Sheila Cottrell

1949 - 0000

Sheila Cottrell’s family’s roots in the West run deep. In the early nineteenth century her ancestors settled in the Republic of Texas, in an area known today as East Texas. They lived there for at least three generations, owned a 1,500 acre ranch, and made their living working with horses. Seeking a drier climate for the sake of the health of the family’s matriarch, the family left San Angelo, Texas in seven covered wagons, arriving in 1900 at the recently abandoned Fort Bowie in the Arizona territory. There they established homesteads throughout the Sulphur Springs Valley, ran the Wells Brothers Overland Service, operated an Indian trading post, and quarried stone for the Gadsden Hotel in Douglas, which opened its doors in 1907. And, Cottrell’s grandfather, Reubin Garrett Wells, became a deputy sheriff of Tombstone.

Cottrell grew up on a ranch in Wilcox, Arizona (where Fort Bowie was once located) and says that as a child she was always drawing. Her early years were influenced by Frank Tenney Johnson’s paintings, which inspired her to paint her own interpretations of the West. Cottrell attended the University of Arizona briefly, but she left because she was put off by the University’s emphasis on modern art. Her real art education began, she says, in 1983 when she sought out James Reynolds, who was teaching at the Scottsdale Artists School and became Cottrell’s mentor for nearly 30 years.

Today, Sheila Cottrell lives and works in the same area of Arizona where her family settled well over a century ago. Working exclusively in oil, most of Cottrell’s paintings are based on her family’s history and the many stories passed down through generations. The clothes worn by the subjects are often based on personal family photos, and photos sent to her by friends and fans. “I enjoy painting anything to do with the West, past and present, but I especially love illustrating the tales of pioneering adventures my family experienced,” she says.

SURPRISE SNOW Oil on Masonite 16 x 12 inches