Mark Keathley (born 1963) grew up on the family farm in East Texas and loved romping through the woods and across open fields. He spent most of his spare time outside chasing lizards, and trying to catch that illusive grand-daddy large mouth bass. It was here, in this environment, where he first spied his mother’s oil painting box in the attic of his country home.

He had drawn pictures voraciously since age five, but the paints offered a new challenge that he thought he was up for at age eleven. After a very disappointing start, he didn’t give up, and continued trying, often painting well into the night as a teen. He later attended a small one man show put on for a friend in his college art class and saw, for the first time, someone...