Brushstrokes and Birdsong: The Painted Life of Steven Saylor
Nestled in Dayton’s desert sprawl, Steven Saylor’s property feels like a small oasis. Peacocks dart across winding paths while dogs bark and bay at visitors. Where there was once only a single tree, Saylor planted fifty, creating a thriving green haven around his studio, which is an old boxcar converted into a bright, cozy art studio.
Saylor, seated comfortably with the desert sun casting a glow behind him, recalled how he came to settle in this quiet corner of Nevada.
“I was living in Reno, working as an art director in advertising,” he said. “One of the illustrators I used to work with disappeared for a while — no cell phones back then — and one day she showed up at the office. When I asked where she’d been, she said, ‘Oh, I moved to Dayton. It’s this little cowboy town full of artists and hippies just below Virginia City. You should come visit.’”
He did. That trip changed everything.
After moving to Dayton, Saylor bought a horse named Whiskey, trading his motorcycle for a saddle.
“I wanted to learn to paint the West,” he said, “so I’d ride out to the Rolling A Ranch with my sketchbook.” The ranch manager, Don Jackson, soon offered him a weekend job as a cowboy to learn the lifestyle firsthand.
Not long after, an opportunity came to help start the art department at Western Nevada Community College.
“I said, ‘I just want to teach part-time, not a full-time job,’” Saylor recalled. Balancing part-time teaching with his growing list of clients from his advertising days, he eventually left the agency to focus on both art and ranch work. “I did cowboy full-time for eight years,” he said. “One of my early works is from that time at the ranch. It was the perfect fit. That’s what I wanted to do: paint the American West.”
His first studio was little more than a shed attached to the side of the house —closed off, cramped, and cold.
When his daughter was born, he converted the space into part of the home. In 1978, he restored an old baggage car and transformed it into a fully functioning studio.
“About ten years ago, we added the gallery onto the side,” Saylor said. “It gave me a place to show work without walking people through the house.”
Inside the warm and inviting boxcar studio, three friendly cats roam freely. Above, the sound of peacocks scratching across the metal roof breaks the quiet.
“Well, the technique I use is glazing watercolor,” Saylor said. “It’s a gradual buildup of transparent color, one layer on top of another, with a varnish in between. That’s a technique I learned from Maxfield Parrish, but he did it in oil.”
Because the process is so detailed, each piece takes time.
“I’d rather paint two or three things a year that I’m really happy with,” he said. “Each one can take months to complete, working eight hours a day.”
But figuring out how to make that technique work in watercolor took some problem-solving.
“I did some research on products and tried out this spray fixative. I was really thrilled at first,” he said. “But when I went to add color, it just bubbled up like water on glass. I was devastated.”
Nothing would stick. He tried scrubbing it. Nothing worked.
“So I’m home washing dishes, and I’m using Dawn dish soap. I notice how the water just sheets right off the glasses, and I thought, maybe that’s it. I came back, put a drop in my water, added color, and it sheeted right out. Worked like a charm.”
He later experimented with a film industry binder called Flexopaque, once used by Disney to help paint stick to celluloid. But he’s since returned to his tried-and-true method when that process was discontinued.
“I’m back to a drop of clear Dawn,” he said, laughing. “It works great, and it doesn’t affect the paint at all.”
The glazing technique is uniquely his. He’s taught it to students over the years while teaching at Western Nevada Community College, but it never caught on.
Saylor’s detailed, story-rich paintings have earned him a loyal following over the years, with clients seeking out his ability to capture both drama and stillness on the canvas. His work has been commissioned for a wide range of projects, from state milestones to hospital wings, including a commemorative painting for Nevada’s 100th anniversary of statehood and a signature piece that hangs in Carson Tahoe Hospital.
Most of his commissions begin with research, a few photographs, and a very specific vision.
His current work, a detailed barroom scene featuring famous gunfighters, will soon hang in Virginia City’s Mark Twain Saloon and Casino.
When asked about the process behind this commission, Saylor shared what a typical day in the studio looks like.
"Now that we have internet and email, my day starts by checking messages and inquiries. We have a website, EvergreenStudio.com, where people can order products, so I usually spend about an hour in the morning handling that,” he said.
"After that, I focus on whatever project I’m working on, whether it’s preliminary sketches or refining a piece. For example, with the Mark Twain Saloon commission for John Schafer, I started with a pencil drawing of the concept. Once he liked it and signed off, I began the painting."
"That part takes a lot of research, figuring out how to develop each character and arrange them in the scene. I move things around, step away, come back, and adjust until it feels right. It’s a slow process,” he said.
"I even had Lauren and Liza, who work for John, pose for me as bar girls. That way, the scene includes more than just gunfighters; it feels lively and full of atmosphere,” Saylor added.
And creativity runs in the family. Steven’s wife, Johnye, writes children’s stories told from the animals’ point of view, narrated by a little donkey named Casper. Steven brings those stories to life by creating the charming illustrations that accompany her books, combining their shared love of animals and art into a unique collaboration.
Outside, the peacocks call again a wild, regal sound fitting for a man whose life is as rich and layered as his art.
“Just stick with it,” his grandfather told him long ago — simple words that still echo today, guiding Saylor’s steady hand and spirit.
When asked what keeps him going, Saylor smiled and said:
“Just life. I really enjoy life and our friends and what we have. I’m grateful for being able to rescue these guys, live where I do, and be involved in the history here.”
