Charles Fritz: Western Landscape Painter - Epi. 182, Host Dr. Mark Sublette

I had Charles Fritz on today. He's such an interesting person, not just as a painter, but also as a guy who really loves the outdoors. Charles not only likes to hunt and fish, but he's also an individual that really believes in conservation. He believes that you have to get out and do plein air paintings to be able to capture what you hope to capture in the studio and this shows in his paintings and the major projects he takes on.

One major project began in 1998 when he was camping along the South Bank of the Missouri River. He came up with the idea of rendering segments of the Lewis and Clark expedition and capturing all of that history in paint.

So he fills the next six years of his life doing this. Something that was going to start out as a twelve painting series grew all the way to 100 paintings. Fritz having since published a book about them and created a show that travels periodically from museum to museum. In fact, right now, the Lewis and Clark paintings are on display at the Wonders Of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium in Springfield, Missouri.

Charles is a solid artist with a great reputation and somebody that I've known for years and have collected his work for probably 15 to 20 years. I have quite a few of his works in my home, so I really enjoyed just getting to sit and talk with Charles Fritz.