"Art is powerful and the creation of art is a means of expressing and invoking power. As an artist, I am not always aware of how my work might affect a viewer. In fact, as I am painting, I can only be sure of my feelings and reactions toward my piece.”

I don’t know which I loved more as a child, my art supplies, or my stick horses. I blame television’s Roy Rogers and Trigger for the horse obsession.

Donna Merchant-Crooks has a kinship with nature, where she finds solace and inspiration. She spent years cooking and pulling mule strings in Idaho’s wilderness, developing an appreciation for the rare and untouched.

Margaret strives for accuracy as well as aesthetics when creating realistic figures of animals and humans. Originally from Northwestern Colorado ranching country, Margaret first learned she had a propensity for sculpting after she retired from working 30 years in research in the pharmaceutical industry.

“Light Falling across an object, tree, beloved pet. . . .

The broken color and textures created with pastels and oils. . . .

These are the things that excite me, and call me to paint them. I hope they excite you too.” Addren Doss

Brenda Morgan works from her studio in Dardanelle, Arkansas.

She has always gravitated toward the western genre and artists such as James Bama and Carl Brenders inspired her to paint realism. Having a love of equine subjects, adding cowboys, cowgirls and Indigenous Americans seemed a natural progression.

Laurie Pace aka Elle Pace is a contemporary painter from Texas. She is a member of WAOW and proud to be part of this incredible group of Women Painters. Together they bring their art to tell the story of yesterday and today of the west. This strong internationally collected artist from over 40 countries, enjoys painting Western Art. She has been an artist represented by Mirada Fine Art in Denver since it opened in 2010. Her past galleries were Jackson Hole, La Jolla, and in Park Cities. She loves doing commission paintings for her clients.

Vicki Pedersen has a life-long passion for art.  She feels so fortunate that she is living the dream -- painting what she loves.  She focuses mostly on painting the American West -- cowboys and cowgirls, Native Americans, and the beautiful landscapes of deserts, mountains, and everything in between. 

Mejo’s studio walls are covered in paintings of cowboys and their horses, prize cattle, and agave cactus. She has worked as a graphic designer, illustrator, costume manager for traveling Broadway shows, and a courtroom sketch artist. Her inner voice said, ‘Paint. Run away and paint,’and since settling in New Mexico, she has found endless inspiration in cowboys, ranches and the landscape but then again, she has always loved horses and animals.

“It is the seeking of the soul that inspires me to create. The connection with the incredible beauty and calm of nature is what my collectors say they love in my paintings. While painting I move from observing the light as it defines an object into a place that eludes time and space. This is when I feel a connection to our Creation because the scene I am capturing is filled with such beauty it makes my soul sing. When a collector expresses what I emotionally felt while creating the painting I know I have succeeded. “- Amy Evans