First Order of Business
Giclee print, limited edition of 100, measures 18" x 24".

About the Artist Born in northern England, George Turnbull is a naturalized American citizen who served his country in both the second World War and the Korean War. A high honor graduate from the prestigious College of Fine Arts of Carnegie Mellon University, in 1958, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Turnbull later earned his Master of Fine Arts Painting degree from the University of Southern California.

He became an award winning graphic designer and an international award winning calligrapher, and was also one of the founding members of the Los Angeles based Society for Calligraphy. Granted the title of Professor Emeritus, George Turnbull retired from a long and distinguished career as Professor of Visual Communication in the California State University system and eagerly returned to his passion for Fine Art painting, particularly of the American west he knew so well as a young man.

George Turnbull's work is a rich reflection of a great variety of unique life experiences and abundant talent. In addition to military service which took him literally around the world, Turnbull spent many good years living and working in California and the western states, always intensely aware of the visual imagery and color in those surroundings.

That awareness served him well. His work hangs in many fine homes and notable public places, such as the Museum at the George Bush Presidential Library in Texas, where a Fine Art print of his highly acclaimed watercolor painting "9:11:01" is part of the permanent collection.

Equally proficient in watercolor and oils, Turnbull's considerable talent finds expression in a wide range of subject matter. Striking still lifes, rich rural scenes from his northern California ranch area, and broad western landscapes; all have a quiet, thoughtful strength that wears well. But still life, or cowboy life, rural river glen, or a view of the open range, Turnbull's paintings are personal, powerful statements.

The current geographical focus of Turnbull's art is the Great Basin of the western United States; that part of the west where the cowboys known as Buckaroos still ride.The Great Basin runs from the eastern side of the California Sierras, up into southeast Oregon, and the southwestern corner of Idaho, and most of northern and central Nevada,clear into Utah. But the Great Basin is also a state of mind and a place in the heart.

Because of that, Turnbull believes the life and livelihood of the Great Basin Buckaroo is particularly well suited to his lyrical use of color and direct compositional style. The Buckaroo, in his way of handling his life and his livestock, is carrying on the traditional artistry of the proud vaqueros of old, once known as the Californios. Turnbull has always been drawn to the beauty of the Great Basin's geography, with its high plains, vast open acreage, spectacular mountains, dry summers and hard winters. George Turnbull's paintings reflect his respect for both the land and those whose lives it tests.