Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and raised in the Gallatin Valley near Bozeman, Montana, Ned Mueller has been drawing and painting all of his life. He graduated from the prestigious Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles, in Pasadena, Californi where he also taught drawing while still a student. Mueller worked as an illustrator for 25 years including work for Disney Imagineering before devoting himself to fine-art painting full time in 1984.

Ned Mueller's love for life and art is reflected in his superb paintings of a wide range of subjects and done in several media. He continued to enhance his knowledge and skills by taking workshops with master artists Harley Brown, Richard Schmid, Bettina Steinke, Del Gish, and Sergei Bongart. Mueller is known for his skills in depicting the human figure and animals and is also a pre-eminent plein-air landscape painter. His landscapes and seascapes (see Illustrated Images.) are widely exhibited and are sought after by collectors who are aware of the quality of his light and delicate atmosphere.

Mueller is a signature member of the Northwest Rendezous Society, the Oil Painters of America, the Plein Air Painters of America, the Northwest Watercolor Society, Northwest Pastel Society (Distinguished Pastelist), Laguna Plein Air Painters, Puget Sound Group of Northwest Painters, the Knickerbocker Society and is an Out-of-State member of the California Art Club. Mueller has written several articles on painting for the Artists Magazine, is called upon to jury shows, and is a popular and enthusiastic workshop teacher around the country and abroad. He is currently working on a book about painting.

Ned Mueller exhibits his work in some of the finest shows and galleries in the country and has won numerous awards. He has been invited to participate in the Great American Artist Show in Cincinnati, Ohio and the American Plein Air Painters Show.

“In essence, there are three stages in a painter’s development: in the first, artists paint what they know; in the second, they paint what they see; and in the third, they paint what they feel.” Mueller stresses that these stages take years to complete. “The creative part has to come out of you,” he says. “I have to draw this out of you. A lot of people are painting landscapes alike these days. Try to see more abstractly — try not to see things so literally. That will help you to find your own voice.”

Ned Mueller has one oil DVD workshop with Creative Catalyst Productions, Making a Painting Work: Figurescape in Oil.