Animal Portraits
The arts have played an important role in Lena Noble’s life. During her youth she was enamored with painting, drawing and music. While she earned a master’s degree in classical piano, her passion for the visual arts never went away. Noble started to focus her energy into her art and about seven years ago began her journey as a professional artist.
Noble primarily works with oils, charcoal and graphite to create paintings and drawings of animals. Many of the creatures that populate her canvases are those that you would find on farms such as horses, goats and cows. This comes from a childhood living in a large city, when her heart was drawn to the ranches where the animals could roam. Each painting she creates is like a portrait where the animals take center stage and the background has a supporting role. Her works have a sense of emotion, connection and movement despite the simplicity in composition.
The style comes from her interest in the work of the Old Masters. She elaborates, “I love the style of those works, so I try to incorporate that into my work. I bring out the light and darkness—the chiaroscuro.” Noble’s works are realistic renderings, but she is “trying to describe the form of the animal without putting every single hair into the space.” Her smaller works tend to be looser in nature, while her larger scale paintings have tighter and more detailed passages.
In the short time that Noble has been a working artist, she has garnered national attention. She was invited to participate in the Coors Western Art’s Young Guns Art Show & Reception in December 2025, and since 2024 her work has been included in The Russell, an auction experience hosted by and in benefit for the C.M. Russell Museum. One of the works she presented at this year’s Russell sale is IN THE MORNING MIST, which depicts three horses surrounded by a cloud of mist. The morning light glistens softly against their backs. —Rochelle Belsito
contact informationlenanoble.art
This story appeared in the April/May 2026 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Subscribe today to read every issue in its entirety.
The post Artist to Watch | Lena Noble appeared first on Southwest Art Magazine.