Orren Mixer (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 1930-2006), Texas champion Appaloosa racehorse Kaw Liga, 1956, oil on canvas, original painting from which postcards and other promotional materials were created sight: 21 x 29 in., frame: 26 x 34 in.  Provenance: Property from the collection of a San Antonio, Texas lady Mixer was born in Oklahoma City in 1920 to Florence Motter and Orren Marion Mixer Sr. After attending public schools, he graduated from Central High School and through the efforts of his art teacher, Grace Chadwick, obtained a scholarship to the Kansas City Art Institute. He continued to work in graphic arts in Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, Texas, but later moved to San Diego to work in an aircraft manufacturing plant. He later joined the U.S Navy as a visual aids graphic artist. During his spare time, Orren painted Western scenes and painted a Quarter Horse at the request of Bob Denhardt, who was the first AQHA executive secretary. In 1946, Orren returned to Oklahoma with his wife, Evelyn Leonard, whom he’d married in 1941, and set up a studio. He began painting live horses in 1948 and by 1950, all of his work was by commission. During the 1980s, Orren took a short break from painting but resumed his artist endeavors in the mid-1990s. In 1993, Orren was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame. In 2006, Elaine Hall commissioned Orren to do a painting of her great mare Royal Blue Boon, which ended up being the very last painting he would paint in his life.