Biography

Nancy Rynes’ love for animals and the outdoors began early, as a child on her family’s small farm. Art, writing, working on the land, and riding her Choctaw pony were a part of her life in the country. As a child, she often wandered the fields and wild areas with pencil and sketchbook, drawing anything and everything she could find. Horses, cattle, ducks, goats, and chickens were some of her earliest subjects. This love of drawing led her to study fine art at the American Academy of Art in Chicago where she learned classical techniques of working from life in charcoal and oil. She later went on to major in geology and archaeology at Northern Illinois University and the University of Colorado, Boulder, and spent several seasons as an archaeological artist near Amman, Jordan.

Nancy later returned to fine art to study with noted western landscape artists Ralph Oberg, Dan Young, Matt Smith, and Ken Elliott. Learning the finer points of landscape painting from these artists greatly influenced her use of bold brushwork, color, light, and shadow in her own paintings. But after a serious cycling accident that nearly left her paralyzed, Nancy’s main artistic focus shifted. The freedom, energy, and movement of both the people and animals of the American Southwest inspired her to paint larger and more energetically. Now, most of her paintings are devoted to these larger, more energetic, southwestern-themed works.

The artist has been honored with several one-person shows, as well as awards in juried competitions. Her work has been juried into shows such as Draft Horse Classic, Art of the Animal Kingdom, Arts for the Parks, OPA National, International Exhibition on Animals in Art, Salon International, and many other national and regional juried shows and competitions.

Nancy is represented by: The K. Newby Gallery (Tubac, AZ), The Breckenridge Gallery (Breckenridge, CO), Equis Fine Art (Red Hook, NY), and The Fine Art and Frame Company (Ft. Collins, CO).