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.
Ashwini Bharathula . Arizona . waow
Ashwini Bharathula (b.1984) is a representational fine artist specializing in oil painting based in Chandler, Arizona. She paints primarily alla prima in oils and prefers to paint directly from life. Her subjects span flowers, portraits, and landscapes.
Tricia Bass . Colorado . waow
Art has been a lifetime passion for Tricia Bass. Her love of the great outdoors and particularly the Rocky Mountains, has led her to a career as a plein air painter.
Denise Horne-Kaplan . North Carolina & Florida . waow
Denise Horne-Kaplan started her professional career in 1983. She has participated in exhibits and juried shows — over 74 national and International juried shows and eight solo shows to date. She is in six international publications, including being a featured centerfold Artist with thirteen paintings in the 1999 Winter Issue of Watercolor magazine. Horne-Kaplan is a signature member, one of only 130 in the country, of the Miniature Artists of America.
Carolyn C. Bell . Texas . waow
Carolyn C. Bell, an award–winning Texas artist, fell in love with the southwest’s vast landscape upon moving to Texas at the age of eight. Her love of the southwest landscape has been translated into many artworks that depict the myriad colors, rocks, and foliage that has caught her eye and heart. Southwestern Spanish architecture and the Spanish missions of Texas and New Mexico are also cherished subjects, along with florals, wildlife and still life.
Iwona Jankowski . Texas . waow
My “Mottled Art” – Equine art developed since 2002 in my new “Mottled” style that merges abstract and expressionism with a touch of realism.
The subject is created on a colorful abstract background to express feelings, often shown as a close-up,
with special attention to the eyes and focusing on specific moods and composition. Often with secondary transparent image/s to show movement or specific scenario.
In my paintings, I don’t intend to replicate photo-realistic objects, but to capture the utmost uniqueness of life.
Illustrating my subjects, I often pay no attention to exact shapes, textures, or real colors and emphasize just on a small fragment,
sometimes a very tiny detail, in order to insinuate an idea. That approach leads me to concentrate on what I feel and not what I see or know about the subject. Also, it helps me to effectively use visuals to depict a story about my subject.
Mary Russell . Oklahoma . waow
Mary Russell lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma where she paints representational art that encompasses multiple genres including figure work, landscape, and still life. She is the recipient of awards from the prestigious Salon International, Women Artists of the West, the Pastel Society of America, and Oil Painters of America, and she has been featured in multiple magazines including American Artist, Southwest Art, and American Art Collector.
Sue Barrasi . New York . waow
Sue Barrasi is an award winning artist whose work has been exhibited in juried, invitational, group and solo exhibits. She has been awarded grants and residencies and has been commissioned by publishers and advertising agencies to create artwork for postage stamps, book and magazine covers, posters and apparel. Her work has been juried into events around the country including Oil Painters of America, National Association of Women Artists, National Oil &Acrylic Painters Society and the prestigious Salmagundi Club. She has served as juror for National Juried Shows, teaches Adult and Children Painting classes in New York and New Jersey while painting commissions in her studio in Tappan NY.
Barbara Archer-Baldwin . Arizona . waow
Barbara Archer-Baldwin, PSA, MC-IAPS, APAA, PSWC
A Master Medallion holder in the International Association of Pastel Societies, Barbara Archer-Baldwin and her husband John Baldwin relocated to Tucson in February, 2024 after living in Florida for over 25 years. She is an academically schooled professional artist with training at Rhode Island School of Design, Philadelphia University of the Arts, and Temple University's Tyler School of Fine Arts. She has been represented by the Four Corners Gallery in the Tucson Desert Art Museum since May 2024. Her work has been juried into three shows at the Phippen Museum, Prescott, AZ, since her relocation to Arizona. Painting the southwest has really expanded her muse.
TL Anderson . Michigan . waow
I grew up in the heart of the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The “UP” is surrounded by big water and gorgeous shorelines of the Great Lakes, forested lands, inland lakes and rivers. It was only natural that I developed a love and fascination of the outdoors from a very young age. I have wonderful memories of exploring the woods near my home, building forts, and letting my imagination run wild. When I wasn’t running rampant through the woods, I was drawing. Being creative was a joy I discovered early on and I loved being able to get my ideas out of my head and share them through drawing.
Naomi Shachar . California . waow
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.
Debbie Hughbanks . Washington . waow
Debbie Hughbanks is a professional artist specializing in wildlife, equine & domestic animal paintings, as well as figurative and western themed pieces. Painting most often in pastel or acrylic she still finds time to explore other avenues including scratchboard and mixed media work. Hughbanks is an artist that is passionate about the creation of art and finds her inspiration all around her studio located in northeastern Washington State. Fascinated by animals, nature and interesting people she meets along the way there is never a shortage of subject matter to spark her creative flame. The connection she feels for the subjects she paints, as well as the passion and joy she experiences in the actual creation of the work, is evident in each unique completed piece of art.
Priya Ahlawat . Pennsylvania . waow
Priya was born in India and currently lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has lived and studied in the United States, Asia and Europe and holds multiple degrees in Dentistry and Orthodontics from renowned American and international Universities. Priya has studied with many carefully selected internationally and nationally acclaimed artists including Shane Wolf and Daud Akhriev. Her quest for knowledge, love of reading and extensive travels through Europe, North America, Central America and Asia since a young age provide a well-grounded foundation from which her artworks are inspired and created.
Ran Wu . California . waow
Ran was born in Taiwan. At a young age Ran showed an interest in the arts, so her parents sent her to study drawing, watercolor, and Chinese brush painting. As Ran grew into a young adult, she moved to the United States and eventually settled in Northern California. After putting her art on hold to build a career for herself and her family in the corporate world, Ran found the opportunity to return to her previous passion of painting and pursued becoming a fine artist.
Tara Kemp . Oregon . waow
“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.
Jody Martin . Texas. waow
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.
Teresa Lynn Johnson. New Mexico. waow
Teresa Lynn Johnson, an artist based in New Mexico, has been refining her oil painting expertise for many years, with a focus on western landscapes and both wild and domestic animals. Teresa was born in Coleman, Texas, and spent her formative years living on a secluded four-hundred-acre farm, where she engaged with animals and explored nature daily. This environment fostered her love for wildlife and natural settings.
Linda Becker . California . waow
Linda Becker has always had a passion for life, people, children and animals. She was shy in school but when it came to her art classes, she felt right at home and knew her calling. She devoted her life to her children, who always came first, but once grown, she finally found time for herself. With her passion for art rekindled, she decided to attend college taking computer and several art classes consisting of drawing and painting, learning perspective, composition and the balance of color. She also received instruction from local established artists for many years.
Casey Cheuvront . Scottsdale AZ . waow
My favorite shoes are hiking boots.
For years I've explored the wildernesses of the Southwest, hiking, backpacking, hang gliding and mountain biking - interacting with our wild places up close and in person. This has profoundly influenced my work. I believe we are incomplete without a connection to, and appreciation of, the natural world, and that we should cherish and protect it.
Ann Currey . Tennessee . waow
Ann developed a love for art from her Grandmother's influence who also instilled a great love of travel, both have remained treasured parts of her life. "Each painting is a recognition of thankfulness for the incredible beauty God has graciously bestowed upon us." Tennessee, USA
Wei Zhang. Texas Artist . waow
Wei Zhang is a fine art oil painter with a focus on portraiture and figurative work. Her passion for art emerged early in life and built a classical foundation.