ED HOLMES

Raised in a Navy family, Ed Holmes saw much of the world during his youth. His senior year in high school was spent with his cousin in New York. Ed’s cousin was a successful illustrator and wanted to encourage his interest in art by exposing Ed to the great art works in Manhattan’s museums and galleries. This led to Ed’s later studies in Utah where his love of western art was born.

A highly successful and award winning commercial illustrator for many years, Ed Holmes finally put his energies into his first love, western art.

Holmes inspiration for painting the plains Indians, Apaches, and mountain men harkens back to the idyllic time that he spent pursuing his formal studies as a young man at Brigham Young University in Utah. Holmes was exposed to such notables as Grant Speed, Ed Fraughton, Veloy Eaton, and Gary Knapp. Upon leaving his studies, Holmes concentrated on commercial illustration for his growing family. However, the lingering memory of the mountain west and its grandeur left an indelible impression and a thirst that one day had to be filled.

Holmes work has been featured in such notable publications as: Southwest Art, Cowboys & Indians and Art Life. Ed’s western paintings can be found in private and corporate collections throughout the US, Canada, and portions of Europe.

Today Ed’s time is divided between Western Artists of America, as being founder, and his devotion to painting in his Scottsdale studio. Ed uses live models (Native Americans) and draws his inspiration from subjects in Arizona, Wyoming and Montana on his many photo reference and research trips each year. Ed’s work is exhibited in fine art galleries across the west.