Western artist Karmel Timmons has made a career of turning ordinary moments into extraordinary pieces.
Known for her detailed equestrian portraits, the Sheridan, Wyoming, pencil artist has gained quite a following in the equine community and garnered many awards throughout her 25-year career, including the most recent, named Best Western Artist in Western Horseman magazine’s 2024 Best of Western Horseman Awards.
“Being an artist is a very lonely business, and it's OK, because I like being in my studio and I like working, but you don't get the feedback every single day that people like your work or know who you are,” she said. “When something like this happens, it’s nice because then you know people enjoy your work.”
Falling Into Life As An Artist
As a child, Timmons always loved a new box of crayons and a big piece of paper to draw on. Her mother and aunts were all artists, so she was around it a lot growing up.
“In high school, I didn't think you could do anything with it so I just kind of dropped it when I graduated,” she said.
When she was 32, she bought a couple of horses. Watching the animals inspired her to pick up a pencil and begin sketching again.
“It was a lightbulb moment, and that was the thing that got me on that track as far as western art goes,” she said. “I did that first little sketch and was pretty excited to be drawing again. It just kind of snowballed from there.”
At the time, Timmons was working in accounts receivables for “some company.”
“I got married and had a child, got divorced and got remarried, and then was just working jobs that were the opposite of art,” she said. “Looking back I think that was very silly, but you do what you have to do, right?”
After that first sketch she began to do full-size drawings of horses. She also displayed her work at a small gallery in a nearby town, where she met a horsewoman who would be an instrumental part of her early career. The woman wanted Timmons to draw her husband’s horse for a birthday present.
The two became friends and through her, Timmons met several people that made a living working with horses and began drawing those too. Once she started drawing more, Timmons began entering art shows and trying to get her work in galleries.
“It just took maybe a year or two before I was a professional and making my living at it,” she said. “So my friend Mindy, I gave her that credit because she was really the one that said, ‘This is what you should do.’”
Mindy also took her to the Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale’s opening night. The show is a premier annual event and gallery exhibition held in conjunction with the National Western Stock Show in Denver every January.
“The next year, I applied for that show,” Timmons said. “Sometimes you just do crazy things. And I got into the national show, and I've been doing that show ever since.”
It’s All In The Details
As a pencil artist, Timmons focuses on capturing intricate details and realism in her artwork. Pencil was her favorite medium in high school and she eventually developed her own technique and style. When she took up art again, she stuck with what she enjoyed.
“I never really wanted to paint,” she said. “I mean, now I do, but back then I didn't, and I kind of was able to carve out a little bit of a niche because there are a bunch of oil painters and a ton of sculptors, but not many pencil artists so I would fill a role at any show that I applied for because they didn't have a pencil artist.”
Timmons understands the importance of smooth transitions between light and shadow and the range of pencil grades for effective shading. When she started drawing again she headed to Hobby Lobby and purchased a variety of different papers and pencils to try.
“I really find the values important – the contrast, the darks and the lights and everything between,” she said. “I found this one pencil I really like because you get some really nice dark darks without any of the shiny graphite look and I've been using those ever since.”
The amount of time it takes to finish a piece varies. For a big drawing of around 22 by 26 inches she estimates two solid weeks of drawing every day from morning until well after dark, seven days a week. She starts with an initial rough sketch, followed by broad strokes to create the outline, and finally hours of detail work and refining.
“I know when it's done,” she said. “All of the sudden, I'm just done and I go, ‘Oh, okay, that's it. I'm done. That's perfect.’”
She loves when people have an emotional connection to one of her pieces. Often people will tell her one of her drawings remind them of something in their life that meant a lot to them, such as a moment with a horse that has long passed.
“People, especially women, have a very emotional connection to horses, and sometimes that translates to my artwork,” she said. “To me, that’s such a great thing because art is about emotion. It's all about the connection you have with that piece.”
Karmel Timmons is best known for her black-and-white drawings. (Courtesy Karmel Timmons) 
"The Golden Hour" is one of Timmons that is part of the Coors Western Art Exhibit and Sale this year, where she will receive a special award for her 20-plus years as part of the show. (Courtesy Karmel Timmons)
No Shortage Of Ideas
Early on in her career, Timmons often asked people for photos of their horses to recreate, but now she enjoys going out and finding the subjects for her work, whether it be driving to Yellowstone National Park and taking a thousand photos of wildlife or driving to a friend's ranch to see a new foal.
“I'm not a photographer by any stretch, but I definitely know what I like and what I want, and it's easier for me to just take my own and to go out and experience all that stuff,” she said. “You never know what's going to spark your creativity or your ideas,” she added.
When drawing she likes to recall the scene, remembering the smells and even the temperature at the time. She feels it makes the artwork more authentic and meaningful.
“I think about these things,” she said. “I’ll think, ‘I'm drawing this bison, and I remember standing on the banks of the Madison River and this pretty little cow bison was staring at me.’ I remember just about everything and that does help. I can't really explain how it helps, but I think it does.”
Timmons captures many aspects of ranching life, as well as a variety of wildlife, but she’s best known for her equine depictions. She said horses and the romantic idea of the West have always fascinated her.
“A lot of people that are horse people know my work, because I'm such a stickler for detail and I want things to be correct,” she said. “I don't often draw horses doing really crazy things. I like horses that are good horses that aren't going to hurt me and or hurt anybody else.”
And while she loves to capture the glamour of western life including beautifully handcrafted gear on the horses, other drawings show the hard reality of being a rancher.
“I did a drawing of this old rancher out of Kaycee, Wyoming, and he wears this frayed jacket, the nose band on the horse is frayed, and there’s duct tape on his boot, and I drew it all because I was fascinated by that,” she said. “That's just the way it really is. You're a rancher, and you’ve got to make do with what you can do. And sometimes it isn’t always about looking pretty.”
It’s hard for Timmons to single out one favorite of the pieces she’s completed, but there are a few that stand out in her mind including “At the Watering Hole,” which features two mares and two foals in the water.
“That was done a while ago,” she said. “Nothing leaves my drawing table that I don't absolutely love, but there's certain ones that you go, ‘Oh gosh, that turned out really good.’ I have so many things that I'm proud of about that drawing, and things that no one would ever notice on their own.”
Branching Out
After years in rural Colorado, in 2017 Timmons and her husband moved to Sheridan and she began making more frequent trips to Yellowstone, leading to more wildlife drawings including elk, bison and bears.
From August to December things really ramp up and she said she basically lives in her studio working on show entries, followed by calendars and other Christmas gift options for people.
“Every day I get up in the morning, I drink my coffee downstairs and then I come upstairs, and I am up here all day until 9:30 at night,” she said. “It is quite a process, but I do my own framing, I do my own design work, I do my own shipping, I do everything.”
At this point in her career, Timmons is also doing more experimenting including working with colored pencils. And in the slow time from January to March she plans to focus on oil painting.
“That's the goal,” she said of painting. “I keep saying that, but that's the goal. It's gonna happen this year, I swear.”
It was a bit of an adjustment when she began using colored pencils, but she’s been enjoying going ‘crazy with color.’ She now breaks things up and tries to alternate a color and then regular pencil drawing to keep things fresh.
“I've gotten very colorful,” she said. “I assumed that I would start out sort of muted after looking at black and white my whole career, but I'm definitely enjoying the color a lot, and I'm experimenting a little bit with things.”
One thing that has made the transition easier is the fact that since the beginning, Timmons has only worked from color photography.
“I can’t work from a black and white photo,” she said. “I’m used to looking at color but drawing the values in black and white.”
Recent recognition
During her career, Timmons work has been featured in several magazines including Western Horseman. The magazine holds a special place in her heart as it was the first to do an article about her work in 1999 when she was just getting started.
“I was thinking about this the other day, and I don't remember how that happened,” she said of the 1999 piece. “Over the years, they’ve just really been great about including me. I've had a feature, I've had the cover once and I'm in their calendar.”
Most recently, she was one of 16 artists nominated for Best Western Artist in the third annual Best of West Horseman Awards, which are voted on by readers. Two days before the issue announcing the winners came out, Timmons was informed she had made the top three, but she was surprised when she found out she was the top choice.
“This is gonna sound so cheesy, but I was excited to be nominated because even though I've been in the Western art world a long time, somebody had to nominate me and then people had to vote for me,” she said. “I thought I would do okay in it, but I didn't think I'd win it.”
Timmons will also receive another award in early January as one of the recipients of the Mary Belle Grant Award during the Coors Western Art Exhibit, as part of a group of artists that have been in the show for more than 20 years. The award honors those who symbolize the passion of the West through art.
