By Bonnie Gangelhoff
ART EDUCATION: Bachelor of fine arts from Western State College, Gunnison, CO.
STYLE: Idealized realism. I take a subject and make up a scene around it.
MOST INTERESTING THING ABOUT THE WAY YOU WORK: I paint in watercolor, and lately I’ve been painting really big—36 by 96 inches. I do big washes as fast as I can. I use a flat house-painting brush, a five-gallon bucket of water, and 6-by-11-inch pans for the paint instead of a little palette.
SECOND-CHOICE CAREER: Taxidermist. That’s what I was going to do. I love the sculptural aspect of it. But a professor at college saw some of my drawings and offered me an art scholarship.
BEST ADVICE RECEIVED: When I was growing up, our pastor told me, “The smaller the branch you walk out on in life, the more you will see God holding you up.”
CREATIVE SPARK: The mountains and high country above timberline.
PRICE RANGE: $300 to $7,000.
GALLERIES: www.lainedobson.com.
Featured in our annual “21 Under 31” article in September 2009