Studio Stories from our WAOW Artists

Bets Cole • Oregon • Studio Stories
Women Artists of the West, Colors, Painter, Western Life, Bison, Cattle, Cowboys, landscape, Rocks, Land formation, the living landscape WAOW . Women Artists of the West, Colors, Painter, Western Life, Bison, Cattle, Cowboys, landscape, Rocks, Land formation, the living landscape WAOW .

Bets Cole • Oregon • Studio Stories

Bets Cole

I think we are forever seeking ways to get back to what made us happy as a child. I found that I enjoyed being in the outdoors, tracking and observing nature. As I matured and became a painter, I found that the motifs and narratives of nature’s landscape offered me never ending painting ideas. The outdoors has become my workplace, my main studio.

I love to travel, or rather, to travel and paint. Artmaking is my way of exploring landscapes and places intimately, of studying the specific complexities of rock formations, landforms, vegetation-their structure, colors, and how the quality of the air and light them moment by moment. I like the feeling of a blank canvas and a new location. I no longer worry about making a finished painting. The time I spend behind my easel is about observation and the gathering of information.

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Denise Horne-Kaplan • Studio Stories
Women Artists of the West, Colors, Painter, small works, Western Life, West, Miniature Paintings, Large paintings WAOW . Women Artists of the West, Colors, Painter, small works, Western Life, West, Miniature Paintings, Large paintings WAOW .

Denise Horne-Kaplan • Studio Stories

Susan Slomski

I've been drawing and painting most all of my life but the past 12 years I've been focusing on miniature fine art. I love the challenge of painting fine details of a complicated subject and capturing an emotion that draws you in.

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Laurie Pace • Studio Stories
Women Artists of the West, Painter, Painting, Landscapes, Portraits, Life, Still Life, Horses WAOW . Women Artists of the West, Painter, Painting, Landscapes, Portraits, Life, Still Life, Horses WAOW .

Laurie Pace • Studio Stories

Treasures of the Heart
This morning I wasn't searching for a painting. I found myself searching for the artist I was at that time.

Back in the early days of blogging, around 2006, I was painting almost every day as part of the Daily Painters movement. While many artists were creating small daily works, I found myself filling larger canvases—18 × 27, 24 × 30, even 30 × 40—and sharing the journey through my blog.

Those years became more than paintings. They became books. Every year I gathered my artwork and the stories behind the different collections documenting my work and my life as a mom, a wife and an artist.

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Painter Nori Thorne
Women Artists of the West, landscape, Mountains, Native American, Horses, Buffalo, Clouds WAOW . Women Artists of the West, landscape, Mountains, Native American, Horses, Buffalo, Clouds WAOW .

Painter Nori Thorne

I love to paint in the American Southwest where time and erosion reveal the bones of the earth and ancient artists left their marks in the remotest canyons.  In my canyonscapes I try to capture the strong sense of place, of secrets suddenly revealed—a vista glimpsed through a redrock window, a water pocket shining on slickrock, the cold walls of a slot canyon reflected in a black pool. 

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Rotating Canvas . Painter Sara Bloodwolf
Women Artists of the West, landscape, Waterscape, Lake, Night Sky, Daylight, Mountains, Rivers, Native American, Stars, Sun, Tattoo Artist, Horses, Buffalo, Ravens, Birds, Clouds WAOW . Women Artists of the West, landscape, Waterscape, Lake, Night Sky, Daylight, Mountains, Rivers, Native American, Stars, Sun, Tattoo Artist, Horses, Buffalo, Ravens, Birds, Clouds WAOW .

Rotating Canvas . Painter Sara Bloodwolf

I work on several paintings at once using one large palette.I rotate the canvases on the easel as they dry and as my inspiration and patience changes on each day.Even though i paint every single day I take a long time on each, my average painting is 3x3 feet and takes a month of daily painting and i mean every day. 

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