Victoria Wilson Schultz

Victoria was born to an artistic family in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her love of the outdoors started at a very early age and naturally progressed to painting the wildlife she saw. She travels extensively throughout the world gathering reference photos for her paintings. Her favorite reference trips include Kenya, South Africa, Yellowstone, Yosemite and the wild areas surrounding her home. Victoria recognizes the importance of observing her subjects in their natural surroundings. "The key to knowing your subject comes from intensive research of anatomy, behavior, and habitat. The actual painting time of a piece is only a fraction of the work; the rest is research." Victoria works in pastels, dry sticks of color that are made from pure, powdered pigment and mixed with a small amount of gum binder. A variety of surfaces are used to achieve a wide range of moods in her paintings. Each piece is composed of layer after layer of blended pastel strokes, sharpening the sticks to fine points to achieve a level of detail rarely seen in this medium. "Detail is what I love and I most enjoy it when people look at my work and can`t believe that it is pastel." Victoria attends and shows her work at annual art shows throughout the country. She is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America (PSA). She and her husband John live in Elk River, Minnesota with their three dogs, chinchilla, three canaries and three horses.