Wide-Open Spaces

When I asked Terry Anderson what inspires him about Southwest Kansas in his art, he said, “I think the clouds, for me, are the big thing, and just the openness of it. You know, the wide-open space. I guess most of my work does involve some type of a cloudscape.”

Anderson’s appreciation for the landscape began in his youth.

“As a kid I doodled, and then I liked to draw, especially in the winter, when it was too cold.”

“I was always outside. We rode our bikes down to Wagon Bed Springs and the river and explored. I just loved the land.”

Anderson began drawing scenes depicting the landscape, including after hunting trips with his dad and brother.

“I'd go hunting with my dad and brother, and then I'd come home, and I'd draw a picture of us.”

However, art was not always Anderson’s main interest.

“When I got in grade school, junior high and high school, I was more interested in sports, and I got into cars when I was in high school.”

During the Vietnam War, Anderson was drafted and ultimately joined the Navy.

“I was on an aircraft carrier, and we still went to Vietnam, but I wasn't in the jungle.”

“It wasn't in my blood to want to become a career Navy person because I love the land too much. But it was a neat experience, and you got to see some different countries.”

After leaving the service, Anderson gradually gravitated toward art.

“I lived next door to the junior high art teacher for a few years when he lived here. I watched him do stuff, and it got me interested.”

It was not until Anderson was around 30 that painting became a more serious hobby. He eventually joined the Ulysses Art Association, where he took a weeklong class from a mother and daughter from Houston, Texas.

“They taught us about shadow, cast shadow, shadow on form, atmospheric perspective. I brought a notebook with me, and I asked them lots of questions, such as ‘How do you mix this color to get that color?’”

The class also introduced him to professional painting materials.

“They sold me some brushes, and I bought a stretched canvas. It was the first time I'd ever painted on a canvas or had a brush other than a watercolor brush from my kids’ set that they used in school.”

“It was just magic for me.”

Anderson’s career in the gas field gave him another lens through which to view the landscape.

“My job was to go around and check the gas wells. One time, I ran the pumping unit, and turned the wells on.”

His time spent traveling through the countryside also became a source of inspiration.

“The idea was that I was all day out in the country, driving around, going places, and I noticed the clouds and the landscape. Maybe it's a landscape that you didn't pay any attention to one day, and another day the light would be just right, and you'd see something.”

He’d realize, “Oh, wow, you know, I can paint that. I want to make something out of that.”

Anderson’s passion for American history and Western culture introduced him to painters like “cowboy artist” Charlie Russell.

“Charlie Russell was probably my favorite [artist]. He was from St. Louis, but he went to Montana and fell in love with it and worked as a cowboy.”

Anderson discovered Russell and Frederic Remington through books.

“I had a lady here in town that told me about Russell and Remington, so I checked books out of the library and read up on them and looked at their art. It was the kind of stuff that I loved because I liked going camping.”

Seeing Russell’s paintings in person strengthened his interest.

“My brother said, ‘Do you know Charlie Russell is an adopted son of Montana?’ And he took me and showed me some of his paintings around, and that was pretty inspirational.”

Anderson owes much of his interest in history to his parents.

“They had a lot of books, and so I looked at them and read them. They gifted me books for Christmas and stuff about people like the Swamp Fox and the Revolutionary War. I just grew up being kind of infatuated with that.”

Anderson was also “really into mountain men, American history, the Revolutionary War, the French and Indian War, pioneers.”

In line with his love of history, Anderson participated in mountain-man reenacting, commonly called buckskinning.

“It's living history, basically. You dress up like old-time people, and you go out and you camp, or you live that lifestyle.”

The outdoors plays an important role in his work. Anderson has hunted, camped, and traveled on horseback, including on a 10-day pack trip along the Santa Fe Trail.

“We took a pack trip on the Santa Fe Trail on horses. We were out for 10 days, and we brought 10 deer hides.”

But when it comes to hunting, Anderson is drawn to the camaraderie and the experience of being outdoors.

“I've gone elk hunting with my brother and my nephews, but I never shot an elk. I just wanted to go for the fun of the camp and to see everything.”

Buffalo, elk, and moose are among his favorite animals, and animals often become subjects in his paintings.

His painting High Country Bull, featuring an elk against a mountainous landscape, came from watching a movie, where he noticed the slope of the mountain.

“I just thought an elk walking down that mountain would look kind of neat.”

Getting his ideas onto canvas takes more work, however.

“I do it on a piece of paper, and I'll do it in proportion and make a small square on a piece of paper, and then just draw things to try to make everything look like it flows nice.”

“Once I get that drawn, I use tracing paper and trace my drawing, and put it on the canvas to make sure it's going to be the right perspective.”

Anderson follows a dry-layering technique when he paints.

“I don't do wet-on-wet. I'll paint a part of it, and then I'll let that dry, and then I'll come back and do some more.”

Brushes are especially important to his process.

“Most of the painting that I do is usually with the filbert, which has the round end, or an angular.”

“I can make clouds, and lay the base layer. I can make grass with it, and make the bristles flow up to make trees.”

Anderson does not limit himself to a traditional canvas. He has painted on objects ranging from windmill blades and cream separators, to buffalo and cow skulls. He hung a cow skull that he painted on his fence.

Over time, Anderson’s artwork has become part of the community, including the signs that welcome people into Ulysses from various directions.

“They say Ulysses on it, with a barn and a bunch of clouds and elevators.”

“The tourism committee came up with ‘Home of Cheers, Steers,’ but somebody on two of them wrote ‘Beers’ after. They made it look nice, and I thought it was hilarious.”

Anderson continues to paint, often with several works underway at once as he continuously generates new ideas.

“I've got four paintings started right now that I'm working on, so that's what I've done mostly this summer.”

He also revisits old works.

“I've got a painting that I've done probably 10 years ago, and I kept looking at it, and I didn't like it. So I just took some gesso and painted white over the part I didn't like.”

Anderson views painting as a process of problem-solving.

“It's just thinking your way through it.”

By the end of our conversation, we had talked for more than an hour. Anderson offered to drop off some of his art magazines so I could reference and enjoy them too, as someone who also enjoys making art.

When I mentioned to Anderson that I sometimes feel people might receive my own artwork better if I stayed with a particular color theme, he gave me some advice that applies to more than just painting and seems to explain why he has kept painting for so many years.

“I think you should do whatever makes you feel good about doing it. Not everybody's going like it, but the people that do like it will relate to it.”