Gary Collins, contemporary oil and watercolor painter and one of Utah’s finest landscape artists, was born in the mid 30’s and has drawn and painted since early childhood. He grew up in a nurturing family that fostered his artistic talent and his innate appreciation of art. At a young age he studied the art of the early Utah painters and practiced duplicating works of the masters such as Van Gough and Matisse. His early interest in art, sparked by teachers and his grandfather, a poet and naturalist, eventually led Gary to sample a variety of related professions while painting; interior and graphic design, architecture and illustration. Selling his first works at the age of 20, Gary ultimately realized his dream to paint full time in 1969. A press release from a Los Angeles gallery said of Gary Collins, “Many artists have the ability to depict a landscape. Few have the talent to show a viewer what the places feels like.”