Pencil meets prairie: Western Artist Karmel Timmons creates lifelike portraits of the horses and wildlife on Wyoming’s prairies 

In a family full of talented artists, it seemed inevitable renowned Western Artist Karmel Timmons would follow suit. 

“I kind of just grew up around art,” Karmel states. “In my house, my mother would always have pencils, paints and sketchpads lying around, and both my brother and I eventually became professional artists.” 

It was in high school when Karmel realized she really had a knack for the craft and started to become more serious about it. 

“I don’t believe I ever took a science class, but I sure took a lot of art classes,” she laughs. 

However, after graduation, life changed course and creating art was no longer one of Karmel’s priorities. Then, in 2000, after settling in rural Colorado, Karmel started to draw again, finding inspiration in the mountain and prairie landscapes and the animals that called it home.

After 30 years in Colorado, Karmel sought another change in scenery and found herself in Sheridan among the quiet, rolling foothills of the Big Horn Mountains, where she still resides to this day.

And, after picking up the pencil again 25 years ago, Karmel has never put it back down.

Artistic process

Today, Karmel is a full-time acclaimed professional artist known for her moody, ultra-realistic portraits of horses and wildlife. 

She notes pencil is easily her medium of choice, and horses have always been her favorite subject matter. 

“I really like anything I draw. My favorite will probably always be horses and cows, but horses are my thing,” she says. “They’re also probably the hardest thing to draw, but I just think they are such beautiful animals and there is something so special about them.” 

With this said, Karmel points out she doesn’t have any horses of her own. Instead, she works from reference photos she takes herself to create all of her original pieces. 

“Early in my career, I used other people’s photos for reference, but after a while, I decided it was something I needed to do myself because I wanted it to be my art,” she shares. “It had to be my photo and my interpretation of my own photo. Then, the end result was the drawing I produced.” 

However, she says, “I am not a great photographer, and I don’t have time to learn how to use a camera so I just put it on auto and shoot a million photos.” 

In one outing, Karmel admits she may take nearly 2,000 to 4,000 photos, 99 percent of which likely don’t turn out. 

“I will find about one percent that works for me, and oftentimes, I don’t just use one photo,” she says. “I use several photos to get the composition I like.” 

Karmel says she often gravitates toward certain horses because they make good models.

“There may be a horse that is really beautiful in person, but it doesn’t come through the camera,” she says. “And sometimes, I end up drawing the same horses over and over again because it is a good model. I tend to gravitate towards certain horses because they are pretty, but I can find inspiration from anywhere.” 

In fact, upon moving to Wyoming, Karmel notes she also found inspiration from the area’s wildlife, and she often makes the trip to Yellowstone National Park to photograph her next wildlife subjects. 

Original art

After finding a subject, shooting photos of it and settling on a shot – or multiple – that she likes, Karmel may spend anywhere from one day to a few weeks – depending on size and complexity – creating one of her original masterpieces.

In addition, the Wyoming artist does all of her own printing, framing, shipping, social media, web updates and graphic design.

“My printer in Denver went out of business shortly after COVID-19, so when I moved to Wyoming, I bought a big, fancy printer and had to learn how to use it,” she says. 

She shares a typical day in the life starts with a slow morning drinking coffee, surfing the web and taking care of housekeeping matters before getting to work in her studio for the rest of the day. 

“Most people don’t realize my medium is very slow,” she admits. “I might only get 20 drawings done in a year.” 

Additionally, Karmel notes the majority of her work includes noncommissioned, original pieces. 

“I very rarely do commission work. It takes about twice as long as doing something I decide to draw because there is a whole approval process,” she states. “And, I am usually going to sweat over a commission far more than an original drawing because commission work includes trying to make someone else happy.” 

Current work 

“Throughout my whole career, up until I moved to Sheridan in 2017, I really just worked with pencil,” Karmel says. “Now, I have a lovely studio over our garage so I have a lot more space, and I decided now is the time to try to mix it up a little bit.” 

Since drawing with pencil has become second nature, Karmel took on the challenge of playing with different kinds of mediums in recent years, including pastel, watercolor and oil. 

She proudly relays she recently finished her very first oil painting.

“I have been painting a lot, but I’ve never actually finished one so it was kind of a big deal,” she states. 

“Now, I am really focusing more on color, and I am having way too much fun with it,” she adds. “I am always going to do pencil because it’s what I’m known for, but I am really enjoying learning these different mediums and techniques.” 

Currently, Karmel is working on meeting the deadline for the Buffalo Bill Art Show and Sale (BBAS), held in Cody each September.

“I have a big piece that will go up for live auction during a very fancy dinner under the big tent,” she says. “So, I have a piece I am working on that they need to have in a couple of days.”

Accolades

Today, Karmel’s popular graphite portraits can be found in her three galleries – one in Cody; one in Whitefish, Mont. and another going up in Steamboat Springs, Colo. – as well as some of the most prestigious museums and art shows across the West.

Over the course of her professional career, she has exhibited work at the Coors Western Art Show in Denver; BBAS in Cody; the Cheyenne Frontier Days Western Art Show in Cheyenne; the Brinton Museum in Big Horn; the Cow Girl Up Show in Wickenburg, Ariz.; the Mountain Oyster Club Art Show in Tucson, Ariz. and the American Academy of Equine Art in Lexington, Ky. 

Her work has also been published in Cowboys and Indians, The Cottage Journal, Southwest Art, Art of the West, Western Art Collector, Western Horseman, Eclectic Horseman and Horses in Art. 

Among this long list of accolades, Karmel notes her favorite accomplishment came this January during the Coors Western Art Show. 

“Me and a couple of other artists have been doing the show for over 20 years, which is kind of unheard of,” she shares. “They gave me an award called the Mary Belle Grant Award, which is named after one of the show’s founders who passed away.”

“They give the award every year to someone who has had an impact on the show and its 30 years of existence, so it was fun and nice to be recognized for something I have been doing for so long,” she adds.

Additionally, Karmel received the popular vote for Western Horseman’s Best Artist of 2024.

“They nominate several artists and have all of these different categories relating to Western lifestyle,” she says. “I actually won it, which I was very pleased with because all of these people had to vote for me over the course of a month and a half.”

“When I got the e-mail I had won, I was very surprised and happy because it meant a lot of people know who I am and appreciate my artwork,” Karmel concludes.

For more information on Karmel Timmons and her artwork, visit karmeltimmons.com. 

Hannah Bugas is the managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.