Mary Ross Buchholz has a pioneer ranching family heritage and those time-honored traditions and values are a tremendous part of her life today. Mary and her husband live and ranch in rural West Texas near the town of Eldorado. Art has been Buchholz's devotion for more than two decades. She offers a glimpse of her daily ranch life using the most primitive of mediums, charcoal and graphite, and also by sculpting and painting. 

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"When using charcoal and graphite, I enjoy subtlety rendering the details, the different textures and the individual characteristics of my subjects,” she says. “I marvel at how black and white images seem timeless and impart a simplicity without other distractions.” This is one reason why she chooses to use charcoal and graphite as her primary medium. 

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"I hope to capture the viewer’s attention both from a distance and up-close,” she says. “I intentionally lead the viewer’s eye around the various areas of my drawings and paintings. This can be achieved by designing works with strong and balanced compositions, having interesting lighting, deliberately placing fine detail in specific focal areas, and using negative space.” 

Another important aspect of her work is having areas of rest within the artwork. Like beautifully composed music, she believes art needs areas of rest or areas that have only subtlety suggested detail. 

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“The eyes are my favorite part of an animal,” she says. “I feel like that’s where you’re able to see the life. As people say, the eye captures the soul of the horse. I am blessed that what I enjoy drawing is right here out my backdoor.”

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Mary is represented by InSight Gallery in Fredericksburg, Texas, and Montana Trails Gallery in Bozeman, Montana. She has been featured in publications including the Western Horseman, Art of the West, Western Art Collector, Southwest Art, America's Horse, Quarter Horse News, True West, Western Art & Architecture, Fine Art Connoisseur, Cowgirls Magazine, and Cowboys & Indians. Buchholz was also selected as both a winner and finalist in the 10th Annual ARC Salon competition and as a finalist in the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and most recently, the 15th ARC Salon competitions.