Short Bio
Tobie, a native Montanan, has been creating art since before she started school. Recently retired from the State of Montana, she now dedicates much of her time to art.
Statement
It's not about wishing; it's about doing. It's about practicing what we love every minute we can. Many of us would love to play the piano, but unless we practice, practice, practice ... playing the piano is only a wish. The same thing is true about art. The more we create, the more we learn. The more we learn, the better our art becomes. I think about drawing and painting all the time. But I don't stop there. I take action. Everything I see, I wonder what it would look like as a painting. I study the colors, the values, the form, and how the object sits in relation to the it's environment. I sketch it, photograph it, paint it. I'm an eclectic artist. My art covers a wide array of genres: wildlife, still life, ranch life, landscapes, clouds scapes, water scapes. It keeps me excited and engaged in creating paintings that stir me.
Biography
Tobie Liedes, was born and raised in the heart of Montana. She cannot recall a time when she wasn't drawing, coloring with crayons and colored pencil, and painting with watercolors. Being raised in ranching country, she grew up around horses, cattle, wildlife, mountains, prairies, rickety corrals, and old pickup trucks. It was during cattle drives that she started what she calls "scribble sketches." As soon as she got home from a cattle drive and seen to her horse, she'd charge to her room to quickly draw her experiences. The drawings where small, and she'd fill the sketchbook page with quickly scribbled sketches. She began oil painting in the mid-1960s. In the mid-1970s, she married and moved to Wyoming. It was there that she started painting with serious intent. She joined art organizations and pursued venues to show her art. Her art was accepted/juried into numerous shows, and won numerous awards. She began painting with acrylics the late 1970 and taught her first acrylic techinque class in 1980. She has been teaching ever since, including "scribble sketching" and developing paintings from the quick reference drawings. She returned to her beloved Montana in 2002 and moved back to her home town of Lewistown, Montana, in 2019. Two years later, she retired from the State of Montana, and now paints 4-8 hours six days a week and teaches several times a year. She is a signature artist with the Montana Watercolor Society.