By permission of the artist, The Cyber Art Show is pleased to feature the first of two 12-piece exhibitions of works by contemporary American landscape painter Ginny Butcher (born 1955 in New Hampshire, USA). 
 

You can often find Ginny Butcher heading to a nearby painting site. But it hasnʼt always been that way. Painting in watercolor and drawing the figure were her main focus in the early years of her life. She received tutoring from her mother, a professional artist who worked in Boston before marrying. There were summer classes with local art groups as well, sometimes painting on location, sometimes in the studio. But over the years she could most often be found, pencil in hand, drawing pad on lap, just sitting around drawing whatever was in view.

 

As a young adult she turned down a scholarship opportunity to a reputable art school because “she didnʼt want to paint pictures of toasters and TVs for a living”, preferring instead to pursue other things if she couldnʼt “make paintings of the landscape for a living”. As often happens with many people, life took over and it was 20 years before she returned to the easel. After earning a Fine Arts Degree from the local college, she spent fourteen years as a graphic designer. She began working in pastels shortly after earning her degree in Fine Art and then rediscovered plein air painting, tagging along with her husband, the fisherman when he went in search of brook trout and she in search of a painting.

 

Pastel seemed to be a good fit and soon she was earning awards and recognition for her colorful paintings of the region. But at the end of one summer of teaching an early-morning pastel plein air class, she decided she really wanted to learn to use oils. She loved the look of other artistsʼ work in oils and determined to not pick up a pastel again until she had “mastered” oils. Her first experience with them was enough to solidify the determination to pursue oil painting. Now oils are her preferred medium to work in.

 

Ginny has studied with well-known artists, traveling out of state often, since Wyoming has a higher antelope population than human population and is somewhat isolated from a thriving art community. That isolation can lead to good painting though. Always a lover of the outdoors, Ginny is happy to paint the wide open spaces as well as the cozy corners in the broad landscape around her.

 

Color has always been her focus as well as a challenge since beginning painting. Getting the color right is the key to making a painting that shows the beauty of any subject. She prefers outdoor painting to studio painting as long as the weather is cooperative.

 

Making lots of small outdoor paintings on sunny days provides material for larger studio paintings done when the weather turns cold and windy. Although some artists paint in all weather conditions and donʼt mind overcast scenes, Ginny prefers the bright sunny days, especially early mornings. But she says “you can make a beautiful painting from a not so beautiful scene if you get the color right.”

 

Ginnyʼs work can be found in many collectorʼs homes throughout the nation and abroad.

Shows & Awards

 

- 2015 Evening Still painting purchased for Nicolaysen Art Museum permanent collection.
- 2014 Fourteenth Annual Governorʼs Capitol Art Exhibition, Cheyenne, WY Juror's Choice Award.

- 2011 Wyoming Plein Air Event, Cheyenne, WY Wyoming Land Trust Purchase Award.

- 2008 Eighth Annual Governorʼs Capitol Art Exhibition, Cheyenne, WY Juror's Choice Award.

- 2004 Fourth Annual Governorʼs Capitol Art Exhibition, Cheyenne, WY

- 2003 Where the Buffalo Roam Project, Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, WY

- 2002 Pastel Society of New Mexico 11th Annual National Art Show

- 2002 Pastel Society of America, Butler Institute of Art, Youngstown, OH

- 2002 Rocky Mountain Regional Biennial, MOCA, Ft Collins, CO

- 2002 Top 40, Wyoming Conservation Stamp Competition

- 2001 Congressional Show

- 2001 University of Wyoming Travel Show