Artist Amber Downs Blazina lives close to the landscape and wildlife she paints near her home in Montana. The artist spent her formative years living on a secluded farm in eastern Montana, and now lives in west Montana, near Bozeman. The artist’s experiences growing up surrounded by nature and farm life not only shaped what Blazina chooses to paint, but how she experiences and interprets it through her paintings. 
Amber Downs Blazina poses with her large-scale buffalo paintings.“From an early age, I’ve trained my eye to look for color, shape, contrast, animals—searching for a point of interest in the long, flowing landscape that I grew up in,” she says. “I’ve lived in both the most well-known and the most overlooked parts of Montana, which I believe has instilled in me a unique perspective on Western art and my place within it. There are countless incredible Western artists who depict scenes of the West with remarkable skill, and I have deep respect for that tradition. With my own work, I want to find my place by standing out from the norm. I find myself working towards a grittier interpretation...”
Blazina has painted and drawn her whole life. She graduated from the Art Institute of Colorado in Denver in 2001 with a degree in graphic design, and continued in that field until 2015, when she shifted to painting. “As a former graphic designer, my work has balance and harmony, but I want it to have an edge, a certain grittiness that interrupts the romanticized view many people have of the West,” the artist explains. “I’m interested in presenting the landscape and wildlife in a way that feels honest and grounded, even messy, rather than idealized. I strive for order to make sense of the chaos on the canvas, but I love the evidence of a human’s imperfect mark in paintings.”
Audacity, oil on linen, 72 x 40 in.
Serenity Now, oil on linen, 40 x 30 in.
It seems only natural that Blazina would then find inspiration from the Western art painters who were on the fringe of traditional painting—Nicolai Fechin, Maynard Dixon, Georgia O’Keeffe. More contemporary artists like Carolyn Anderson, Louisa McElwain, Deborah Butterfield and Ted Waddell give Blazina a “fresh jolt of influence,” she says. “I am drawn to art that shows me how to interpret a scene with a different point of view.”
Blazina continues, “It’s meaningful to me that the spirit of those artistic pioneers can still be carried forward in our work today through brushstrokes, texture, splatters and drips. For me, it’s a nod to their vision and audacity, filtered through the perspective of a farm girl who grew up loving animals—especially the buffalo I remember being enthralled with in Medora, North Dakota, every August between harvest ending and school beginning.”
Leap of Faith, oil on linen, 16 x 40 in.
Close Encounter, oil on linen, 36 x 36 in.
The buffalo appears often in Blazina’s work, with large works like Wabi Sabi and Audacity highlighting the animal’s powerful presence. Blazina adds in her “messy” elements to each scene, including large, loose brushstrokes, paint splatter and drips. “I work in oil paint because it responds to my energy,” she adds. “It can be thick and bold, or it can be soft and subtle. I strive for every brushstroke to exude confidence.”
When asked what she hopes people take away with them after viewing her work, she says, “Simply put, I want collectors to feel refreshed…On a deeper, more esoteric level, I want them to experience characteristics that bring harmony to life: unity, flow, room to feel and breathe. I want my paintings to act as visual meditations that ground the viewer into their soul and remind them to celebrate the small ordinary moments in life.”
Wabi Sabi, oil on linen, 48 x 60 in.
Find Blazina’s work at upcoming shows at Montana Trails Gallery in Bozeman, Montana, opening June 11; and Gallery Wild in Jackson, Wyoming, coinciding with the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival on September 16. The artist will also have a small work included in the Western Visions Art Show + Sale at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, and will be participating as a QuickDraw artist at the Jackson Hole QuickDraw & Auction on September 19.
See more from the artist at www.amberblazina.com. —
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