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.
Shuli Wang • Illinois • waow
Shuli Wang is an accomplished artist residing in the vibrant Chicago metropolitan area. She was born in Inner Mongolia, China. She exhibited exceptional talent and an unwavering passion for the world of drawing and painting from an early age. Wang possesses a remarkable versatility, working fluently with an array of artistic mediums including pencil, charcoal, pastel, watercolor, acrylic, and oil. Her artistic style can be aptly described as impressionistic realism, where vibrant brushwork often reminiscent of traditional Chinese freehand paintings infuses life into her creations. The subjects of her work are as diverse as her mediums, spanning landscapes, still life, and portraiture.
Mary Leslie • Colorado • waow
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.
Nancy Walters • California • waow
Nancy Walters is an oil painter specializing in wildlife. She travels the world observing animals in the wild, as well as national refuges and parks in search of inspiration for her realistic paintings. This inspiration includes drawing from life and using photos she has taken during her many excursions. Once equipped with inspiration and images, Walters retreats to her studio at the Alameda Art Works in San Jose, California, where she can immerse herself in her painting process.
Corey Garman • Arizona • waow
Corey Garman paints the sweeping landscapes of the southwest in oils. She views landscape painting as a doorway that is open to let the viewer see inside and encourages one to feel that place, smell it and maybe even hear it. She creates her works primarily in the studio with an occasional venture into plein air.
Kathy Gale • Idaho • waow
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.
Molly Moore • Wyoming • waow
Molly Moore draws and paints the stunning beauty and wildlife of the West. She especially seeks to portray the souls of wild animals from real life experience. Molly divides her time between creating in her studio and exploring outdoors to observe wildlife, often painting en plein air to capture the beautiful habitat they live in.
Jennifer Wendt • Kansas • waow
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.
Sandra Haynes • Oregon • waow
It's hard to tell where Sandra Haynes is the happiest — in the studio or out in the wild — but in both places she feels very much at home. The child who loved to draw, immersed in the world of wildlife and the woods, grew into a mountain woman; one who shares, through her art and through her wisdom, the beauty of the world she knows. Haynes tells her stories of animals and the western lifestyle through her scratchboard etchings tinted with watercolors, oil paintings and drawings.
Barby Schacher • Washington • waow
Barby Schacher is a Western Fine Artist whose work is deeply rooted in the traditions of ranch life, horses, and the rugged spirit of the American West. She was raised in a world where horseback riding, rodeos, and cattle drives shaped her experiences. She channels these influences into her original, detailed, pastel paintings of Western life that are both authentic and heartfelt. These artworks tell the timeless stories of everyday ranch life, celebrating both its beauty and grit.
Christy Stallop • Texas • waow
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 • Washington • waow
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.
Susan Temple Neumann • Texas • waow
Susan Temple Neumann is an oil painter who enjoys a more painterly style of realism, which helps keep the artwork fresh and "alive." Her art is born from a desire to capture the emotion or mood of a particular scene. A life-long fascination with native Americans, cowboys, horses, wildlife and the western landscape has fueled Neumann's art over the years and been the inspiration for her western pieces.
Jeanne Cardana • Oregon • waow
Jeanne Cardana’s biological, wildlife, and medical illustration artworks have been featured in textbooks, and scientific and domestic publications, including National Wildlife, Mother Earth News, and Fins and Feathers. Her career has spanned fifty years—and counting! Her mediums of choice are colored pencil and graphite pencil on Claire Fontaine Pastelmatte paper, Bristol Vellum paper, and archival illustration boards. She has produced award winning original works and continues to take private commissions.
Mary Lou Pape • Kansas • waow
Mary Lou Pape’s passion for nature has made wildlife and the western way of life the primary focus of her artistic practice. Her primary mediums are oil, pastel and pencil. Travels to national parks, nature preserves, rodeos and ranches in America continually provide her with inspiration for her paintings of life in our remarkable country.
Nancy Harkins • Oklahoma • waow
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.
Kristen Federchuk • Canada • waow
Kristin Federchuk a self-taught artist. She practiced drawing by studying the works of artists she admired. She feels that her art career is what she was created to do. She experiences great joy and excitement as she brings each painting to its ultimate fruition. Federchuk’s subjects are varied, preferring to be free to explore and paint the beauty around her.
Leslie Kirchner • California • waow
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.
Donna Smyth • California • waow
Donna Smyth is an oil painter. She is inspired by nature's beauty and most especially the horse. She developed her craft studying under the tutelage of Jeff Watts at his atelier for six years.
Carol Heiman-Greene • California • waow
Carol Heiman-Greene is inspired by all aspects of nature and all of her paintings are based on personal reference. Life and Light are central to Carol’s work. Her joy comes from capturing even the smallest of moments to those that are the most dramatic that nature has to offer.
Gloria Chadwick • California • waow
Gloria Chadwick finds joy in the wildlife sketching possibilities at the world–famous zoos, aquariums and wonderful coastline of the San Diego, California area, of which she is a native. She is a master painter working in oils, acrylics, and watercolors.
Chadwick is a dedicated enthusiast of wildlife conservation and delights to create art that brings attention to the animals—especially endangered species. Her works have been accepted in many juried shows and festivals and have won numerous awards.