Chris Vest has a 25 year background in traditional mediums, but more recently has developed a way to merge painting and photography in the digital medium. In the tradition of Alfred Stieglitz's "Photo-Secessionist" movement, photographic images are transformed by intense painterly manipulation to create textures and effects that attempt to bridge the unique properties of photography and painting, a process he has dubbed the "painted photo montage". After years of wandering, traveling and living in places like Alaska, Switzerland, Israel and Wyoming, Chris now lives with his partner Cathy and 25 companion animals on a six acre farm near Dolores, Colorado. Together they are restoring the land, formerly badly overgrazed by cattle. In addition, they operate a small animal shelter, rescuing and fostering animals from across the four corners area. All sales help this animal rescue effort. Last year saw the publication of an acclaimed Conservation Field Guide by the American Bird Conservancy for which Chris had provided the complex and ornithologically precise bird illustrations and habitat vistas. Besides being a conservationist himself, Chris is an award winning home brewer, beer judge and published beer writer.
