Painter Colt Idol at Art Focus in Hamilton Dec. 2

Perhaps you’ve seen Colt Idol's amazing oil paintings of the old West with a more contemporary flair and ethereal feel.

Idol, a 27-year-old Whitefish artist, will be at Art Focus on Dec. 2 to meet the public and talk about his paintings, which have a strong sense of another era but with a modern twist.

“I’m still kind of growing into it,” Idol said. “I grew up art-inclined. My dad (Dick Idol) was a career artist who did sculpture, furniture, painting, writing, and even apparel.”

Idol will be premiering five new limited edition canvas prints and more prints not previously shown at Art Focus.

He was born and raised in Big Fork and has been to Hamilton many times, competing in high school basketball and track. Idol played for Montana State University on a basketball scholarship and transferred to Carroll College for basketball and track, but after a few injuries he decided to hang it up and get serious about art.

“It was a blessing, really. I was going through college without a specific major or interest,” he said. “I fell into oil painting about six years ago and haven’t looked back. I thought I had a passion for athletics until I compared it to my passion for painting.”

Idol describes his work as “the new face of the old West.”

“It is the purpose behind my work,” he said. “It is old West subject matter – cowboys, Native Americans, wildlife, old buildings or landscape - but done with a more contemporary flair. Each piece has a strong sense of light, a slightly exaggerated color usage, and a high-value contrast. Those are my three characteristics. I like the light and color to be right on the edge of possibility; not over the top, but once-in-a-blue-moon moments.”

Idol said his old West theme inspiration comes from being born and raised in Montana. he's been collecting Native American artifacts since he can remember, and his dad’s studio was like a museum with fur trade items, birch bark canoes, fossils, and Native American remnants.

Idol said that as a child his family attended the annual CM Russell events in Great Falls, which was a yearly highlight for he and his brother.

“We’d go and wheel and deal and come home with interesting items and books," Idol said. "So when I started painting that’s was what I was drawn to.”

Idol said he learned of his father’s fame in the sporting world as he got older. Dick Idol published a few books and started North American Whitetail magazine. He is well-known in the hunting world and started the first non-green camouflage for Alaska and tundra areas. Dick Idol’s nature connection came out in the creation of eclectic furniture and some of the largest bronze monuments in the country.

Attend the artist reception to meet Colt Idol, 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2 at Art Focus, 215 West Main St. in Hamilton.

Resource:http://ravallirepublic.com/news/local/article_d37037f9-8e96-5ff0-945a-16703362baf4.html