Nelson Boren (Idaho / Arizona, b. 1952), cowboy in jeans seen from behind, watercolor on watercolor paper, signed lower left

sight: 15 x 22 in., frame: 27 x 33.5 in.

Provenance: Property from the estate of a prominent San Antonio, Texas businessman; Greenhouse Gallery (San Antonio, Texas) label on the verso

Working from a studio in Sandpoint, Idaho, Nelson Boren creates highly realistic, textured western figure paintings using wire bristle brushes, razor blades, a carpet layer's tool, and other implements he has devised. He poses subjects from nearby farms and ranches, photographs them, and paints in watercolor from the photographs, wetting the paper and allowing wrinkles to catch paint in the depressions. Born in Arizona, he was a cum laude graduate in Architecture in 1978 from Arizona State University, and then had a career as an award winning architect in Mesa, Arizona. In 1990, he became a full time fine artist and moved to Idaho.