About the Artist

A Colorado native, Stephen grew up in Loveland, a small town on the northern Front Range. Though born with a natural talent for drawing, Stephen’s aptitudes in math and science were the focus of his primary, secondary, and early undergraduate education. After one frustrating and miserable term studying applied mathematics at Carnegie-Mellon University, Stephen realized that his true calling was artistic rather than scientific. He returned home and enrolled at Colorado State University to pursue an arts-focused undergraduate degree.

  During his time at CSU Stephen began hiking and backpacking with his fiancé, exploring Colorado’s mountains and Utah’s canyon country at every opportunity. These sojourns inspired him deeply and sparked an enduring interest in painting the western landscape. Earning his BFA in 1992, Stephen married and settled in the small mountain town of Carbondale, Colorado, where he began the work of establishing himself as a serious professional artist.

 Stephen was introduced to the technique of plein-air oil painting in 1995 at a workshop taught by noted painter Skip Whitcomb, and he adopted this methodology enthusiastically. Over the next three years, he received additional instruction from Ned Jacob, Dan Young, Hollis Williford, and Michael J. Lynch, and worked in the field daily. By 1999 he had completed about 2000 paintings in the field. Represented by galleries in Carbondale and Denver, Stephen had his first solo exhibition in Denver in 1999. He has been earning his living behind his easel ever since.

 Dubbed “geometric impressionism” by a long-time friend and collector, Stephen’s vibrant and distinctive paintings are characterized by his confident, angular brushwork, dynamic color harmonies, and strong, insightful compositions that emphasize the unique character of each subject. He describes each painting as a journey of discovery – an effort to create an evocative glimpse into the essential nature of both subject and artist.

 To date Stephen has had twenty-five solo exhibitions at galleries across the southwest and his work has appeared in dozens of group exhibitions around the country, most notably at the Gilcrease Museum, Albuquerque Museum, Laguna Art Museum, National Museum of Wildlife Art, and Salmagundi Club in Manhattan. His work has also been featured in numerous regional and national art publications, including Essential West, Southwest Art, Western Art Collector, Plein Air, and Western Art & Architecture.

 Among his most recent accomplishments are inclusion in the landmark book Maynard Dixon’s American West – Along the Distant Mesa by Mark Sublette, participation in the prestigious American Masters exhibition at the Salmagundi Club, and having one of his paintings become part of the U.S. State Department’s “Art in the Embassies” program, which places the work of American artists in our embassies and missions around the globe.