Five Oil Painting Masters You Need on Your Creative Radar
This feature brings together five women who have chosen oil painting as a way to look closely at the world and to make that looking visible. Stephanie Birdsall, Amy Verhoeff, Lori Putnam, Robin Cheers, and Carolyn Lindsey share a commitment to working from observation whether they are outside on location or standing in their studio with sketches and studies. The aim here is simple: to show how steady practice, clear method, and thoughtful seeing produce work that rewards time spent with it.
What these painters have in common is a disciplined approach to making. Many trained in formal settings and then continued with extended study and mentorships that shaped their technique and approach. They work with careful underdrawing, layered glazes, rapid plein air studies that capture weather and light, and larger studio pieces developed from those first impressions. Several teach and mentor, and each participates in exhibitions and juried competitions, which speaks to the seriousness with which they treat their craft.
Beyond technical skill, these artists share an attentiveness to ordinary life. Their subjects range from people and interiors to landscapes and everyday scenes. Rather than staging drama, they find material in the quiet moments and the shifting conditions of light and season. Whether through transparent layers that let light move through the paint or through quick studies that lock in a fleeting atmosphere, the paintings insist on patience and attention.
This article invites you to meet these five painters and to follow how practice and observation guide their decisions. You will see how training and travel, public recognition and quiet routines, teaching and studio work all come together in paintings that are considered, restrained, and alive with detail. If you want to understand how contemporary figurative and landscape oil painting can be sustained by method and habit, these artists offer clear, instructive examples.
Stephanie Birdsall @https://www.instagram.com/sbirdartist/
Stephanie Birdsall paints as a way of paying attention to life as it unfolds. Trained at the City and Guilds of London Art School, her early path led her through Europe where she painted outdoors, learning directly from nature, weather, and changing light. After returning to the United States, she continued to study with respected painters including Richard Schmid, Nancy Guzik, David Leffel, and Sherrie McGraw, experiences that shaped both her discipline and her way of working.
In 2006, she was invited to join a small group formed under the guidance of Richard Schmid. For more than fourteen years, she painted alongside Schmid, Nancy Guzik, and the painters now known as the Putney Painters. That time proved to be a steady period of focus and growth. Since then, her work has been shown in major exhibitions in the United States and abroad, including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London and the National Arts Club in New York. She has received more than sixty national and international awards.
Stephanie continues to paint directly from life whenever possible, whether outdoors on location or in her studio in Redding, Connecticut, where she also teaches. Her paintings hang in museum collections across the country, and her work has been featured in leading art publications and on public television. At the center of all of it is a steady dedication to observing the world carefully and recording what she sees in the moment, a practice she has followed for her entire career.
Amy Verhoeff@https://www.instagram.com/amy_verhoeff_art/
Amy Verhoeff is a Dutch painter known for her detailed, realistic work shaped by nature, daily life, and long standing ties to her surroundings. Much of her subject matter comes from the people around her and the quiet relationship between humans and the natural world. Early in her career she focused mainly on drawing with graphite and pastels, later moving into oil painting and combining both methods into the process she uses today.
Her paintings begin with a careful black and white underdrawing, followed by several transparent layers of oil applied gradually over time. This method creates a smooth surface and allows light to move gently through the layers of paint. Her work Grandpa brought her wide recognition after winning the Young Talent Award at the Dutch Portrait Prize in 2019, and marked an important moment in her career.
Amy works from her studio in a long gabled farmhouse in Dommelen that once belonged to her grandparents. The space carries strong family history, including that of her grandfather, who was also an artist working with sculpture. His former workspace now serves as her studio and exhibition area, with his work still present throughout the property and garden.
Alongside her studio practice, Amy teaches one day workshops and weekly painting courses where she shares her working process and practical guidance with students. She also develops collaborations and projects that extend her paintings beyond the studio, guided by her belief that making something beautiful for others to experience is at the heart of what she does.
Lori Putnam @https://www.instagram.com/loriputnamart/
Lori Putnam grew up in rural Tennessee with no nearby neighbors and wide stretches of open land as her constant company. Those quiet early years shaped the way she sees the outdoors and still guide her work today. She did not step into painting full time right away. For more than a decade, she ran a graphic design business, sharpening her eye for composition and color along the way. A return to oil painting in the late 1990s changed everything, and by 2005 she closed her company to focus fully on painting.
Putnam now works between plein air studies and large studio canvases, drawing from years of travel and observation in more than thirty countries. An extended period of study in the Italian countryside in 2008 marked a turning point in her development. Her paintings are now held in museum collections and have earned top honors from major national organizations, including Master Signature status with the Oil Painters of America. Outside the studio, she serves as Vice President of Art Ambassador for A Colorful World, traveling regularly to work with children in underserved communities. Teaching, travel, and steady discipline remain central to how she lives and works today.
Robin Cheers @https://www.instagram.com/robincheers/
Robin Cheers is an oil painter based in Austin, Texas, where she works from direct observation as well as from sketches and photographs gathered in daily life. Her work centers on the human figure and quiet scenes of ordinary living, moments that often pass unnoticed but carry a lasting presence when carefully observed.
Robin is a founding member of Plein Air Austin and remains an active part of her local art community. She teaches oil painting and mentors artists both in person and online. She is an Artist in Residence at the Austin Visual Arts Association ArtSpace and holds signature membership in the American Impressionist Society and the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society. She is also a member of the Oil Painters of America.
Her work has been widely shown in national juried exhibitions for over a decade, including repeated appearances with the American Impressionist Society, the Oil Painters of America, and NOAPS. She has received multiple awards for impressionism and has exhibited at venues such as the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in London.
Robin is drawn to scenes that feel lived in rather than staged. Whether painting on site or working from reference, she studies movement, light, and human presence with quiet attention. Through this steady practice, she builds images that speak to shared experience and the familiar rhythms of everyday life.
Carolyn Lindsey@https://www.instagram.com/carolynlindseyart/
Carolyn Lindsey is an oil painter based in Cuervo, New Mexico, where the people, land, and daily life of the region shape her work. She also works in oil pastel and watercolor, but painting from life remains at the center of her practice. For Carolyn, direct observation is essential for understanding color and knowing when a painting has reached its natural conclusion.
She received her M.F.A. in painting and drawing from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas, and has spent many years teaching as an art instructor at Clovis Community College. After recently retiring from teaching, she now devotes her time fully to painting. She is a member of Plein Air Painters of New Mexico and has been widely recognized in national juried competitions for her steady commitment to working on location.
Carolyn has received numerous honors throughout her career, including multiple awards from the Oil Painters of America, Plein Air Painters of New Mexico, the American Impressionist Society, and the Wild Rivers Plein Air Festival. These awards span decades of consistent work and participation in major exhibitions across the Southwest and beyond.
At the core of her work is an ongoing process of learning through observation. Each painting grows from time spent with the subject and the gradual shift from what is seen to what the painting calls for in the final stage. This balance between study and instinct continues to guide her work today.
Together, these five painters show how a life built around steady looking and careful work continues to shape contemporary oil painting. Their paths differ in location, subject matter, and pace, yet they are linked by a shared regard for structure, routine, and long term commitment. From roadside studies and farmhouse studios to classrooms and national exhibitions, their work grows from years of showing up, setting up, and paying attention.
What stays consistent across all five is the way observation guides each decision. Light, form, weather, interiors, and human presence are not treated as effects to chase, but as problems to solve through time and practice. Teaching and community also run through their stories, extending their influence beyond the studio and into the lives of students and fellow painters.
As you finish this feature, the lasting impression is not about style or trend, but about continuity. These artists remind us that progress in painting comes through repetition, study, and patience. Their careers offer a view of what it means to keep working with the same questions year after year, allowing small shifts in perception and technique to add up to a body of work that feels grounded and considered.
