George Coll - Loveland, Colorado

“I am an avid painter of western landscapes and enjoy teaching art in studio for more than a decade. What was it about me that got the painting thing going? I did not come from an artistic family, but I do come from a family of “doers”.  I can get in front of a blank canvas and get things started either in the studio or plein air – no problem with painter’s block. My siblings inherited the same ‘get it done’ trait but do other things than paint. I live in Northern Colorado and develop my skills and style around the local environment.”
Artist George Coll, I paint a lot of landscapes because I live in beautiful northern Colorado. Rocky Mountain National Park is close by. I love to paint nature and to be out in it but I didn’t start there. I first started painting live portraits. My teacher stressed the importance of painting from life and she was so right. The same holds true for landscapes. The first time I went out to paint a landscape in plein-air, I struggled. It was so complicated, it was too hot, there were too many bugs and the light changed all the time. It was not at all like the controlled environment of a studio portrait but then the Coll perseverance thing kicked in. I painted outside for two years before I ever came back into the studio to paint a landscape. I can relate my struggle to my love of fly-fishing. I didn’t catch a fish for the first year but I came to love and respect those wily trout. After that long year, I figured out the tactics and started catching fish but by then didn’t have the heart to keep them and gave them their freedom back. I attract collectors by my direct, straight forward style of painting. When my brush or palette knife is empty I re-load rather than dab-dab-dab it into ‘mud’. I practice, put it down and leave it. ​Years ago I purchased two “trained” pack llamas. I was the one who had to be trained and I have come to love the “boys” (Cardamom and Night Train). At least once a year they carry my camping and painting gear to the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. When I roll out the trailer they go into their happy dance to get loaded. I go into my happy dance too – ready to do what I dearly love.
George Coll
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I paint a lot of landscapes because I live in beautiful northern Colorado.  Rocky Mountain National Park is close by.  I love to paint nature and to be out in it but I didn’t start there.  I first started painting live portraits.  My teacher stressed the importance of painting from life and she was so right. The same holds true for landscapes. The first time I went out to paint a landscape in plein-air, I struggled.  It was so complicated, it was too hot, there were too many bugs and the light changed all the time.  It was not at all like the controlled environment of a studio portrait but then the Coll perseverance thing kicked in. I painted outside for two years before I ever came back into the studio to paint a landscape.  I can relate my struggle to my love of fly-fishing. I didn’t catch a fish for the first year but I came to love and respect those wily trout.  After that long year, I figured out the tactics and started catching fish but by then didn’t have the heart to keep them and gave them their freedom back.

I attract collectors by my direct, straight forward style of painting. When my brush or palette knife is empty I re-load rather than dab-dab-dab it into ‘mud’.  I practice, put it down and leave it.

​Years ago I purchased two “trained” pack llamas. I was the one who had to be trained and I have come to love the “boys” (Cardamom and Night Train). At least once a year they carry my camping and painting gear to the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. When I roll out the trailer they go into their happy dance to get loaded. I go into my happy dance too – ready to do what I dearly love.