Andy Sewell has two longhorn steers in his pasture that he bought, not with money, but by giving the farmer a painting of his land.

“I’ve traded art for doctor bills,” Sewell said, laughing and adding, “We artists have to be creative because you don’t always have the money when you need something.”

He said he most often trades art for art, but he also traded art for most of his fishing gear.

“I love trading stuff. You come home with these little treasures you would have never gotten otherwise.”

Sewell graduated from the University of Idaho in 1989 where he studied architecture. However, after taking several art classes, he decided to pursue art and graduate as an art major.

“I fell in love with watercolor,” he said. “And that’s been what I’ve done for the last 20 years more than anything. You almost can’t master it. There’s almost an outside force… It’s an adventure.”

However, in the last couple of years Sewell has started oil painting, partly because he said it is more respected.

“Most of the galleries have acrylics and oil paintings, and if you’re not one of those guys, you’re kind of like… a joker,” he said.

Julie Hartwig, owner of The Shop at the Barn and exhibit coordinator for the Dahmen Barn where Sewell is currently showing work, disagreed with his statement.

“I think watercolors are just as respected as oils,” Hartwig said. “Because anybody that has done watercolors, it’s a lot less forgiving than oil, so I just think it’s each person’s preference of what they like.”

Last year, Sewell participated in Palouse Plein Air, which was his first plein air competition. At the time, he was just starting to paint with oils and painted an old truck that sits in his driveway.

“It didn’t turn out very good ‘cause I just was starting to oil paint, I didn’t know much about it,” he said.

He painted almost one painting a day that week.

“One painting I sat in the same spot every morning from 8 to 10 in the morning because I couldn’t do this painting in two hours.”

Coincidentally, the painting that won Sewell first place in this year’s Palouse Plein Air was a painting of the same truck from the previous year.

“One morning, on a whim I just said, ‘I think I’ll just paint the old truck again,’” he said. “I didn’t even really care about it. I didn’t consider this painting was gonna be an award winning painting.” 

He said his carefree attitude toward the painting freed him up to be “goofy and crazy” and that some of his best paintings have been ones done in a hurry to meet a deadline.

“If you’re stressed out and worried about your painting, it’s probably not going to turn out so great.”    

Hartwig has worked with Sewell for eight years and said people describe Sewell’s art as being photograph-like.  

Sewell said he sells most of his paintings directly to the customer.

“I feel like they’re buying a story when they can talk to me,” he said. “It’s more personal and meaningful to them.”

He also isn’t afraid to take criticism, and especially from his family.

“I dig it if (my son) says, ‘Dad, this one sucks,’” he said. “Most public won’t tell you that, they just won’t buy it. So I’m going, ‘Why won’t this thing sell?’ Well, someone needs to tell me. I may not see it always.”

When he isn’t painting, Sewell occasionally teaches watercolor classes and recently has started welding with one of his sons.

“We’ve made some really funky looking gates,” he said. “There’s an artist in everyone.”