When Phil Bob Borman was working as a state trapper, a co-worker asked him what he wanted out of life.
“I said, ‘I want a gal to say, I do; I want to hear, It’s a boy; and I want to paint clouds like John Constable,’” Borman said. But he did not take a straight path to reach that objective.
“There’s a long way to the barn, and I took it,” he said. He’s had seasons working as a cowboy, a forest firefighter and a government trapper. He plays banjo, guitar, mandolin, violin and a mean harmonica, and he’s sung and played in all kinds of bands as well as at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.
His paintings of skies are nationally acclaimed.
“I want to paint God’s glory, one sky at a time,” he said. “I haven’t even scratched the paint on the tip of the iceberg in terms of exploring skies.”
Borman bought his first piece of art at age 7, paying 25 cents at a flea market — a loan from his mother that he paid back with interest. At 14, after working a shift as a busboy, he and a friend stayed up all night talking, and Borman drew until dawn.
“I told him, ‘I’m gonna be an artist,’” he said.
After studying forestry at Stephen F. Austin State University, Borman transferred to Sul Ross State University, where he majored in animal science and fine art. He did the work for a master’s degree in fine art too, studying under Bob Hext but didn’t see a reason to bother with the GRE.
At the time Borman focused on sculpture. He went to California to study with Mehl Lawson and took workshops with Cowboy Artists of America.
He took a decade away from art to do full-time ministry, including working as a pastor for the New Mexico Junior Rodeo Association.
“Then the Lord said, ‘Start painting,’ and I said, ‘OK.’ It was a real short conversation,” he said.
His first painting mentor was Michael Workman of Fredericksburg Artists’ School, where Borman now regularly teaches.
“I’m privy to learn under these artists from all over the world and how they solve artistic problems,” he said. “I go to a workshop, then I learn something, teach out of that, put it together and make a Phil Bob stew out of it.”
Borman is relentless as he approaches his artistic passion, the skies.
“Two words I never want to hear are ‘good enough.’ That’s the herald of mediocrity,” he said. “Your intent will always be seen. You can’t not communicate your intent.”
Borman calls his wife, Deanna, a partner in his work, running the business side of art so he can paint and ease back into sculpture.
“She’s got my six, which has increased my studio time exponentially,” he said.
Borman has been featured in “Western Art & Architecture” and “Western Art Collector” and will appear in the January-February 2019 issue of “Art of the West.”
His work can be found at both locations of The Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and at Lee Small Fine Art in Fort Worth.
In Fredericksburg he is represented at InSight Gallery, where he will be part a two-person show, “Heaven and Nature Sing,” with Jhenna Quinn Lewis in May.
Borman will teach a class on landscape painting at Fredericksburg Artists’ School April 22-26.