As a kid, Mary Jo Van Dell enjoyed drawing. The Stillwater resident had dreams of becoming a Hollywood makeup artist. “But always in the back of my mind, I wanted to paint,” she says. She took her first and only lesson at age 21 (she had been painting before that) and has been painting professionally ever since.

Today, the oil painter of more than 30 years finds inspiration in the outdoors, and her work is featured in both the Minnesota Historical Society and National Park Systems’ collections. Read more about Oil Painter Mary Jo Van Dell of Stillwater Finds Inspiration in the Outdoors