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Through his art, Gary attempts to enrich the viewer's appreciation of the wild. His watercolor paintings strive to capture the ambiance of wilderness. While photography can record a precise--"at that moment"-- visual image of nature, Gary believes that a painter must reach beyond this to acquire some semblance of the actual spirit of nature. In short, he believes that a painter must bring it alive! This pursuit--to bring "wilderness" alive through watercolors--is his passion and challenge as an artist! With a primary theme of mountains, wilderness lands and shorelines, Gary travels extensively in his quest to both collect painting materials and find new paths to explore. In truth, he enjoys the "going to" as much as the painting process, itself. As an avid outdoors enthusiast, he hikes, skis, sails, and kayaks through the landscapes that he paints. Although educated at the University of Minnesota with a liberal arts degree, Gary is essentially self taught as a watercolor painter--save an occasional painting workshop. He was actually a law-school-bound-political-science-major who abruptly took a sharp turn, on the "road of life", to pursue his true interest and passion of painting, shortly after graduation. Gary has never regretted this move (nor has he created any noticeable vacuum in the legal world!). Over the years, he has achieved a painting award, or two, including 7 acceptances into the prestigious "Top 100" National Park painting collections of the National Park Academy of the Arts . Numerous articles of his work have appeared in Watercolor, Artists, and Watercolor Magic magazines. Recently, his work has been published in the books, Searching For The Artist Within and Art From The Parks. Gary’s artwork has been collected, and has been commissioned, by some well-known corporations, such as US West, Georgia Pacific, Federated Insurance, and General Mills. Gary is a "signature member" of the National Watercolor Society. When not "in the field", Gary resides with his wife, Marlene, near Montana's beautiful Flathead Lake and the “Crown Of The Continent”, Glacier National Park. Early in 2005, Gary began
hosting and co-producing, with Marlene, a new national PBS "learn to paint" television series, entitled (what else?),
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