STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

The adventure begins with a trip up the narrow secretive-like stairwell in one of Bellevue’s oldest buildings to see Bex Wilkinson’s expansive art studio where she is donning her paint-splashed lab coat to paint a painting offering commentary on the world we live in.

Then, it’s on to Guki Khalsa’s jewelry studio where she displays her unique rings and necklaces on her shaded patio before taking guests into her studio where she has thousands of pages of sketches from which she works, along with her pickle pot.

It’s part of the adventure of the free 2025 Artists’ Studio Tour of the Wood River Valley, which continues from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

William Pinney’s painting depicts sunflowers looking disdainfully at the flower that’s different.

Tourgoers will get a chance to visit with people like Rand Smithey, whose work with the Forest Service took him from Fairfield to Montana, Alaska and Oregon. Twenty years ago, Smithey took up a wide variety of paintbrushes to paint the wildlife he watched over his career, and he continues to paint big profiles of mountain goat, kestrel, grizzlies in his studio which sits next to the backyard garden his wife has also molded into a work of art.

“You have to look closer at the animals when you’re painting them,” he says. “I’m trying to bring out the goat person in my goat… I paint them as I see them.”

You can visit the studios of 40 artists in a self-guided tour from Bellevue to Sun Valley. Visiting eight studios over the three days will qualify tourgoers to enter a drawing with gifts from participating artists as prizes. Those visiting studios in Bellevue get one chance per visit at a $100 gift card from Mahoney’s.

For a map of the participating artists, visit https://artiststudiotour.com/locations/. Maps will also be available at artists’ studios.

Janet Starr challenged herself to paint small paintings in three minutes of mindless painting whenever she needed to get out a rut. She liked it so well she now paints larger paintings that way.

Rand Smithey creates sculptures out of wood, in addition to painting wildlife.

Kim Howard shows one of her earlier “Scandinavian” pieces of Basques amidst sheep. Her latest paintings involve wildlife—part of her journey to healing following some health setbacks.