An award winning commercial artist, Bruce Bigelow owns his own business, the Sundown Studio, located  in the country about 10 minutes from downtown Tupelo, Mississippi. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Kansas University with a major in commercial art and has attended portrait painting workshops given by Daniel Green, Frank Tauriello and Gordon Wetmore, all nationally acclaimed portrait artists.  His portraits and other paintings are displayed in numerous north Mississippi homes, and businesses as well as in Oklahoma.

Bruce and his family moved to Tupelo, MS in 1981, where he has successfully managed a freelance art business for over twenty years, serving many furniture manufacturers in the area as well as numerous other businesses. As a graphic artist, Bruce specializes in illustration, design, copy and supervises his work from concept to finished printed piece.

Bruce moves freely between graphic art, fine art, book illustration and as a portrait painter he works with a client to depict a realistic likeness while at the same time capturing a sense of personality and place. Bruce¹s philosophy is that it is absolutely paramount that the painting be an accurate rendition of the person being painted. His landscapes and still life paintings are depicted in a realist style. He feels that most people like to recognize the subject matter when viewing an art work.

During the last few years, Bruce has devoted more time enjoying the art of landscape and still life painting and diligently working to improve as an artist. Bruce exclaims "It's a real joy to see progress in one's work, especially when it's something you love to do."

His latest project is the self publication of a book of his paintings and poetry called "The Passing Scene," available at Reed's Book Store in Tupelo. His poetry has won several awards in the semi-annual Mississippi Poetry Society competitions. He has won numerous painting awards including a first place award at a gallery showing in Corinth, MS, and more recently a second place at an annual exhibit at the The GumTree Museum of Art in Tupelo. In addition a large mural installation painted by Bruce is featured as a part of magazine article about a beautiful southern home in Booneville, MS. The magazine is the January, February 2008 issue of MIDSOUTH magazine.

http://brucebigelow.com

Connie has always enjoyed art and felt compelled to explore her potential and not ignore this gift.  However she wears many hats so has not had total time to give to art, but loves to draw and paint with watercolor, but also uses oil, pastel and charcoal.  Her favorite subjects are horses, people, and all kinds of animals.

Connie Bryant
P.O. Box 2117
Tupelo, Ms. 38803
662 842 0157

Dot Courson is a full-time artist living in Pontotoc, MS. She has been painting all her life and paints Mississippi rural landscapes, still life and portraits.

She first studied formally taking courses in college where she obtained a Master’s in Nursing Science. She worked as a registered nurse, nurse administrator and taught nursing for years while painting part time. She also took painting at a community college and then studied with Billy Kirk, an artist from Corinth for about 6 years. After studying with Kirk she began to take workshops with other notable professional artists such as Kim English, Robert Johnson, Ray Roberts, David Leffel, Michael Shane Neal and the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast – with landscape artist Roger Dale Brown in particular.

Works include landscapes of Mississippi and of the south. She has traveled the US painting and photographing the scenery for paintings literally from coast to coast, but still prefers Mississippi small farms of the south and familiar landscapes. She paints mostly paints in oil, but has also painted in pastel, acrylic and watercolor. Her goal in painting is to remind the viewer of the simple beauty of the ever-changing southern landscape. Her goal is not to paint a photographic likeness. Her painting has been described as a modern impressionistic representational style -somewhere between Monet and Norman Rockwell! She is in love with art -and always mindful and thankful for the blessings of a talent that God has given her in this life: to paint- and to be able to share it with others!

Angela Foster was born in Landsthul West Germany. I am a daughter of an Army family and by the time I was 10, I lived in five states and two countries. My family settled in Tupelo, Mississippi. My love for animals shows in my work, I am also a member of Comfort Creatures of North Mississippi which is a Pet Therapy Group where I am a volunteer pet partner with PollyAnna my English Bulldog and 15% from the pet portraits go to help this charitable cause. PollyAnna and I are also Pet Partners with Love on a Leash, and the Intermountain Therapy Animals READ (Reading Education Assistance Dogs) program.

I am a member of the the Northeast Mississippi Art Association, the Canine Art Guild, and the Mississippi Painters Society. I work in all mediums but primarily Acrylic and oil. My work can be viewed at the Tupelo City Hall Gallery, and private collections throughout the state and country. In May 2009 my book "PollyAnna's Words of Wisdom" was released by AuthorHouse. This little book was written to help promote better reading and to make it fun for children.

Visit my websites:
http://www.lakeside-studio-petportraits-andmore.com
and
http://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=61623

E-mail: petfoto@comcast.net