Sascha Ripps is a contemporary realist painter of landscapes, wildlife, botanical and floral themes.  She works in oil on panel with the goal of capturing the intensity of light, color, texture and the energy she feels from her subjects.  She blends elements of realism with abstraction, especially when zooming in on textures in her work.

Becky Hicks’ love affair with painting cattle started with the summers and holidays spent on her great grandmother’s ranch.  She spent hours with scissors and stacks of The Cattleman magazines cutting pictures of cows, barns and fences.  Little did she know then that her painting, Gold in the Morning Son, would be featured on the cover someday.  In addition to cattle, Hicks also paints and draws the western and ranch lifestyles, Native Americans, animals and wildlife in oils, watercolors and charcoal. 

Margi Tucker is a contemporary pastel artist known for her nature-inspired artworks.  Her work often blends detailed realism with symbolic or spiritual narrative in her quest to capture the essence or spirit of her subject and its surroundings.  Her drive is to preserve the species or scene in her art, as such may not exist in years to come. 

Cher Anderson is a wildlife artist and photographer known for her highly detailed, realistic paintings of animals, birds and nature.  She works in acrylics, watercolor, and colored pencils.  Her process often starts with photographing animals in the wild, then translating those moments into her detailed paintings.

Cathy Toot is an oil painter whose work captures the Western way of life and the animals of the American West with authenticity.  She works in the realist tradition, depicting people engaged in ranch life, cowboy culture, wildlife and ranch animals.  She began her artistic journey painting on gourds.  She developed her work into a full-time professional fine art painting career. 

Donna Cox is an award-winning artist who has been drawing animals for as long as she can remember.  Her meticulous attention to detail, as well as an ability to infuse that essential spark of life into her subjects, sets her work apart.  Essentially a self-taught artist, working primarily in oil and pencil, her work reflects her love and respect for wildlife and the environment. She is an avid conservationist.  Her background as a veterinary technician, as well as an enthusiasm for hunting and the outdoors, have greatly contributed to her ability to accurately portray animals in their natural habitat.

Skeeter Leard is a regional New Mexico wildlife artist and illustrator, working primarily in acrylics and pastels.  She is highly respected locally for both her art and her long-standing involvement in conservation and community arts.  The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is a major influence in her work and the subjects she paints — birds and native desert animals. 

Award winning, fine wildlife artist, Nancy Tome, depicts a variety of birds and other wildlife in everyday life. Combining distinct realism and composition in her paintings, Tome combines bold colors with intense detail to depict animals in their natural environment. Her acrylic paintings are designed to capture “a moment in time” of that animal’s daily life. She uses research obtained from travel, zoos and private collections to compile all of her knowledge and understanding of an animal and its environment into a realistic and emotional scene.

Gaylene Fortner creates artworks inspired by her cherished country life in her home state of Montana.  Wildlife, ranch life, antiques, and flowers grace her paintings created with oils or watercolors.  She explores new methods in her paintings in order to reveal the uniqueness of each subject, utilizing a variety of sizes from small to large formats. She especially enjoys painting miniatures, some of which are so small that a magnifying glass is needed to appreciate the details.

Charlene Roake is a fine artist known for her oil paintings that reflect her deep appreciation for nature, wildlife, and landscape beauty.   She especially draws inspiration from the scenery and wildlife of Ohio.  She produces artworks both en plein air and in her studio. 

Katrina Rae found her passion for creating art working in soft pastel, mixed media, and oils.  She explores representational subjects, with a strong focus on culturally significant themes — especially those involving Native American traditions, people, and ceremonial regalia; western themes and animals.  One of her notable technical innovations is using protective clear coatings that eliminate the need for glass over her pastel and mixed media works.

Kim Shaklee is an American sculptor best known for her wildlife and marine sculptures.  Her work is a blend of representational realism with contemporary flair and subtle abstraction.   She strives to convey each animal’s spirit and movement through smooth, fluid shapes in bronze.  

Linda Harrison-Parsons is an award–winning artist whose work is inspired by the natural world. She creates her works from what she sees in nature and documents moments in time of those things that may be gone tomorrow.    All of her work is based on her strength in drawing while using her background in design and printmaking to create striking images.  She works in water-based oils, pencils, or in soft pastel with handmade papers to achieve her desired effects.  Her travels around the work influence her bodies of work, with each new adventure opening a new series.

Mary Ann Cherry, past president of Women Artists of the West (2019-2020), has received the Bronze Medal at the Western Regional Oil Painters of America show, and the Best of the Masters award from the Women Artists of the West. She has been included in the permanent collection of several art museums. She is a Master member/Emeritus of the Women Artists of the West and Signature member of the Pastel Society of America. Cherry’s work is in the permanent collection of several art museums, including the Phippen Western Art Museum in Arizona and the Eastern Idaho Art Museum. She has had a one woman show at the Clymer Art Museum in Washington.

Cindy Sorley–Keichinger is a Canadian painter whose artwork focuses on realism depicting wildlife, nature, and landscape subjects.  She prefers working in acrylics, but also works in oil and gouache.  She is known for using vivid colors and capturing the essence of her subjects with a mix of observational detail and artistic vision.   Sorley-Keichinger wants to bring viewers closer to nature and wildlife through her paintings. She believes that awareness leads to care.

Melody DeBenedictis is an American contemporary fine artist, painter, singer, songwriter, and advocate, best known for her expressive oil paintings that capture the rugged landscapes of the western United States and the wild mustangs that roam them.  She often travels across western rangelands to photograph and experience the wild firsthand, using these experiences as inspiration for her paintings.  DeBenedictis is an advocate for wild horses, using her art and music to bring awareness to their habitats and the challenges they face.

Christy Daniels is a respected bronze sculptor known for her depictions of real life western and wildlife experiences. Her exceptional understanding of animal body language and emotions, not only flow through her pieces but help her tell a story forever preserved in a three– dimensional snapshot.  As well as the body language and necessary conformation, Christy feels "the look in the eye" of her animals is key to drawing the viewer into the story.

Western life in its variety holds a special fascination for Jackie Penner. Her paintings reflect the strength of her feelings for the horses, wildlife, people and landscape of the true west. 

The artist was born in a large stone mansion in Michigan, situated between Chicago and Detroit, and grew up in the Midwest surrounded by creativity from an early age. Her father painted, while her mother danced—fueled by strong coffee and a love of chocolate. Art was not a discovery later in life; it was woven into her beginnings.

From finding solitary sanctuary in the northern Wisconsin woods around Sandra’s childhood farm, to a career as a wildlife biologist, the natural progression after retirement has been to share the immense beauty and wonder of the natural world that she has experienced. “My hope is that others may come to understand it more deeply and be moved to protect it long after I am gone. In many ways, my art is a way of giving back—or perhaps giving forward—for all the gifts of seeing that I have been given.”

Explore a collection of wildlife paintings that reflect a lifelong connection to the natural world. Sandra creates art that honors the beauty, spirit, and individuality of wild animals. Each piece is a tribute to my deep reverence for wildlife and a commitment to artistic excellence.