Taming of the Shrew­ Oil by Margo Petterson, one of the paintings in the Feminine West series.

The Romantic Sensibility of Margo Petterson - by Sarah H. Crampton

---


Her extensive travels throughout the western United States has intensified Margo Petterson¹s appreciation for the inexhaustible beauty of the West.

Petterson has developed an unusual ability to find intrinsic beauty in the common place, and her work has emotional and visual appeal. Her lush oil paintings capture the many hues of nature as she presents man and animal in a quiet, soft balance.

Her art has primarily been focused on figurative and portrait painting, many with a western theme. In her Feminine West series, she blends the delightful and accepted myth of the west with a romantic sensibility of frontier life. Recently she has expanded to include horses in her paintings which are often infused with a peaceful mood.

The cover painting "Rush Hour" was inspired while Petterson was at a ranch near Rapid City in South Dakota. She took lots of reference photos of the herd of horses, especially while they were in motion.

Margo comments, "I like to see the horses doing something, it brings out their personality. One of the horses in Rush Hour looks like a bully, while the other is so casual."

Commenting about her painting style Margo continues, "I tend to like seeing things a little looser, from a distance away and a little on the softer side."

Once she gets in her studio to work, her paintings move along quickly. She enjoys the challenge of painting horses, and welcomes the change from her figurative work. In the approaching winter season, she will relish the back-to-back hours in the studio when life slows down. Like the color and elements in her paintings, Margo blends her life and art in a realistic manner. Her husband, family, daughter and grandson, who Petterson admits is the light of her life come first.




~ Back to Current Issue ~