July Cover Artist: Nic Fischer

Nic Fischer is a proud father of two daughters, a narrative landscape painter, and frequent sufferer of summit fever. For nearly a decade, he has focused on painting landscapes as viewed from the top of a mountain, offering a new perspective of painting the expansive Montana landscape. Nic developed a plein air kit that is rugged and light enough to handle mountain summits so that through field studies, maps, and satellite imagery he can create large studio paintings looking down across entire mountain ranges. While the finished product cannot equal the breathless, encompassing panorama of a hard-earned summit, the paintings are exhilarating.

On the cover is Bozeman in July from the perspective of the cliffs above Hyalite Lake (not reservoir). The Hyalite Creek Trail is Nic’s favorite summer bike ride, and the painting is his way of celebrating its ascent and other trails in the area. Recently, he has been painting from the summit of Mt Ellis and Elephant Mountain with plans to put together a second large Hyalite Canyon work. In the fall of 2019, he spent his Artist in Residence painting from the summit of Edwards Mountain in Glacier National Park. He is still working on the final large painting from his time in Glacier; an expansive view from Sperry Chalet to Sperry Glacier.

Nic accepts commissions and always enjoys a new challenge. To view more of his work, please check out his website at nicwfischer.com