Afton Ray is a mixed-media painter living along the Yellowstone River near Sidney, Montana- Badlands country. Where the landscape is rugged and the western life isn't a subject but a daily fact. Afton grew up in the region and has been showing work from her own gallery and frame studio, Bold West Art, since 2006. She has exhibited at the Out West Art Show at the C.M. Russell Museum venue in Great Falls. Her work is built in translucent layers: painterly strokes, lush color, and a metallic glazing drawn from years in interior design that gives the surface an atmospheric, almost tactile quality. She calls it Expressive Realism. The subjects are the ones outside her door; rodeo, wildlife, the open country along the Montana-North Dakota border. Her ongoing Buckaroo series is the current focus. "My art is not just a visual experience, but an invitation to ponder and reflect on your own kind of wild." Afton joined Cassens Fine Art in 2026. "I am drawn to Cassens Fine Art because the gallery atmosphere is a beautiful blend of classy, contemporary, and historic Montana style," she says.