Teresa Elliott is an American realist painter living and working in her desert studio north of the Big Bend National Park in Alpine, Texas. Today, she is best known for portraits of bovines and figurative paintings immersed in the natural rural environment in the Southwest.Her family of origin settled in Texas in the 1800's, working a farm with Angus cattle and pecan orchards. A fascination with livestock and Texas countryside colored her world then, and has continued to inspire her fine art today. Yearly family vacations to the farm from her home in the Midwest kept her interested in the gritty lifestyle of farm life that has influenced her work to this day.After completing a Fine Art BFA from the University Of Kansas Elliot moved to Dallas, Texas, working as an artist designing intricate scroll work for Colt, Winchester firearms and Buck knives for an etching company. Soon, she saw an opportunity to become self employed as a graphic designer and illustrator. Many years as an illustrator prepared her for her true calling as a fine art painter, especially after discovering the Texas Longhorn with all their many colorful attributes living near her home in suburban north Texas. In 2006, she had a sold-out gallery show in Ft. Worth, Texas which launched her career and afforded her to devote everyday to her studio practice. Teresa Elliot's studio in the hills of the Big Bend region of West Texas sits on a bed of ancient lava rock looking over a vast old ranch now vacant. The wandering javelina herds, deer and turkey are frequent visitors at her studio, reminding her of her favorite quote from John Muir, "When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it connected to the rest of the world."The artist has exhibited her work nationally as well as internationally in China and Barcelona, Spain