When Picasso gave us a wonderful and remarkably new way of looking at the world, he also gave artists a very helpful quote: “Inspiration comes, but it must find us working.”

Nature is the inspiration for all of Louisa Hull’s paintings. Bears, chickens, bunnies, and wolves with personalities have appeared on her canvases for the last six years. During the summer of 2021, Louisa spent hours gazing in some of the more remote parts of Montana. The long, beautiful Montana evenings outdoors saw her sketching sunsets, sunrises, quiet water, and those clouds the size of Rhode Island.

Louisa’s dreamscape became filled with the incredible shapes and colors of dawn and twilight set in the dramatic geology of the Beartooth mountains. Moonrises, as well as clear, reflective rivers and streams shimmered and burst into her sketches. Hikes in the Greater Yellowstone area brought a pulsing, invisible energy to her thoughts. Being out in the vast meadow and sensing the many seismological events going on underneath her brought energetic inspiration. The serenity on the surface, mixed with the energy beneath, led her to create vivid, moody landscapes. Waking up and watching the sunrise colors each morning out on the American Prairie began to fill the canvases.

For every one painting Louisa has finished, there are four more she is working on. Inspiration arrived—and it surely found her hard at work! “For me, hiking is wonderful, and gazing for miles ahead is the bread that restores my soul.”

Louisa paints every single day. After a summer of hiking, she mixed up a new palette and began to develop these moody new landscapes.

The big, broad strokes of color express the serene, yet active energy floating just above the surface, hinting at what is below. These waves of seismic energy move all around and, even in serene meadows, Louisa senses the tension underneath. Some days it feels like the land and the sky are actually vibrating with energy.

The Moody Landscapes and additional paintings can all be purchased at Taco Montes, one of Bozeman’s most delicious hidden gems.