PAINTING FROM REAL LIFE
IN THE DARKNESS of early morning, a teenage Grant Redden was charged with rounding up horses to move a sheep camp on his father’s southwest Wyoming ranch. He climbed bareback onto a horse he’d never ridden before and, by the faint light of the setting moon, headed off without hesitation on an unfamiliar trail. For a boy who was fascinated with the romance of the Old West and had a taste for the dramatic, the danger and unknown of that ride meant excitement. Years later Redden translates such firsthand experiences, along with stories of his pioneer ancestors, into paintings steeped in authenticity and rendered with skill. These qualities earned him six Gold Medal awards in his first seven years as a member of the Cowboy Artists of America, into which he was inducted in 2012.
“I really loved that life. It was wonderful,” says the 59-year-old artist, thinking back on his youth. He is sitting in the
