While the artist’s work is often described as contemporary realism, he himself describes his style as “emotionalism,” where a river shrouded in fog can be sorrowful and a rolling meadow can be joyful.

An animal lover, the artist drew extensive inspiration from the wildlife of the West, including horses, bison, longhorns, wolves, and bears.

In the medley of timeworn and weather-beaten Americana he portrays, painter Chuck Middlekauff doesn’t mind the rust, cracks, chips, and tears.

California artist Karl Dempwolf has a deep love of nature. When he sets up his paint box, he says, “It’s not really important that it’s going to turn into some fantastic painting. It’s just the act of being out in nature all by myself, sitting in God’s creation, and putting something down on canvas.”

Gallen’s gestural, impressionistic landscapes, capturing the diverse environments of his adopted New Mexico home and scenes from his travels, arise from a lifelong love of nature and a deep-seated need to express the joy and wonder he finds in it.

For Montrose, CO, artist Gregory Packard, color is to his paintings what the keynote is to a song. “I love expressing with color because it’s almost endless what you can say,” Packard explains. “Certainly value and composition structure that, but color can set the tone from across the room.”

An inescapable mystique

Conceptual creativity

Traditional, Old World style

The West—today and yesterday This story was featured in the December 2015 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art December 2015 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story Sheila Cottrell says that although she had been drawing and painting since she was a child, her art education...