Wyoming artist Carol Swinney paints with a palette knife instead of a brush for may reasons. " I love texture, and love to see a lot of paint on the canvas. A painting knife gives rich colors and amazing depth, like you're sculpting a painting," she says. "Contrast, composition and lighting capture my attention while on location so I paint when colors are rich and light is more dramatic." Swinney prefers to paint on location at such places as Rocky Mountain National Park, in CO, the mountains near Tucson, AZ or the Grand Teton Mountains in WY. The well-traveled artist has won numerous awards and honors for her work as well as many solo shows and group exhibitions over the past several years. Carol has received over 21 awards from 2005 to 2011 including 3 Best in Shows, 4 People's Choice awards, Bes Landscape at the 2005 National Oil Painters of America Show, The Award of Excellence at the 2008 OPA-Western Regional Show, and the Governor's Choice Award at the 2010 Cowgirl Up! Art from the Other Half of the West Show, and most recent, the Helen Reider Plein Air Award of Excellence at the "Colors of Colorado" show at the Steamboat Art Museum. She has had numerous one woman shows and museum exhibitions including the National Museum of Wildlife Art. The Gilcrease Museum, the Briscoe Museum of Western Art, the CM Russel Museum and the Desert Caballeros Western Museum, and the Clumer Museum. Carol was featured in the May/June 2006 issue of Art of the West magazine as well as write-ups in past issues of The Artist's Magazine and Art Talk. She was on the cover of the March/April 2004 Sky West Magazine and the 2005 cover of "Landscape Highlights" by American Artist with a re-printing of her 2003 feature story. Wildlife Art News featured her in an article titled "Expressions of the American Landscape" in the May/June 2004 issue and she was included in the book " How did you paint that? 100 ways to paint landscapes" published by International Artist with an 8 page feature article in the June/July 2007, issue number 55. She was included in the January 2009 issue of Western Art Collector in an article titled "Power of Nature", and the January 2010 issue of Southwest Art Magazine with a six page article titled "A Feel for the Land." Most recently she was included in an article titled "Nature's Magic" in the November/December 2011 issue of Art of the West. Carol is an Artist Member of the California Art Club, Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters, a signature Member of the Tucson Plein Air Painters, Outdoor Painters Society and Oil Painters of America and is a Master Signature Member of American Woman Artists.

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