Every day in America, there is a tragic loss of family owned, working ranches. Through my paintings, I am trying to capture this lifestyle, before it disappears altogether. I want to provide a window into a world of how the ranchers work, and to commemorate the disappearing landscape, animals, ranchers and traditional tools of their trade.

I have lived all my life near the border of North Dakota and Montana, and it is in this area I spend time on these vanishing ranches.

Every day in America, there is a tragic loss of family owned, working ranches. Through my paintings, I am trying to capture this lifestyle, before it disappears altogether. I want to provide a window into a world of how the ranchers work, and to commemorate the disappearing landscape, animals, ranchers and traditional tools of their trade.

I have lived all my life near the border of North Dakota and Montana, and it is in this area I spend time on these vanishing ranches.

I find myself constantly inspired by light, color, and the sense of atmosphere found in western landscapes- from grand vistas to simple scenes with interesting light. My goal is not strict realism but rather to convey the 'feel' of a particular place and time; I want to share the sense of excitement with you that made me want to paint that scene in the first place!

I'm a Southern California artist who has returned to an early love called painting. I have a BFA in Illustration from CSULB and worked in a corporate art department before taking time off to raise a family.  I picked my brushes up again during the COVID epidemic, and am now happily wrestling with the challenges and pleasures of painting on location (aka “en plein air”) and in my studio.  

Bonnie attended college with the idea of becoming a classical painter in the manner of the old masters. The art school environment at that time didn't quite meet her desires.  After some time off to paint on her own, she returned to college to combine her art interest with her science interest. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in biomedical communications. Bonnie went on to work in medical illustration and graphics for many years.

 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.  

Beth has a BA in Art from Bethany College, and studied drawing and painting at the graduate level. She has enjoyed teaching painting to adults for over 20 years.

Her paintings hang in numerous private and corporate collections, hospitals, restaurants and country clubs around the country.

She has been featured in Phoenix Home & Garden Magazine, Southwest Art, American Art Collector, Images Magazine, So Scottsdale and many other publications.

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. 

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. 

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. 

Arriving in Mission Viejo California, Naomi developed her artistic skills by studying color theory and practicing drawing and painting techniques. Naomi’s art subjects focus on: Western themes, Equine, Still Life, and the Natural Scapes of land and sea. All of which contribute to the transfer of her artistic visions to the canvas and onwards to the keen eye of the art viewer.

Much as a poet uses words to express spirit, emotion, and beauty of thought, pastel artist Virginia Kamhi paints painterly realistic paintings that convey the poetry, imaginative power, and rhythms of the natural wonders that surround her.

Daily, Beth finds a dozen potential paintings in her visual world, which is a great blessing.  The art of seeing and helping others to see and grasp the beauty of life’s small fleeting moments is the desire for her art work.

Whether it is sunlight glowing through a flower petal, golden backlight on a child at play or the soft glow of evening light coming through the trees on a mesa or mountain top, these captured moments and slices of life are the whispers of a higher power and what makes up life itself.  Through painting she hopes to evoke a memory or a feeling to the viewer and share the emotion of a slice of time.

Bets Cole sells and shows her artwork nationwide. Working primarily in the plein air tradition, she paints outside in the landscape with immediacy and openness. She welcomes the challenge of exploring and painting unfamiliar places. Her choice of medium – whether acrylic, watercolor, gouache or charcoal – is dictated by the subject matter, colors, and quality of light specific to each location.

 Sandy Applegate

Sandy’s artwork deals with shape, color and ideas, definitely with her own version of reality.  She works primarily in acrylic or watercolor with pen with ink. Another medium is oil-based ink in which she creates Monoprints on paper or canvas, a method learned from Shy Rabbit’s Michael Coffee – his reductive-ink process.  She often incorporates mixed media to create unusual effects.   She likes to have several series of different subject matter in the works at one time. This helps to keep her images and ideas fresh and lively. 

“I strive to preserve the beauty in nature through my work. It is something of an act of preservation and in a way an act of rebellion to bring to the viewers attention the beauty of our endangered natural world.”

A “values” painter, Tara loves attuning to shadow and highlight, noticing the way a color changes as it moves into shadow or light, and reflects colors from it’s surroundings. 

My art journey began as a child and has been a constant throughout my life. Although I received my BFA in College, I did not start my full-time career as an artist until later in life as my earlier career was in the corporate world. I am now focusing on my new path as a portrait artist that specializes in equine and canine art.

Born in Lubbock, Texas, Jody is the daughter of the late Conny Martin, artist, and C.B. Martin, builder, photographer, and watercolorist. Always passionate about art, Jody never doubted that she would become an artist. She earned her degree in art from Abilene Christian University, and went on to study painting under Hall of Fame artists, Daniel Greene and Emily Guthrie Smith. She values most the education she received from her mother, Conny Martin. Under Conny's tutelage she learned classical drawing and contemporary design. 

The western artist, Susie Varner says as a child with ADD it was difficult to be still, but put a pencil in her hand and she could sit for hours! Some might even say Susie was born with a pencil in her hand, for as long as she can remember she longed for a horse, drawing them was the next best thing. Born in Chickasha, Oklahoma; #7 out of ten children in a two bedroom house, it was often chaotic and a spot in a corner with scrap paper and a pencil gave her solace.  Susie says there was so much love in that little house, it taught her to seek God given talents and she feels blessed to have found her gift. Much of her inspiration comes from living in the country and owning horses. As a child, she copied art from western artists, Charles Russell and Frederic Remington and feels that is where her love for western art comes from. 

BIO – Born in a small Kansas town, Shanelle Deater discovered her love of art early in her father’s paintbox. The paints, powders, and mediums were too fascinating to pass up. Shanelle Deater is now an accomplished, classically trained artist, a member of Oil Painters of America, Plein Air Artists Colorado, the Guild of Nature and Science Illustrators, the American Society of Botanical Artists, the Rocky Mountain Society of Botanical Artists. Ms. Deater paints landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and botanical subjects. She enjoys the challenge of painting in a traditional manner for its high level of precision, standards and subtlety.