He chooses to work in a classical style because he deeply connects with traditional works which aptly express reality. “Art should bring about a respect for life and God’s creation around us,” he says. “I want to do my best to faithfully render what is beautiful to me and hopefully others will find that beauty reflected in my work.”

West Wind - An Oil Painting Demonstration by Dan Schultz

For this studio painting I used Claessens double oil primed linen canvas, #15 (my usual painting surface). This painting, as with most of my larger paintings, was completed using a photograph as my reference. (My wife, Sarah, is the lovely lady in the photo. Somehow I doubt she would have been very excited to pose in the middle of a field long enough for me to do the painting from life.)

Click here to view the rest of these oil painting instructions.... 

Don Sahli made the decision to become a professional artist at a very early age. By the time he was 17 years old, galleries in Texas and New Mexico were selling his paintings. Sahli has earned his living as a professional artist all his adult life. Presently, his work is represented by galleries in Colorado, North Carolina, New Mexico, Wyoming and Texas.

When I look at a painting, I want it to bring me back to when I was on the scene. I want it to convey the drama and emotion that first captured my attention, the atmosphere, and the soul of the place.

Sahli’s work contains stylistic echoes of the Russian masters, particularly evident in his uninhibited use of color, his stern originality and unique vitality. As the last apprentice to the Russian colorist, Sergei Bongart, Sahli sustains an important artistic legacy, one passed from Ilya Repin, the fountainhead of all modern Russian painting, to Nicolai Fechin, to Peter Kotov, to Sergei Bongart to Don Sahli.

My teacher taught, his teacher taught, and I wanted to keep this tradition alive and give something back.

In 1995, carrying on the legacy of his teacher, Sahli opened Sahli School of Art in Evergreen, Colorado. He lives with his wife, Cindy and their two sons, in their mountain home near the school.

Q - What medium or mediums do you work with?

A - I am an oil painter - on canvas or board - depending on the size of the painting and where I am painting - studio or plein air.

Q - How long have you been an artist? How did you get started?

A - I have been an artist all my life. I sold my first painting at age 14 or 15. When I was 17, I took my work to a gallery in Taos, NM, the gallery director accepted it and sold my work for several years. I have continued to show in galleries around the country since that time....