Vivian Olsen

Vivian Olsen an artist of wildlife, birds and landscapes, resides in Bend, Oregon. Vivian paints equally well with watercolor, oils, or pastels, her mastery of these media keeps her artwork varied and fresh. Her subjects include most large birds of the West, as well as scenes of high mountain lakes and rivers, and charming village scenes from places she has visited on painting trips.
 
Observing the life around her has always been a pastime for Vivian Olsen, first as a child growing up in rural California, and now as an artist roaming the mountains and valleys near her Central Oregon home. These quiet times bring forth the muse from which she draws inspiration for her nature paintings.
Vivian paints animals and birds as she experiences them in the wild - inhabitants of the places she loves to explore. At other times it is the habitat itself which is her focus - rivers, lakes, scenes of the Oregon high country. She captures these subjects in oils, pastel, and watercolor, producing paintings that glow with vibrancy and light.

Vivian began painting and drawing as a child and studied art in college because it was the strongest interest in her life. She has worked as a wildlife illustrator, an art educator at the high school level in New Mexico, and as a professional artist exhibiting and selling her paintings in the Southwest and throughout the nation.

Upon retiring she and her husband relocated to the Northwest where she can now indulge her love of painting as a full time professional artist exhibiting her art in her new environment.

Vivian is an active member of the High Desert Art League, Plein Air Painters of Oregon, Oil Painters of America, Oregon Arts Central, and ArtWise.

I see such beauty in her landscape paintings, I surely feel the passion she loves in her gift of creating wildlife.