Original acrylic and acrylic-oil paintings by Trish Lewsader, painted from the quiet of rural central Illinois, where her dogs and a lifelong love of animals shape every canvas.
View the Gallery Meet Trish
Trish has been making art for as long as she can remember. Born in Terre Haute, Indiana to an American father and a Japanese mother, she grew up in a home where creativity was never optional, it was expected. Before she ever set foot in a kindergarten classroom, Trish was already gathering leaves, bark, and stones from the woods behind her childhood home and turning them into art.
That instinct never left her. She went on to study art at Indiana State University, though most of what she knows came from simply showing up and working at it every day. Over the years she has worked in nearly every medium there is, sculpture, paper mache, and mixed media among them, but painting wild animals is the one that has always pulled her back to the easel.
Trish has been a full-time working artist for more than thirty years, showing her work at art fairs and festivals across the Midwest, including many years at the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival, one of the largest festivals in the country by attendance, drawing more than two million visitors each year.
She grew up in the Midwest and has lived on a farm in central Illinois for the past thirty-five years, where she shares her days with her husband and her dogs, and spends as much free time as she can with her grandchildren. At heart, Trish is a free spirit, and making art is simply what makes her happy, that, her dogs, and her grandchildren, in no particular order.
Beyond the canvas, Trish also leads The Love Project, an effort that serves the homeless and those in need in her community, providing food, clothing, and help with other everyday necessities. For Trish, caring for people comes from the same place as her art: showing up, paying attention, and giving what she can.
These are some of the latest art by Trish. She has a full collection that includes many wild animals, like big cats, buffalos, birds, and fish, among many others.
You can check out her full gallery on her Facebook page here.
View Full Gallery on Facebook
Two powerful stallions collide in a moment of raw, primal confrontation, one rearing back with jaws locked onto the other in a display of dominance and instinct. Rendered in a striking bronze-to-black palette, the piece relies on intricate linework to convey motion and muscle beneath the skin.
Two horses stand close together, necks overlapping in a gesture of trust and companionship, their manes rendered as cascades of vivid blue, purple, and orange. The glowing, impressionistic sky gives the piece a dreamlike quality built entirely from color and closeness.
A solitary horse stands in profile against hazy blue mountains, its coat alive with strokes of orange, teal, and violet catching an unseen light. Lush green brush anchors the animal in a rugged landscape, quiet strength paired with untamed independence.
This intimate close-up captures a horse with its head bowed low, eyes soft beneath a striking white blaze. Built from countless small strokes of pink, blue, orange, and gold, the piece has a shimmering, mosaic-like texture that keeps focus on the animal's calm, introspective mood.
Rendered entirely in black, white, and gray, this striking portrait captures a bald eagle's head with meticulous, feather-by-feather detail. Its sharp eye and hooked beak hold a watchful, commanding presence, emerging from a deep black background that lets every texture in the feathers catch the light.
Three horses move together in a swirl of motion, dappled coats speckled with red, blue, and green, glowing against a deep midnight background. The overlapping forms and wind-swept manes create a strong sense of speed and unity, as if the trio moves as one.
Rendered entirely in black, white, and gray, this dramatic portrait captures a horse's head emerging from a swirl of smoky shadow. The high-contrast detail in the mane and muzzle gives the piece a sculptural realism and quiet, solemn power.
An octopus coils through a vibrant reef, its ringed tentacles unfurling in loops of gold, rust, and deep blue beside a drifting pink jellyfish. Thick, textured brushwork brings the coral and sponge below to life in bursts of orange, yellow, and red, while the octopus's single visible eye holds a calm, watchful gaze.
A leopard pauses low in tall golden grass, its rosette-marked coat rendered with fine, deliberate brushwork that captures every whisker and fold of fur. The soft, blurred green background draws full attention to the animal's alert gaze, caught in a quiet moment of stillness before it moves.
For pricing, commissions, or gallery inquiries, reach out directly. Trish is happy to talk through sizing, availability, and custom commissions.