Studio Stories from our WAOW Artists
Mary Arnold • Idaho• Studio Stories
Mary Arnold
I was so surprised and honored a few months ago to open up my email one day to find an invitation to participate in the Coeur d'Alene Galleries Miniatures by the Lake exhibition. What an honor!! I actually sat with it for a long time absorbing in the news. This is my target gallery who I would love to eventually represent me.
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.
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.
Susan Slomski • Studio Stories
Susan Slomski
Whether large scale or small, I am always employing color theory, Triads or Tetrads, with a new dimension of limiting pallette. These two theoretical approaches together allow me to create dynamic colorful works that are visually pleasing to the human eye. It is a magnificent feeling when the color is working together with composition to create the desired effect. The large painting I am presenting here is entitled 'The Hills of the Western Slope', 24x36. It was debuted in March at the Open Studios Gallery at Cheyenne's Art Walk where I was also their Featured Artist. The piece elicited wonderful commentary and curiosity, folks felt as if they had been to the place itself some adding, "I know where that is".
I titled this studio story "Bringing the Outside In" as this is how I view my work - I carry my experience and engagement with the Western landscape back into the studio where the mystique and the grandeur are expressed on canvas, immortalized in both large and small scale works, founded in color theory.
Debra Keirce • Studio Stories
Debra Keirce
Today’s miniatures can be created in almost any 2D or 3D medium. Generally, the rule of thumb is 25 square inches or less for paintings and drawings, 8 inches or less for sculptures, and 1/6 life-size or smaller for subjects. Both representational and abstract art of all subjects are welcome, and most exhibitions are international.
If you've never considered "going small," let me share a few reasons why I continue to put so much love and effort into painting and drawing in little:
Brenda Morgan • Studio Stories
Brenda Morgan
Leaving a Legacy
In a world filled with so much noise and strife, art, and the creating of art is how I relax. It’s how I rest my heart and mind. It is my therapy.
All genres of art have that ability, music is one of them. It enables me to relax and get lost in my work (my art). Some songs on my playlist are so beautiful that I listen to them every day as I paint.
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.
Deborah Allison • Studio Stories
It's a beautiful time of the year in Santa Fe, New Mexico! And it is also the time when Santa Fe artists open their studios to the public. There will be about 95 studios participating this year in one of the largest art communities in the US.
Though #38 is a small studio, I will have loads of artwork on display and for sale during the two weekends at the end of June. It is the perfect opportunity to see how I work and to ask any burning questions about my methods, color choices and inspirations. I will have my palettes, sketches and demonstrations on display as well.
Debra Keirce • Studio Stories
Debra Keirce
The team at Fine Art Studios Online asked me to be a guest speaker in a recent webinar. I write monthly articles that they share, about sales and marketing in the life of an artist. So, I was at once, happy to appear on their show, but also wondering what I had to say that I don't already write about.
Then it came to me - why not talk about the exact things I never write about? Why not have a discussion about all the things that artists don't say out loud? We are all thinking them. I'm sure of it. Yet, we never post or write articles about them.
Judy Thompson • Studio Stories • Iowa
Judy Thompson - Iowa Artist - Studio Story
Two of my paintings, Stars and Stripes and Prairie Pathfinders, have been selected for Still Becoming: America 250 at the Center for Western Studies, Augustana University, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States.
This exhibition explores the landscapes, histories, cultures, and identities that continue to shape the American experience.
Mary Sirody • Studio Stories • California
Mary Sirody - California Abstract Artist - Studio Story
My studio is a converted shed, 100 steps down from my house in the high desert of Agua Dulce, California. It is light-filled and airy, and I feel very lucky to have such a nice space.
I paint every day and work on many canvases at once. I love it all, the highs and the lows. But there is nothing like starting a new painting…
Stephanie Burk • The House of Nevill Show, Ft Worth, Texas
Stephanie Burk The House of Neville “Oh the Places You Can Go!”
“I am extremely honored two of my paintings, “To Everything There is a Season” and “The Best Views Come from The Hardest Climbs” were juried into the Ft Worth Texas Art Show, “Oh the Place You Can Go” at the House of Neville Gallery.”
The Exhibition is June 10, 2026 through August 29, 2026.
Debbie Hughbanks Art
I am extremely honored that my painting, “Garden Delight”, was one of 107 artworks selected from over 550 submitted to be part of the upcoming 20th Annual International IGOR Juried Exhibition at Principle Gallery Charleston in Charleston, SC. “Rendezvous in Charleston” focuses on and celebrates realism in art with accepted pieces from around the world.
Watercolor with Judy Thompson
One of the most meaningful projects to emerge from this studio is a collaboration with my daughter, Kristin Gifford, a published poet. Together, we’ve merged our two art forms into Becoming Midwest, Life Between, an exhibition at the Visual Arts Center at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls featuring 27 artworks and 12 poems.
Painter Destiny Bowman
My studio is my favorite place to be. It’s where ideas flourish, problems get worked out, colors move on the canvas, and my many objects that I’ve collected gets put into my paintings. I have collected skulls, bugs, vases, books, bowls, flowers and contraptions to use in my still life work.
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.
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.
Ever Changing Studio . Painter Amy Evans
“My studio has changed according to where I live. One constant is that I have a portable one for occasions when I am in the outdoors. My outdoor studio is the one I frequent the most since I love painting the landscape. I use my indoor studio for large paintings as well as studio paintings derived from my references.” Amy Evans
“Before it Hits” by Amy Evans 20 × 16
From an Exta Bedroom to a Studio . Painter Mary Russell
“My first studio space was in an extra bedroom when my daughter was eleven. I would get her off to school, walk over piles of laundry, and get right to my easel. I loved it!
In time, I had an opportunity to have a studio away from the house which I shared with another artist. It was a huge space in an old shopping center. ” Mary
From Life to Clay . Sculptor Lori Kiplinger Pandy
“People and the stories of their lives fascinate me and that is why I sculpt the human figure. Learning about a person’s accomplishments and how they have dealt with adversity matters. I can benefit from their choices and wisdom, celebrate their achievements and believe that others can too.” Lori