This is Buttons the painting is 'Spring Surprise' & is a 12" x 9 oil painting of one of our calves.


It's been awhile since I last posted - shame on me. I've been very busy both with personal & artistic things. On a personal note my husband, Greg, & I took our first trip together in about 10 years. We drove to Los Angeles, stopping both ways at my daughters gorgeous new home in Evergreen, CO. She & her husband Vince moved from Hawaii in August & are absolutely thrilled, she has elk roaming through her yard & fabulous vistas everywhere. She has made a career change & gone back to school for a P.A. degree & is happy as anyone can be. Greg & I stayed in southern CA for about 5 weeks. I had to stay with my mother while she received & recuperated from a knee transplant. I'm now back in CA because my mom had to also have drastic shoulder surgery. I was going to fly in the first of Feb. & leave mid March & then return in mid April through May but she needed more care taking than that & I am staying here until mid May, it made doing taxes & such a bit logistically difficult. I miss home & Greg & my pets very much & hope the days fly by.

On the art scene, I gave workshop in June to the Wickenburg group & another in Jan. to the group in Baudette, MN. It was such good fun. Both groups are full of such great artists, so willing to learn & share. I have had my elephants accepted into another show in CO along with the frosty barn. A great show, wish I could have attended. Hopefully my mom's health will become stable & I can do more traveling.


I am invited to the Reflections of Nature wildlife show in Fallbrook, CA May 1, 2 & 3. I'm really looking forward to this show. So many of my favorite artist friends are attending. I'm rooming with one of my favorites in a guest house that has been graciously offered us. They only accept 27 artists & it is considered a premier show on the west coast. They treat us so great there & the venue at their art museum is always lovely. I'll write about how it went as soon as it's over.

Remember to create when you can & be greatful that you can create.

I just found out I won the Betty King Wright Award at the Red River Valley Museum Art show in Texas for "Cradled in the Past". Love to win awards as they help confirm that my work is moving in the right direction. And cash awards are really terrific what with the cost of getting paintings framed, photographed & shipped not to mention the jury fees, etc. I've been spending large amounts on great, hand made frames for some of the originals & custom frames for others & I found a wonderful custom frame that I use on all of the prints.

I also finished revamping my web site. I felt it was getting tired & out of date. I hope those who visit like the new look. www.lindawalkerart.com

I've got to get back to my painting, I'm working on a calf (Buttons is our first calf - we just had another we named Bows & bought a young heifer my mother-in-law named Fancy). I'll probably do paintings of all of them this year.

This is the first stage oil drawing of 'Buttons' - isn't she adorable? I'll show the progression as I go.

I'm back to my blog

One of my best friends came to visit for 3 weeks, we had a great time together.

I have been busy with my artwork just not painting as much & often as I should or more importantly want. I'm in the middle of helping artists apply to WAOW. That's a big job, even with 2 of us working at it.

I have created a couple of paintings that I'm happy with & was accepted to the art shows I wanted. There are a couple more that I would like to get into this year. The San Bernardino Wildlife show is the only one I travel to to show & sell my work although I'm thinking of applying for another one next year. I don't want to get spread too thin, I want to be able to enjoy without being rushed.

The artist group here in Bemidji have scheduled me to give a 3 day workshop beginning June 16. This one is how to use your reference to create a painting, I don't use one standard method so it should be interesting. I also have one student who received a grant to have me give private classes in color. I do enjoy giving workshops, I always come away with new knowledge.

"Cradled in the Past" is shown at the Red River Valley Museum for their show at their museum in Vernon, TX, through June 27.
I own the Ute basket that the fox is curled up in.

"Elephant Walk" is an oil painting that was accepted to the OPA (Oil Painters of America) juried National show. It's displayed at Dana Gallery, Missoula, MT until June 12.
My reference for this was from my trip to Kenya. I'd sure love to go back soon.

I wish I could have gone to one of the openings but I had company come the day before. Hopefully I can get into them again next year & go to the opening.

I'll try to write more - once every few months is not often enough.

I was painting on an ornament for the San Bernardino Museum's 25th anniversary, I'll photograph and post that later, when a good friend called and told me there were tigers at the mall. I, of course, jumped in the truck and drove to see them...wow. I know that it concerns some that these beautiful animals must live in cages and put up with humans under unnatural circumstances but this as it is and I'm going to give what support I can to those who care for and do the best they can for them. This particular group is G. W. Exotic Animal Foundation at www.gwpark.org and they were all terrific. For a donation you could get in the cage and be with a couple of babies (I brought my camera of course) and have photos taken. They were on a fund raising tour. Hope you visit their web site, they are the nations largest big cat rescue operation. For two years I volunteered at the Exotic Feline Breeding Compound in Rosemond, CA and so I have a big soft spot in my heart for these animals and the peril they face.

Must get back to painting, I'm trying to get my oils finished for the Calif. Show and get myself organized for my upcoming trip. I'll try and take some time to post some images of what I've been working on.

'Rodeo Veteran' oil 11" x 14"

Much of my time has been spent painting, which is turning from a luxury to a reality. I had several commissions to finish and work to get done for the shows. My artist friends have hardly had time to get together for our monthly meetings although yesterday I meant with good friend and fellow artist, Ruthann Nordlund, to talk about the upcoming Women Artist of the West (WAOW) member’s show in Chicago. It should be a terrific one. It’s being held at the Hilligoss Gallery and we have guest artists such as Nancy Guzik and Richard Schmid, Kristen and Timothy Thies among some other real talent attending and/or participating. It has made everyone raise the bar for their artwork submissions. There are about 50 members attending, along with the guest artists, so it should be a ball.

I also have the 25^th Anniversary show at the San Bernardino Museum. This is a 4 day wildlife show with dinners and benefit auctions attached. One of the auctions they are having is for anniversary ornaments made by each of the 25 artists, they will be auctioned as a group. I’m not a crafter so this is a real challenge for me. It must be finished in a couple of weeks so I’ll post a photo of it when I finish. It will incorporate a miniature painting, but how, I don’t know yet. I’ve also been invited to participate in a show in San Francisco for the Cow Palace western show next April. I love doing the western paintings and will post one her today. It’s ‘Rodeo Veteran’ an 11” x 14” oil.

I am also posting all of the membership applications for a new round of jurying new members, online. It’s a big job.

So I will be flying in to Los Angeles to begin preparing for the SBMA show. Fly to and form Chicago and not leave L.A. until the first of Dec. My daughter and husband are flying in from Hawaii to visit for Thanksgiving, can hardly wait. Greg and I will celebrate our day when I get home. We have also been looking at places to move to in TN. We have new calves and bred cows – all rodeo stock. Greg has been busy being involved with that whole world, including photographing and making some exciting video DVD’s of the bull riding events. Me, I found a horse that would make me exchange my lake for – although I’m hoping to still be surrounded by gorgeous scenery and wildlife.

I've just begun to settle from traveling. I finished off my workshops with one on fur to a group that I have given several workshops to, in Baudette, MN. It was full and hard work but being with these artists is always a joy. I also gave a fur workshop in Wickenburg, AZ. The artists that I taught were all so accomplished that it made me work overtime. I will post some images in the next day or two. Some artist freinds and I also drove back up to Baudette to meet in a classroom with some of the students and just paint together. We spent the whole day focusing on flowers. We did get in a couple of great meals and good talk between a lot of hours of painting. We are going to get together again soon, probably here in Bemidji, at one of our homes for critiques and coffee and hopefully some painting. I'm working on a the preliminaries for a DVD on some of my workshops.
Happy painting.

"Zebra" by Linda Walker

"Zebra" 5" x 3.5" oil by Linda Walker

I got to travel to Africa last year and what an incredible trip it was. I'm going again as soon as I can fund another trip. I have had the good fortune both through my first job as a flight attendant (I was a stewardess and the job lated 21 years instead of the 2 years I had planned on) and my husband's job and penchant for travel. Anyway, I saw three species of Zebra and each was stuningly beautiful. I am just starting a large painting of them against one of the Kenya backgrounds. The morning is damp and foggy, just perfect for doing indoor things.

Zebra is a framed miniature and sells for $225 includes s&h. To purchase click here