Carolyn Mock is a realist artist, who has painted wildlife and western themes for many years.  She has always worked in oil because she enjoys its creamy feel and the slow drying time that allows her the opportunity to work and blend the colors as the painting evolves. Her choice of wildlife grew out of a firm belief that nature, as well as everything in it, has the right to exist.  She works to show the dignity of each individual animal and the awe of them she experiences as she paints.

Becky Lucht is a scratchboard artist.  Her body of work reflects her ongoing love of animals, from horses and pets to wildlife, with a few fantasy creatures thrown in. They are generally rendered in the stark black and white of scratchboard, although she has been drawn to color versions of late.

Kathy LeJeune is a self-taught artist who works in pastel, graphite and charcoal.  Her drawings reflect the important role horses played in her early life — if she wasn’t riding them, she was drawing them.  She spent wonderful childhood days riding at local playdays and along country roads or in pastures.  Raising a family and teaching in Louisiana schools necessitated a break from drawing, but she found comfort and joy when she picked up her pencils again during the Covid pandemic.  She has not put them down since.  Her artistic output includes sympathetic drawings of horses and their pivotal role in western life and rodeo competitions.  Cowboys and cows get some gritty starring roles, too. 

Burneta Venosdel is a national, award-winning bronze sculptor and pastel painter.  Many of her sculpture subjects are inspired by her surroundings and life on her Oklahoma ranch.  She paints the landscapes of western Oklahoma and the wildflowers from the mountains west of Gunnison that she has trod for over 20 years.   

Nationally recognized, award–winning artist, Jennifer Hunter, is known for her sensitive storytelling of American history through her art work.  Her paintings exude unique quality of light and rich luminous color in both watercolor and oil. Hunter finds that her working knowledge of the use of transparency in watercolor enhances her oil painting techniques; and working in oil allows for experimentation with textured surfaces using both transparency and opacity of paint to give life to her work.  

Leslie Lambert (also known as Leslie Redhead) is a celebrated artist known for her innovative poured watercolors. With a keen eye for detail and a mastery of color, Lambert skillfully pours and manipulates pigments on paper, resulting in stunning and dynamic compositions of the West. Her artwork, characterized by vibrant hues, has garnered widespread acclaim and has been exhibited in prestigious galleries and exhibitions worldwide. Lambert’s ability to push the boundaries of traditional watercolor painting has established her as a trail blazer in the arts.

Elizabeth Lewis Scott believes that there are no shortcuts when creating art and she delights in the details.  Her drawings and paintings of horses, cattle, donkeys, wildlife and western life are filled with the little details that give life and authenticity to her work. 

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Arts from Principia College, Elsah, Illinois.  She then further honed her craft painting en plein air across Europe.  She worked almost entirely on equine subjects early in her career, adding wildlife and western subjects in the mid-1990s.

Mary Leslie’s paintings are the embodiment of her passion for ranching, wild spaces, and the grand vistas of the Sawatch and Sangre de Cristo mountain ranges where she lives and works.  Her oil paintings combine the expansive feel of murals with the vibrant, lively colors she gravitates to. Her tendency to anthropomorphize animals grew out of her desire to share her artistic conversation between painting and subject.  Leslie’s horses, donkeys, and dogs on the ranch frequently make cameo appearances along with the surrounding wildlife and flora of the desert, all of which reflect her deep-rooted affection for the inhabitants and untamed beauty of the West. 

Kathy Gale creates contemporary art that is a fusion of impressionism and abstraction.   She tells the stories of farmers, migrant workers, and ranch hands at work set against the sweeping vistas of Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana.    She uses a variety of media to achieve her characteristic broken color that lends richness and texture to her painting surfaces, including oils, acrylics, gouache, watercolor and pastels. 

Jennifer Wendt paints what she knows best—the animals and nature she enjoys every day operating her own small ranch.  Cattle, horses, dogs, barn cats and wildlife are favorite subjects for this self–taught artist.  She works from her home studio.  She can otherwise be found outdoors riding one of her horses, tending cattle, checking fences, choring, or doing any of the other myriad tasks around the ranch.  Wendt’s observant mind drinks in the surrounding inspiration and translates that into paintings that are exhibited in many of the top shows and exhibitions in the United States.  She has garnered many awards, including several "Best of Shows", "Artist's Choices", and "People's Choices" along the way.

Christy Stallop is a Texas-based artist working primarily in oil paint. Her work is rooted in storytelling, memory, and a strong sense of place. Through bold compositions and symbolic imagery, she explores themes of identity, nostalgia, and cultural heritage. Stallop often focuses on animals, everyday objects, and still life arrangements that feel both personal and universal—quiet moments that carry emotional weight, humor, or social commentary.

Judy Fairley is pastel and scratchboard artist, living and working in Washington.  She grew up in Clarkston, where she and her twin sister helped on the family's horse and cattle ranch. Her experiences while growing up provided her with endless inspiration that she has shared in her numerous artworks shown and exhibited throughout the United States and Canada.

Nancy Harkins is a watercolorist and graphite artist from Oklahoma.  Her style is realist and her subjects are wide ranging.  Her award–winning works have been featured in the watercolor anthology, Splash 19:  The Illusion of Light, and featured in two books, Seasons of Life and Seasons of Love. Her paintings are avidly sought for private and corporate collections.

Leslie Kirchner is an award–winning artist who lives and works in the rural mountains of California.  The landscape, animals, and atmosphere of the west have always been inspiring to her. She feels it important to connect with and portray each animal's uniqueness and individual personality, and convey that to the viewer through her paintings.  She strives to capture a sense of the life and movement of her subjects through the exploration of color, composition, and sensitive brushwork.

Barbara Gerard-Mitchell is an artist who works primarily in oils, acrylics, and watercolors.  Her subjects include landscape, wildlife, equine, and the western life-style. She is a graduate from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she received an Associate of Fine Arts Degree.  She has continued her studies with many renowned master painters. 

Dana Lombardo resides by the shores of Grand Lake in Northeast Oklahoma. There she draws endless inspiration from the picturesque surrounding landscape and the vibrant local culture. Her artistic works manifest a deep-rooted affection for the land.  She also depicts Native American themes in which she endeavors to preserve and share the depth of their heritage.

Rose Collins was enthralled with art, painting, and the western culture from her early childhood.  She relocated to Tucson, Arizona when she retired from her practice as a psychologist in New York.  She picked up a paintbrush and took a leap of faith into the unknown. That began a soul-searching decade of self-discovery, mentorship and successes in the very competitive art world, and paved the way to gallery representation. She loves being an established local Tucson Wildlife and Contemporary Southwest Artist.. 

Shelly J. Cox is a contemporary realist oil painter who lives and works in the horse community of Jupiter Farms, Florida, USA.  She is a graduate of the Art Institute, Fort Lauderdale, Florida with a degree in commercial illustration, but she is a self-taught oil painter.  Cox diligently works regularly with master artist mentors to advance her painting skills. 

 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.  

"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