Art of the West digital magazine
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and work with a lot of detail. The acrylics satisfy my com- fort level, and I am pretty entrenched.” An admitted stickler for detail, Smith travels to find many of his wildlife images, occasionally booking trips to Africa to see tigers in their natural habitat. Just over a year ago, he and son Adam, also a wildlife artist, made the pilgrimage together, enjoying the chance to pho- tograph the exotic animals in the wild. Because Smith has made his name painting native species, his gallery and museum pieces are mostly North American wildlife subjects, but he also loves to paint Bengal and Siberian tigers and concedes that he would like to travel to dis- tance places even more. It is a quest, an endless quest. “I like stepping out of the box, and I love painting African subjects,” he says. “In my perfect world, I would double my research and cut my painting in half. That would be my ideal retirement.” Citing the African trips as deeply inspiring, Smith describes the vastness and wildness as “Yellowstone times ten.” This year he is pre- paring an exotic tiger painting for the Salmagundi Club in New York City, noting that the show provides a good venue for his exotic wildlife paintings. Meanwhile, back in his studio in Bozeman, Smith hov- ers over the images that have made him a strong name in the world of wildlife paintings, starting with his Duck Stamp work 25 years ago. He works slowly and carefully at his easel, always making the animal the center of atten- tion. Loyal to the workings of nature, he searches for that new scene, that new expression. With Liz tending to the business side of his art in an office downstairs, Smith says the two frequently resort to phone communication in the 4,500-square-foot home. Like her husband, Liz enjoys the area’s wildlife. “There’s a private trail, and you can walk right into the wilderness from here,” Smith says. “You can walk along that creek bed for miles with no one else there. We’ve walked there hundreds of times, but there’s never been any spooky wildlife encounter on that trail.” Constantly busy at the easel, Smith talks easily about his art pursuits, expressing a deep sense of satisfaction over his life and blessings. That satisfaction is heightened by son Adam’s success in the art world and, because Adam lives nearby, the two artists often compare notes on their work. For Smith, his studio allows him to easily transition between his indoor space and his outdoor sub- jects, blending art and everyday life. “All of it is part of me,” Smith says. “This is basically not a job, but who you are.” Barbara Coyner is a writer living in Princeton, Idaho. May/June 2011• ART of the WEST 29