Meet the Artist
Welcome to Sedona Art Studios.
Here you’ll discover my original paintings and luminous Southwest landscapes created with fluorescent acrylics, layered color, and a deep love for the natural beauty of the American Southwest.
A Childhood Surrounded by Art
I grew up in Edison, New Jersey during the 1950s and ’60s. My father, Kip Sheppard, worked as a freelance commercial artist from a small studio in our home. While he never formally taught me how to draw or paint, I spent many quiet hours watching him work.
My father studied at the Art Students League of New York, where he met Max Fleischer, creator of Betty Boop. He later worked with Fleischer on early animation projects using the groundbreaking rotoscope technique.
Even though I didn’t pursue art at the time, those early memories left a lasting impression.
Discovering Painting at 45
My own artistic journey began much later in life.
In 1990, at the age of 45, I decided to explore my creative potential and enrolled in an adult evening art class at a local high school in New Jersey. I assumed watercolor would be simple — just pigment and water.
I quickly discovered it was one of the most challenging mediums.
That first class led to my very first painting, Morning Glories and Butterfly. It was modest and imperfect, but it caught the attention of a friend and tennis mentor named Gordon Haas.
My First Watercolor Painting
Gordon saw something in that little painting that I didn’t yet see myself. His encouragement helped push me forward, and more than three decades later he still offers thoughtful critiques of my work.
Without Gordon’s support, this journey might never have begun.
Morning Glories and Butterfly
Christmas Eve
Learning Through Experience
Gordon told me when I wanted to start my next painting to bring him the reference I wanted to use. I brought him “Christmas Eve” by Thomas McKnight, which I found on the back of Reader’s Digest. Gordon asked, do you want to put this into perspective, I replied, what’s perspective? That is how little I knew about drawing or painting. He then took me under his wing and gave me instructions when I needed them, which was most of the time. His support truly set me on this artistic path. 34 years later, Gordon still critiques my art today.
An Interpretive Approach to Painting
I’ve never been the kind of artist who can simply sit down and sketch whatever is in front of me. Portraits and precise realism were never my path.
What draws me to painting is interpretation.
Southwest landscapes offer a kind of creative freedom that allows me to move beyond literal representation. The desert sky, the open space, and the shifting light invite imagination. Instead of copying exactly what I see, I try to capture the feeling a place creates.
That freedom is one of the reasons I focus on landscapes rather than portraits. A portrait demands accuracy. A landscape invites expression.
I’m mostly self-taught. I never attended an art school such as the Rhode Island School of Design. My “education” came from curiosity, experimentation, and a willingness to learn along the way.
Over the years I’ve attended a number of workshops—primarily in watercolor—which helped refine my understanding of color, composition, and technique.
I began working in watercolor, but today I primarily paint in acrylics, fluorescent acrylics, and gouache acrylics. Occasionally I work in oil as well, as in paintings such as Creekside Cathedral and Sailing Sedona’s Sky.
Each medium has helped shape the vibrant color and luminous quality that defines my work today.
The Story Behind McShep
Collectors sometimes ask about the name I sign on my paintings — “McShep.”
The name goes back to my early days of learning to paint. One of the artists whose work inspired me was Thomas McKnight, known for his bold use of color and design. When I began experimenting with my own style, his work had a strong influence on how I thought about color and composition.
Around the same time, friends from my Army days had long called me “Shep.”
Somewhere along the way, the two simply blended together — the “Mc” from McKnight and the nickname “Shep.”
Since then, “McShep” has become the signature I place on my paintings.
A Growing Love for the Southwest
While still living in New Jersey, I became fascinated with the landscapes of the American Southwest. The vast skies, dramatic rock formations, and sense of open space stirred something in me creatively.
Between 1990 and 2004 I created more than eighty paintings inspired by that fascination. One of those early works, Coyote Moon from 1993, reflected my deepening connection to the desert landscape and the mystical atmosphere it evokes.
Eventually that fascination led my wife and me to move to Sedona, Arizona in 2004.
A Pause in the Journey
When we arrived in Sedona, my dream was to sell my artwork and fully embrace life as an artist. But reality often has its own plans.
To support our move, I took on other work and painted when time allowed. Gradually my painting slowed, and eventually I stopped creating altogether. Between 2010 and 2015, I didn’t paint at all.
Even while serving as Membership Chair for the Sedona Visual Artists Coalition, my own artistic spark had faded.
Rekindling the Creative Flame
In 2015, something unexpected happened that changed everything.
During a psychic reading with James Milanesa, he mentioned several times that I needed to start painting again. At first I didn’t think much of it, but when he repeated the message a third time, I finally asked why he was so insistent.
He explained that my spirit guide — a Navajo Indian — was standing behind me and strongly urging me to return to painting.
Whether you believe in those kinds of things or not, the message stayed with me. Something about it felt undeniable.
Soon afterward, I picked up my brushes again.
Looking back, that moment marked the beginning of a new chapter in my life as an artist.
A Small Studio and a Fresh Start
Creekside Cathedral
Looking for a place to paint, I reached out to fellow artists and eventually found a tiny studio space — barely larger than a closet — but it had a window.
In many ways it reminded me of the small studio space my father worked from when I was growing up. That tiny Sedona room became the place where my own creative journey truly restarted.
In that small room I completed two paintings that helped reignite my artistic momentum: Sailing Sedona’s Sky and Creekside Cathedral.
Those works marked the beginning of a new chapter in my creative life.
Sailing Sedona’s Sky
A Moment Along the Journey 
In 2016, Warner Bros. licensed my painting Creekside Cathedral for their streaming series Snatchers. Seeing one of my Sedona-inspired landscapes appear on screen was both surprising and deeply rewarding. It was one of those moments that reminded me how far the journey from that first evening watercolor class had come.
Finding My Signature Style
ther turning point came in 2019 when I attended an acrylic workshop at the Sedona Art Center taught by artist Claudia Hartley.
That experience opened the door to a new approach in my work. Around that time I created a painting called Inspired, which introduced the distinctive patterned skies and bold color palette that would become central to my style.
From that moment forward my work evolved into what I now call Vivid Mystical Landscapes.
In my “Vivid Mystical Landscapes”, I blend vast space, a sense of freedom, and abstract skies that carry a distinct vibrancy. Each brushstroke and color choice in these Southwest landscapes tells a story of exploration and creative renewal. Since then, I’ve embraced fluorescent acrylics, crafting artwork with POP”, that feels unmistakably mine, yet resonates with others in its mystical, spacious beauty.
Claudia Hartley
Notable Milestones
In 2019, twelve of my original paintings were selected for the American Contemporary Art Show in Guangzhou, China. The exhibition introduced my Sedona landscapes to international collectors, and all twelve paintings were acquired during the show.
Over the years my work has found homes with collectors across the United States and around the world. I’m honored that my painting Patriotic Longhorns is part of the private collection of President George W. Bush.
My watercolor Goulding’s Stagecoach also resides at Goulding’s Lodge in Monument Valley, Utah.
My artwork has been featured in publications including Southwest Art Magazine, Cowboys & Indians, American Cowboy, Texas Monthly, Sedona Monthly, and True West.
Each milestone has been meaningful, but the greatest reward continues to be hearing from collectors who connect with the colors, landscapes, and spirit behind my work.
Life Reflections
Life has an interesting way of unfolding when we release expectations.
What began as curiosity in an evening art class eventually grew into a creative journey that continues to shape my life today. I remain grateful for every mentor, collector, and moment of inspiration that helped bring these paintings to life.
And that — in many ways — is my story