Another indicator of how the times were changing was when he realized he ’ d lost many local contacts and allegiances because of the move . In California he could call on a studio and they might plug in a job or two and keep things steady for him . Having lost all those convenient connections , Krogle got the not-so-subtle signal that maybe there was another art form he needed to pursue .
One day , while sitting on a hill on his property wondering what he was going to do here in the Idaho Panhandle , a revelation came to him . He had met Terry Lee , a well-known local artist . Terry invited him to join his classes and learn to paint with oils . Krogle started slowly and developed his fine art and oil painting skills over the next two years .
Krogle found that doing a variety of things as an illustrator didn ’ t work well in the fine art world — that most successful artists seemed to have one style and / or singular subject matter . Krogle dove into romantic figurative work , using his daughter as a model . They would go down to the lakeshore and take photo references of her in a white , gauzy dress or wading in the shallow water and looking down at her reflection . It was a lot of fun and that translated into his works gaining in popularity . His reputation for romantic figurative style grew , but he felt it was still limiting his potential .
Krogle had observed that Western Art is big in the Northwest , so he decided to paint cowboys and other characters from the Old West in different circumstances . Krogle stated he never wanted to touch on the historical aspect . “ I just wanted to do paintings that excited
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