and the New Mexico Wildlife Center in Española. 

Nori Thorne is an award–winning pastelist celebrated for her depictions of the people, artifacts, lifestyle and the land of the American Southwest.  She works to capture a strong sense of place and secrets revealed through the mastery of her medium — capturing changing light and color with formidable drawing skill.  She is undaunted by the challenges of working en plein air to render her desert scenes.  Cayoneering, which always calls for endurance while packing in her pastels and panels, is just part of the joy of making art about this rugged region.   She is equally at home with revealing the unique beauty of the lifestyle and peoples of the American Southwest with sensitive feel and authenticity.

Katy Smith is a plein air landscape artist specializing in paintings of locations on the Central Coast of California. She finds her inspiration directly from the world around her. She enjoys painting locations of historical significance both to capture their beauty and to draw awareness to those places that need to be conserved for future generations.  Her subject matter and loose brushwork lean toward California Impressionism/The Eucalyptus School with a subtle sense of romanticism, and the color palette of the Hudson River School. Her work has been described as “ethereal”.

Nina Cobb Walker is a progressive, modern Classical Impressionist.  She was trained in the tradition of Classical Russian Impressionism. She applies the traditional philosophy and techniques of Impressionism to her own work, but changes the way traditional Impressionism is perceived by re-imagining it and its subject matter in a modern context and sensibility. 

Jude Tolar's art is lyrical and representational.  She celebrates beauty and joy in the world.  She's known mainly for floral and tree portraits outdoors and glass subjects indoors. She prefers to work from life, using mostly Terry Ludwig soft pastels on Art Spectrum ColourFix paper.  She began using pastels as a way to study color and work easily en plein air, and immediately loved the results.  Tolar has exhibited in galleries, invitational group and solo shows; her work is in collections across the United States and abroad. She also demonstrates her pastel techniques and teaches pastel workshops on various subjects.

Molly Sims is a classical realist oil painter who specializes in depicting wildlife and birds.  She wants her paintings to feel real and lifelike and to impart a view of the beauty and innocence that she sees.  She usually prefers to have a single focus in her works, so she sometimes keeps her backgrounds loose and amorphous.   

Leslie White is an American artist best known for her watercolor paintings that capture the essence of landscapes, places of personal meaning, and travel experiences. Her work often reflects bright, intense colors and dramatic shadows, drawing viewers into the emotion and atmosphere of each scene. She creates the vivid color of her vibrant paintings by layering multiple washes of watercolor.

Susan Hediger Matteson is a contemporary oil painter who focuses on landscapes, outdoor scenes and animals.  Her work is celebrated for its quiet light, atmospheric quality, and representational beauty.  She paints en plein air and uses her studies and sketches made on location as inspiration for her studio work.

Andrea Stanley’s paintings are a reflection of her fascination with light and color, which stems from years of affection for and study of impressionist and post-impressionist artists of Europe, as well as turn-of-the-century artists of California. She admires artists as diverse as Ingres, Van Gogh, and Sorolla.  Her works include landscapes, still life, figurative, and western subjects in oil, charcoal, and pencil.

Whether it is the poetry of a mustang in gallop or the sublime beauty of the southwestern landscape, Cheryl Koen’s paintings reflect the spirit of the west and its inhabitants. The wide–open spaces conveyed in her work are meant to invoke a feeling of nostalgic connection with the wild west and dreams of times past and present.

Although I have been painting professionally since 2005, my excitement for art has spanned many more years. In particular I have enjoyed drawing and painting animals – wild and domestic, large or small since my college days. It is a joy for me to be able to depict wildlife in their natural surroundings.

Nearly all of my paintings are in oil or watercolor. Over the years, I have developed techniques that suit my style of realism. I try to portray each of the animals in as realistic a manner as possible…the details of their feathers, the colors of their coats, and the brilliance of their eyes. There is nothing so penetrating and expressive as an animal’s eyes which is why I concentrate on faithfully depicting that window into their world.

Joy Gonzalez is a contemporary southern California artist.  She works in oils, watercolor and pastel.  Her work predominately centers on landscapes and seascapes — especially scenes from Coastal California, the Sierra Nevada, and Southwestern United States.  She prefers to paint en plein air to capture shifting light and atmosphere.  She will then expand those studies into larger studio works. Her style balances expressive brushwork with a strong sense of realism.