Hole In The Wall Gallery, Ennis, Montana

Born and raised in rural Southern California, Whitney spent most of her childhood outdoors – watching lizards, exploring on her bike, drawing cactus, and talking to dogs. She supposes it must have been good training for an artist because now at the age of 23 she does many of the same things but is allowed to call them "research."

Though she was raised in a very creative environment where drawing and creating were almost taken for granted, becoming an artist was almost accidental. She never entirely outgrew a fascination with illustrated books and began studying illustration, believing that was the only field left open to representational drawing and painting. However, through the combined influences of a Life Drawing class and her first exposure to realistic fine art at a John Asaro exhibit at the college gallery, she fell in love with representational fine art.

Since beginning her art education in 2004 she has studied everything from watercolor to etching to gouache to dip pens to pencil rendering, and since 2006 has extensively studied oil and pastel painting and human and animal anatomy through college courses and Watt's Atelier in Encinitas, as well as workshops and mentorships with local and nationally-recognized artists, such as Joe Garcia and Robert Moore. She lives in Bozeman Montana where she shares a studio with her mother, Terry Hall, and splits her time between teaching, painting, and keeping the dogs and cats from walking in the paint.

Artist Statement:

Even though I love contemporary colors and brushwork, it seems like the more I mature in my art, the more important classical structure and anatomy is to me. I love how my traditional studies give me a strong base to stand on so I have the freedom to let go and paint intuitively. I hope to never reach the point where I assume I have learned everything.

Being raised in the country and now living just north of Bozeman, Montana, I love to paint the way light makes the normal things around us extraordinary. I love to look closely at things. By far the most inspiring subjects to me are animals, especially the dogs and horses that I see working with such dignified intensity. Each one I paint becomes a familiar character by the time I place that final stroke.

I am blessed to have the responsibility of being an artist and it is important that every painting to be a two-way conversation between you and me. I don’t see any point in merely standing in the street expressing myself, I want to sit down with you and communicate the wonder I have in the way dogs speak with their ears, in the way reflected light bounces up under hats, and in the way mountains are bluer when you look at them through yellow aspens.

Shows & Awards:

C.M. Russell Art Auction, Great Falls Montana, March 2010

Custer County Art Center's 2010 Traveling Collection

Two-Woman Show: "Finishing Touches," Bozeman, Montana, December 2010

Custer County Art Center: "31st Annual Southeast Montana Juried Show"

Breckenridge Fine Art Center: "18th Annual Juried Art Competition," Breckenridge Texas, August 2009

Four-Woman Show, "Four Perspectives," Escondido, California, June 2008

Juror's Choice, Juried Show: "Top 100," Southwest Art Association, March 2008

Honorable Mention, Juried Show: "Lifelong Learning," Artists Gallery, March 2008

First Place, Juried Show: "December Show," San Dieguito Art Guild, December 2007

Invitational Exhibition, "Student Show 2007," Boehm Art Gallery, Palomar College, May 2007

Best of Show & First Place, Juried Show: "Celebration," Artists Gallery, December 2006

First Place & Second Place, Juried Show: "Noah's Art ‘06," Artists Gallery, August 2006

Juried Show, 2006 Fine Art Competition, San Diego County Fair, June 2006

Invitational Exhibition, "Student Show 2006," Boehm Art Gallery, Palomar College, May 2006

Invitational Exhibition, "Student Show 2005," Boehm Art Gallery, Palomar College, May 2005