After several years in Ouray, longtime Western artist Mike Simpson is back in Montrose — and back on Main Street.
Simpson has opened gallery space inside Tim Frates’ MegaPixel at 509 E. Main St., bringing his watercolors and oil paintings of the American West back to the community he first called home in 1979.
“It’s home,” Simpson said of Montrose. “Ouray was a nice experience. I’d really like to get re-established here.”
Simpson originally operated a frame shop and gallery at 308 E. Main St. for roughly 30 years before closing in the winter of 2017, he said, in what he described as an attempt at retirement.
“That didn’t stick,” he said.
Though the storefront closed, the painting never stopped.
Simpson continued producing work, participating in plein air events and operating a gallery in Ouray for three years before losing his lease last September.
After taking time to evaluate his next step, an opportunity came through Frates, who offered Simpson space at the front of MegaPixel.
The move coincides with what Simpson sees as a shift in Montrose’s arts scene.
“The art vibe has changed considerably,” he said, pointing out the city’s murals and traveling sculpture installations.
Simpson paints primarily Western landscapes and rural American subjects, working in both watercolor and oil. His watercolor pieces emphasize transparency and looseness, while oils allow for heavier brushwork and texture, he said.
“Watercolor, I paint spots and looseness and transparency,” he said. “But I really enjoy oils for the brushwork. I can do things in watercolor I can’t in oil and vice versa.”
His subject matter ranges from Rocky Mountain peaks and the Black Canyon to small-town alleyways and grain silos.
He also works on commissioned pieces and has worked with collectors locally and across the West.
“I paint the people, places and things of small-town, rural America,” Simpson said. “They all have a story.”
Simpson often paints outdoors — a practice known as plein air painting — and residents may see him set up with an easel on a street corner or along a country road.
“Don’t call the cops,” he joked. “It’s just me.”
His background informs much of his work. Simpson studied animal science and worked in ranch management before a back injury in the mid-1980s led him to pursue art full time.
He has cowboyed on large Western ranches, worked as a lease agent on the Crow Indian Reservation and spent time horseback packing in the Rockies — experiences that shaped his early recognition for detailed pencil sketches of working cowboys.
In the 1970s, Simpson began working in oils with encouragement from professional painter Ed Runci and later received guidance from Joe Beeler, a founding member of the Cowboy Artists of America.
Today, Simpson divides his time between his Main Street studio and a workspace north of town. He is currently in the gallery Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with Frates covering the space when he is out painting.
In addition to his gallery work, Simpson maintains a YouTube channel, “Mike Simpson Art Travel Paint Experience,” where he shares on-location painting sessions.
After decades in the West and years away from Main Street, Simpson said returning to Montrose feels right.
“I was really touched by the number of people who came by,” he said of reconnecting with local residents during a recent holiday event. “It stirred some feelings.”
For Simpson, the West remains both his subject and his home.
“The West is my home,” he said. “The landscape, the buildings, the people and the animals that make up the West — that’s what I paint
Justin Tubbs is the Montrose Business Times editor. He can be reached by email at justin@montrosebusinesstimes.com or by phone at 970-765-0915 or mobile at 254-246-2260.
