Bill Owen grew up with two heroes - his Dad and his Uncle. “My Dad, Bill Owen, Sr. was a cowboy before I was born. I have fond memories of visiting my Uncle in Ajo, Arizona. He had a whole wall of Remington & Russell prints and I remember sitting as a young boy looking up at those and thinking how great they are.” This is how my two desires in life came together at an early age - one to be a cowboy and the other to be an artist. As long as I can remember, I have picked up pencils and drawn. My Mother has a little pastel drawing of a horse I did when I was eight.”
In 1973, Owen became a member of the Cowboy Artists of America. So far he has won over 21 awards with the CAA. In 1993, his oil painting “Brush Hands Waiting for Daylight”, received the National Cowboy Hall of Fame’s prestigious Remington Award. “Honesty and integrity mean a lot to me - I was reared that way; and I want to show that, not only in my life, by in my paintings. Now and later on when someone looks at my paintings, drawing, prints or sculptures, I want them to think that if my name is on it, then that is the way it was. Authenticity is the hallmark of my work.”
In June 2003, at the Prix de West Show in Oklahoma City, Bill won the "Great American Cowboy Award", honoring the best portrayal of the cowboy subject matter. Also in October 2003, at the Cowboy Artists of America Show in Phoenix, Bill won the "CA Award" which goes to the artist who has submitted the most significant body of work for this year's CAA Exhibition.
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