Pencil Drawings, Oil Paintings, and Bronze Sculptures are what I spend most of my day doing. My name is Virgil C. Stephens & I have been drawing, (doodling) since I was a wet-behind-the-ears kid, being raised on ranches in and around the mountains of Globe, Arizona.

As time went on, I got more and more interested in this thing called “art”, and started dabbling in oils and watercolors. Raising a family at that time did not afford me the possibility of taking classes, so I started reading books and studying paintings by famous artists and well known teachers in my spare time, in an effort to teach myself how to create a piece of artwork. After the ump-teenth time of ruining a perfectly good canvas, I eventually wound up with a pencil in my hand producing black & white art. I just couldn’t find any earthly reason to bother with all of those confusing colors, until January of 2004, 20 years after being a professional pencil artist. (I think being born colored-blind had something to do with that!)

Growing up right along side, on top of, and sometimes under calves, ponies, mules, pups, kittens, a bucking barrel, an occasional chicken, and a plethora of other non-descript mammals & unidentifiable insects, has given me a hands-on approach to anatomy.

We processed our own meat & poultry, and I was weaned on cows milk straight from the utter and strained through a part of the screen left over from the back porch door. Deer and Elk were plentiful and there was never a shortage of venison in the freezer.

There were many times when we would saddle up to gather cattle and I would stuff my camera in my saddle bags along with a can of Vienna sausages and a roll of T.P. and would attempt to capture a Kodak moment whenever the chance afforded itself. Because of those times I now have an extensive photographic library of cows, horses, wildlife, women & children (having two daughters & two sons), rodeo cowboys of questionable character and other unique situations etc. categorized in order of subject matter to draw upon when creating a piece of artwork.

Painstaking efforts are also taken when producing prints & giclee prints from the original artwork. The process used to create my limited edition prints is called, offset lithograph, and the process used to create my limited edition giclee prints is processed on the Epson 9800 giclee fine-art printing machine, which is the finest machine in the country at this time. I am involved in every facet of the process from start to finish. Just recently I have introduced geclee's of my original oil paintings. Giclee's which is a fairly new process of printing, has exploded into the print market all over the world.

In 1992, I started sculpting in clay, and have now added a line of limited-edition bronze sculptures, ranging in concept from ultra-realism to stylized.

Being a pencil artist my whole life, I have learned how to draw and compose, and as of January 2004, I “morphed” into the world of music. From western to contemporary jazz & blues paintings, the oil paintings are done on textured “wrap-around” Canvas & Masonite panels. Em & I both make the panels from start to finish so that the customer is assured of quality craftsmanship all the way to the actual painting itself. The panels are built in a way that excludes them from having to be framed. I also have done numerous life-size paintings which are hanging in galleries and homes throughout the United States. A list of my accomplishments, awards and invitational art shows are also available for you to view here.

My wife Emily and I now reside high in the mountains of southern New Mexico, in the Loma Grande mountain range, surrounded by wildlife, clean air and most importantly my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We call our little piece of Heaven, the “Notevena Ranch and Art Gallery”. Lincoln County New Mexico is home to the world’s richest quarter horse race at Ruidoso Downs, Smoky Bear, Billy The Kid, and not a whole lot of other people. My kids were involved in 4-H and FFA, bred and showed animals in the county and state fairs, plodded through miles of manure, and as a result, they are better off for it.

If you have enjoyed this verbal voyage of my ramblings and want to mount up and ride through my website, click on artwork that will give you an index page, where you can choose what you would like to see. If you are interested in something personal.. which I call commissioned artwork, please contact me.

To find out what's currently going on with my family and I, please go to my news page.

If you enjoy your visit here, you may also want to visit these other great sites.

In the meantime, take my advise and keep your powder dry, and your chin to the wind & don't forget to salute our brave solders all over the world. God Bless America!