George Henry Durrie (1820-1863), Hunter in Winter Wood, 1860, oil on canvas, 36 x 54 in.

George Henry Durrie (1820-1863) was one of the first artists to focus on winterscapes during a time when no one else really wanted to paint the bleakness of the season. Influenced by the Hudson River School painters as well as the European masters, Durrie was particularly known for his rural snow scenes, with expansive views of icy valleys and craggy, dormant trees surrounding subjects like hunters, trappers, horses and cattle. Those scenes even became popular lithographs printed by Currier & Ives, a big part of Durrie’s legacy today.

Top: Jerry Jordan, Changeless in Changing Times, 1984, oil, 20 x 24 in.  Bottom: John Clymer (1907-1989), Out of the Silence, oil on canvas. National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; Josh Elliott, While We Slept, oil, 36 x 39 in. Courtesy Claggett/Rey Gallery.

In John Clymer’s (1907-1989) oil Out of the Silence, a Native American horseback rider trudges down a snow-laden hill with several other packhorses in tow. The palette is almost entirely white, but it conveys substance with a multitude of striations in grays, blues and purples giving form to the monochromatic terrain. People, Places, Predicaments: John Clymer’s West, featuring more than 50 paintings by Clymer from the Eddie Basha Collection, is now on view at Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West in Scottsdale, Arizona, through October 2025. 

Top: Silas Thompson, Entangled, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in.; Gallery Wild, Yielding, oil on canvas, 36 x 60 in., by Silas Thompson.  Bottom: Gallery Wild, Twitch, oil on canvas panel, 24 x 32 in., by Doyle Hostetler; Gary Johnson, When Fall Turns To Winter, oil, 20 x 30 in.

A significant painting in Jerry Jordan’s career, the 1984 oil Changeless in Changing Times, shows us a glimpse of the exterior of the famous Taos Inn in Taos, New Mexico, on a winter’s day. A few people brave the onslaught of falling snow and slick roads. As written in Jordan’s book Jerry Jordan: Together Always Our Spirit: “One of the monumental turning points in Jerry’s artistic career came during Christmas of 1983, though he barely recognized it because its meaning would take nearly a year to unravel. That winter the Jordans returned to Taos for the holidays with some close family friends. The party stayed at the Kachina Lodge, where Jerry and [wife] Marilyn had become engaged 20 years earlier. With snow on the ground and a chill in the air, the group walked the historic streets, enjoying the stores, galleries, and eateries near the plaza. At one point, Jerry was across the street from the Taos Inn on Paseo del Pueblo Norte. Snow was piled up on the inn’s iconic thunderbird sign and filled the small courtyard near the entrance. He pulled out a camera and took a snapshot. He thought he had a perfect image, but a Chevy Blazer had crept into his shot along with three visitors in town to ski. He snapped some more shots without cars and figures and then headed back to the Kachina Lodge.

Legacy Gallery, Winter Coats, 24 x 48 in., by John Moyers.

“After returning to Texas, the image of the inn shook something loose in him. ‘I never set out to paint Taos in a commercial way. It was always an emotional decision, and it started with that photograph,’ he says. “I was trying to recapture a memory of us staying there so many years earlier. I wanted to revisit that emotion.’”

Gallery Wild, It’s Good to See You, encaustic and milk paint, 25 x 40 in., by Bridgette Meinhold.

“The fall and winter seasons are the most inspirational times for me as an artist,” says Gary Johnson. “The low, warm light of fall and winter create such a beautiful contrast of warm and cool colors in the landscape. The low sun also creates long, cool and colorful shadows that are accentuated by the warm, sparkling light of a clear day. Many animals are in rut or breeding behavior with thick winter coats. Fall is the end of the annual life cycle and the winter solstice the beginning of the next annual cycle of the four seasons. It’s a time for reflection, both inner and outer. This spirit of deeper meaning and introspection carries over into the artwork I create during this time of year.” When approaching a new painting, Johnson relies on plein air studies, photographs taken in the field, and most importantly, his own recollection of the scene.

Legacy Gallery, All is Calm, oil, 7½ x 20 in., by Ross Buckland.  

John Moyers, son of painter William Moyers, grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He paints American Indians, cowboys, themes from Old Mexico and New Mexico, and landscapes. “I paint what excites me. Maybe for two months all I want to do is landscapes, then maybe Native Americans and then Mexican pieces.” Moyers also says, “The more you paint, the more comfortable you get with the process. Hopefully, I’m improving all the time.” Moyers is represented by Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona. 

Gary Johnson, Turning Colors, oil, 9 x 12 in.

The art of Dale Terbush can be found at Manitou Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In the early 1990s, he headed for Santa Fe, New Mexico, to pursue his ultimate dream of being an artist. Terbush quickly built a following of avid collectors and that dream soon became a reality. His 8-inch-square acrylic A Moment Lost depicts a chiseled, snow-capped mountain top beneath a dramatic winter sky. —