A self-taught artist, Joel Ostlind was born and raised around Casper, Wyoming, he depicts the heritage of the West in his paintings and printmaking.
Ostlind attended Casper College and later the University of Wyoming for a degree in soil science and Texas Christian University for a degree in ranch management. He spent years cowboying on large ranches around the West, and incorporates what he has learned into his paintings.
Ostlind began creating sketches and plein air paintings in his downtime while working at a ranch in Montana. A turning point in his career happened when he showed some of his work to an art director for Marlboro who was in the area photographing ads. The art director encouraged him and told him he thought his work had promise.
Ostlind developed his skill on his own by studying the masters such as Adolph von Menzel, Isaak Levitan, Nicolae Grigorescu, Sargent, Sorolla and Zorn.
Ostlind considers himself primarily an etcher. He prints each etching himself making minor additions to each print so that each one in truly an original.
In 1978 Ostlind married his wife Wendy, a registered nurse and professor. The couple have two children, Jake and Emilene.
“I have chosen, after moving around, to live in this region and work at interpreting the things that I value here: the light, the land and the people who move through it.”
Sources include:
Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale, 2003
Southwest Art, March 2005
