-ABOUT JON CRANE-

   JON CRANE is well known for his detailed watercolors of rural America.  He works exclusively in watercolor, combining washes and dry brush, using the subtle hues of watercolor on the subjects he loves so well.  His large, finely detailed scenes are his trademark.  It is not unusual for him to spend several hundred hours on a single piece. Born in New Jersey in 1948, he left the crowded East in 1967 for the open spaces of the West.  After earning a B.A. in Fine Arts from the University of Northern Colorado in 1971, he spent the next 5 years as an Air Force pilot, logging combat missions in Southeast Asia.  He left the military in 1975 and has been a full-time artist since 1976.  He now makes his home in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where he has built a home and studio of his own design along a secluded stream. Jon is a descendant of two noted artists.  Alfred R. Waud was well known for his Civil War sketches done for Harper’s Weekly, which can be seen in almost any book on the Civil War. Marine artist Milton J. Burns was a popular contemporary of Winslow Homer.  Crane has painted hundreds of watercolors and has published limited edition since 1979.  Over half of these limited editions are sold out, with several selling on the secondary market for ten times their issue price.  Jon Crane has received numerous honors and awards as an artist and avid historian. In 2021, he was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame.