TORRINGTON – Local Artist Julie Nighswonger is a full-time oil painter who focuses mostly on animals, such as cows and horses. Her paintings are featured in many different art shows around the U.S. Nighswonger’s work can be viewed on her website, Facebook page, and Instagram page.
Background
Nighswonger grew up in Minnesota and when she was younger, she would visit a family member’s ranch in Wyoming.
“I worked on a dude ranch in Jackson between my junior and senior year,” Nighswonger told the Telegram. “The day after I graduated, I went back out there and worked again. Then I decided to come here for vet tech, so, I drove here to go to school and never left.”
Nighswonger explained that she has been in Torrington since 1982 when she came to Eastern Wyoming College (EWC) to peruse a vet tech degree. While she did finish the vet tech program and do some work on her in-law’s feedlot, Nighswonger said she didn’t stay on that path. Eventually, she started working at Wagner’s Floral in town.
“I worked there for about 12 years, and then I started an embroidery shop in my house,” Nighswonger recalled. “I ran the embroidery shop in here, then I moved it to town. I had it for five, or six years before I sold it. It was getting bigger and getting to the point where I either had to get more employees or do more work.”
While she had always enjoyed crafts and sewing, Nighswonger said she didn’t get into painting until she was in her 40s. It all began when a friend asked her to do a six-week watercolor class. After taking the class she and her friend entered pieces into art shows together. At one of those shows, she was advised that she needed to draw more to improve her skills.
“So, I drew for like 10 years and then I started painting,” Nighswonger explained. “The natural progression from drawing normally would be acrylic, but I decided to just jump into oils. After the watercolor class and then entering that show, everything just kind of snowballed.”
Artwork
Nighswonger said she mostly does oil paintings now, her favorite thing about them is that she can make mistakes and wipe them away because of the longer drying time. Some of the time, she paints ‘in the moment’ with the subject in front of her, while at other times she paints from a photograph.
“I take my camera everywhere I go to, brandings and I’ve gone to two different photo shoots,” Nighswonger told the Telegram. “One of the shoots, was actually for photographers, while the other one was for artists, so you could set up the people the way you want to.”
She then uses her photographs as a reference for her paintings. She said her favorite subjects lately have been animals, specifically horses. Probably due to her background in vet tech and animal science. She has found the hardest subject for her has been people.
“In my paintings, I don’t like to show a face necessarily, I want the viewer to be able to feel like it could be them in the painting,” Nighswonger said. “I did a photoshoot close to Tahoe this fall, and when I settled on my painting, I did this cowgirl, which was probably more of a portrait than I usually do. I had a guy tell me, ‘That’s my wife.’ He said it looked just like her, so he bought it for her for Christmas.”
If she does include people in her work, she wants their identity to be open to interpretation. However, most of her work focuses on horses and landscapes. The sizes of her paintings range from small to large depending on requirements for shows. On average, she said her larger paintings can take up to a week to complete.
Work
“Yes (I am a full-time artist), I come in (my studio) about 8:30 and I work until four or five o’clock each day and then a lot of times I’ll sit out there and do computer work,” Nighswonger said. “I spend at least eight hours a day on my work.”
Nighswonger said she likes to schedule classes for herself, for like an hour, to just do quick paintings for fun. These are called plein-air paintings, where she goes outside and paints whatever scene or subject in front of her. These are helpful exercises to get you to relax and just have fun.
“I think that’s the beauty of it,” Nighswonger said. “That’s why everyone pushes it so much, is because you just have to do, not think, just do. The more you do it the better you get at every painting.”
Another helpful exercise, Nighswonger said, is a website called line-of-action, where you can pick different subjects, like people, animals, etc. and set a timer for various times. This is a quick practice exercise where you draw as much as you can before the image changes.
While painting takes up most of her time, she said about 20% to 30% of her time is taken up by bookwork. She is always applying to shows, keeping track of deadlines, and replying to people off of her website or social media pages.
Shows and Such
Nighswonger said, while she does do a few consignments, she mostly focuses on art shows.
“This year, I’m laying off a bunch of shows, but I’ll do Settlers West in Tucson, then I’ve got the Cowgirl Up in Wickenburg,” Nighswonger said. “Usually, I also go to Prescott, Arizona for a show. I’ve gone to Montana for the West Show. Then, of course, I go to Cheyenne Frontier Days, that one always goes well.”
Currently, she has two paintings that go to the Settlers West show in Tucson, Arizona this week, and one that she is working on finishing for a show in March in Wickenburg, Arizona.
Nighswonger explained that it can be kind of daunting at first trying to get into shows. You just start applying online, or in some cases, you get invited by other artists, and then you just wait to get accepted.
“I had one show, that I applied to two, maybe three years, and then they like lost my application on that third year,” Nighswonger recalled. “Then two years later, they sent me a ‘congratulations, you’ve been accepted.’”
These shows are usually either gallery shows, or museum shows with an opening reception.
“They are usually a lot of fun,” Nighswonger commented. “They have a Thursday night get-together, they a Friday night dinner. Then they do talks on Saturday and dance and dinner that night, and then on Sunday they do a quick draw.”
At many of these shows, she explained they sell the paintings by draw. Each painting is priced before the show opens, and if someone is interested in buying it, they put their name in the box in front of the piece. This allows everyone interested in a painting a fair chance to purchase it. After a name is drawn, the person typically has 20 minutes to claim it before another name will be drawn.
In addition to these shows, Nighswonger also has pieces hanging up in different galleries in the U.S. She has paintings at the Mountain Oyster in Tucson, Arizona, Coeur d’Alene Galleries in Idaho, Frame of Reference Gallery in Whitefish, Montana, and Deselms Fine Art in Cheyenne.
When asked if she donates any paintings to silent auctions for charity, Nighswonger said, “Yes, I usually donate, probably ten things a year. I do the Rooster Booster, the Two Shot, and Wyoming Cares, among others.”
Nighswonger’s work can be viewed on her website, Facebook page, and Instagram page. Her website is https://www.julienighswonger.com/.
Tips and Advice
When asked about tips for success as an artist, Nighswonger told the Telegram, “Perseverance. You’re going to get a lot of comments, the good comments are wonderful, but the bad ones can be hard. The bad ones are hard, because of the mental part of it, you know, you beat yourself up bad enough. You have to learn to let the comments slide and let yourself slide in your mindset. I get to the point where I have so many paintings that are due at the end of the month, where I feel like I have to paint, paint, paint. None of that really matters. You still need to paint for fun; paint because you enjoy it.”
When asked if she had any advice for new artists, Nighswonger said, “Learning to balance everything is huge. You have to do family and friend time, but you have to work on your artwork, too. The artists that are very successful work every day; it’s a job. You’re only going to get what you put into it.”
