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.
Amanda Cowan • Wyoming • waow
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.
Sherry Cobb-Kelleher • Colorado • waow
Each day is a gift that Cobb-Kelleher treasures. She strives to capture those special but otherwise missed moments of ranch life — moments that poignantly highlight the struggle for that tenuous and beautiful balance between the world as it is and the world as we wish it to be.
Betty J. Billups • Idaho • waow
"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
Jenifer Cline • Colorado • waow
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.
Andi Burnum • Colorado • waow
Andi Burnum finds herself continually drawing inspiration from her love for the American West. She grew up on the high plains of Kansas where she spent a majority of her time outside, in and around nature and her family's cows. Burnam’s love for animals, both domestic and wild, knows no bounds. Her pieces are usually a mixture of moments that she has loved, combined with her need to create semi-realistic and detailed art.
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.
Roberta Barnes • Nebraska • waow
Roberta Barnes, a native of Nebraska, lives with her husband on a ranch next to the Nebraska National Forest. The artist shares her love of the landscape through her works in oils. She finds an endless source of inspiration in the landscapes, not only in her “roots” from the Columbus area but also in the Sandhills region of Nebraska. Her work is a part of both public and private collections.
Jill Banks • Virginia • waow
Oil painter, JILL BANKS, teaches multiple classes a week over three semesters each year; exhibits at top fine art festivals; sends work off to juried exhibitions; paints in juried and invitational plein air competitions; takes on a small number of portrait commissions; and travels for personal painting trips and inspiration. Stylistically, she continues to evolve from realism with feeling to impressionism with even more emotion and simplification.
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.
Carla Stroh • Wyoming • waow
She's the Annie Oakley to his Buffalo Bill!
Carla and her husband live totally off the grid on their cattle ranch in Wyoming. A seasoned cowgirl, Carla transitions easily from horse trainer to renowned western artist. There is music in her soul, family in her heart and her next big adventure on her mind. She prefers to see the world from the back of her treasured Arabian, Spook.
Cathy Barnes • Wyoming • waow
For as long as I can remember, I have been in love with the West. The inhabitants—both human and animal—have intrigued and delighted me as much as the vastness and wonder of the scenery. I am continually drawn by some deep connection I have yet to understand. Cathy Barnes
Ally Morgan • Maryland • waow
Ally Morgan’s work is inspired by her reverence for the natural world and humanity’s complex relationship with it. With an emphasis on the female perspective, she explores the intersection of humanity, animality and spirituality.
Sherrie Nielsen • California • waow
Sherrie Nielsen is a figurative artist creating oil paintings and drawings of fauna, flora, cosmos and humanity, working in California. Her favorite mediums are oil, charcoal and colored pencil. Her art works have been juried into international and regional shows, received recognition and awards; and have been published as illustration in a major university academic journal and book cover design.
Susan Slomski • Denver • waow
“My love for oil painting incorporates my love for color, light, landscape, and the oil paints themselves. Each painting is an original composition of unique western vistas, places I have been to, and return to, again and again." Susan Slomski Fine Art
Karen Cade • South Dakota • waow
Karen has been a professional artist for over 35 years having studied under master instructors in college. Karen’s love and ability to convey the emotion of her western and wildlife paintings has earned her artistic awards and regional acclaim
As a distinguished wildlife and western painter whose artistic repertoire includes oils, pastels, inks, and mixed media. Through her art, she strives to capture the essence of nature, creating a reflection of her personal vision—a vision that is deeply inspired by the serene yet raw landscapes and the majestic creatures that inhabit them. Her works explore the symbiotic relationship between the natural world and the rugged spirit of the American West, inviting viewers to share in her appreciation of nature's beauty.
Valeria Yost • Idaho • waow
Valeria Yost is passionate about her artwork. She has created works of art since she could hold a pencil. She believes she was given a gift from her creator, and she loves sharing it. Her love of horses, then and now, are still favorites. She also loves to paint the wildlife that surrounds her Idaho home. In the last few years, she has punched up the color and added Native American themes and abstract design combining them into new exciting paintings. Her love of nature shines through in all of her paintings.
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.
Lynn Shield • Montana • waow
Lynn is a contemporary Western artist known for her vibrant and colorful paintings that capture the beauty of wildlife, horses, cowgirls and cowboys, and the western lifestyle. Her passion for art started at a young age, and throughout her career, she used her creative energy as a marketing professional in the aerospace industry and later in her own small marketing and web design firm.
Debra Trent • Maryland • waow
A story teller has the power to captivate, evoke deep emotions, impress and inspire. An artist gets to do that visually. There is something thrilling about a blank canvas. It invites and intimidates at the same time. Debra Trent’s story as an artist begins and ends in nature. Raw, trancendent, solitary. The animals captivate her, and the wilderness provides infinite inspiration.