Scenes of the West

Les Boeder
(224) 622-1254
birchisland1@gmail.com

Painter Les Boeder of East Dundee creates captivating images of landscapes from his travels throughout the world. Rich with color and detail, his paintings evoke an atmosphere of pastoral calm and quiet contemplation.

Born in rural northern Minnesota, Les loved to draw as a child, and grew up riding horses, surrounded by abundant wildlife and nature. As an adult, Les’s work took him and his family to many beautiful places, including the Colorado Rockies and the Dakota Plains, where he was able to maintain his connection with the natural world, and express himself artistically through photography.

Les’s mother was a talented artist who took up painting later in life, after raising her children. In 2005, with his three daughters grown and retirement on the horizon, Les decided to follow his mother's example and return to making art. He enrolled in art classes and was immediately enthralled by the process of painting. His subject matter reflected the serene country settings he spent so much of his life in, as well as his lifelong love of animals and nature. He became enamored with the Southwest after a trip to New Mexico, and added vivid scenes of the West to his repertoire. The more he traveled to the Southwest, the more interested he became in its culture, particularly its Native American culture. He began attending powwows, Native American art festivals, and re-enactments of rustic Western scenes. Western artists such as Howard Terpning, John Moyers, James Reynolds, and Bob Kuhn influenced his early work.

Les has found camaraderie with three artists from his community in particular. Known as “the four amigos,” the group plans painting trips together, traveling to the Indiana dunes, the Colorado mountains, and the New Mexico desert in search of subject matter and inspiration. Les researches his paintings meticulously, and strives to represent the people, eras, and scenes he paints as authentically as possible. He shows his work at Art in the Barn in Barrington, and has exhibited at Main Street Art Center in Lake Zurich, and Montana Log Gallery in Nisswa, Minnesota.

All paintings are for sale.