Telling the story of the West has always been fascinating to Guy Deel, who was the son and grandson of cowboys. His family homesteaded in Texas in 1887. His parents were married in a horse-and-buggy with all the witnesses and guests sitting in buggies outside the church. "Not many artists have a chance to portray the story of our country in epic form seen by millions over who knows how many years, " he told interviewer Carol Lea Clark in a 1988 "Southwest Art" magazine story.

Deel began his 50-year career at 17 working in an animation studio in Dallas. The Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles offered him a scholarship, and he graduated in 1955.

During the 1950's Deel spent two years...