Curt Walters, one of the West's foremost landscape artists, grew up in La Plata Valley, near Farmington, New Mexico. He started painting at the age of 15 and never stopped. Painting has been his only vocation. Walters is distinguished for his plein aire paintings of Western sites, as well as studio oils derived from color studies made at the site. Painting on location allows me to express my true emotions freely and to render nature at its fullest, just as the French Impressionists did, said Walters in an article in American Artist. Painting outdoors, direct from nature, has become an obsession. Walters spends his time painting equally in California, New Mexico and Arizona. These states not only have some of the most varied and dramatic landscapes in the United States, but embedded in them, a history of fascinating and haunting cultures that have all but disappeared. In my paintings, I am committed to capturing some of the glory of the past, as well as some of the pristine beauty of the present in order to help preserve these images for future generations.