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About Us

These are questions we're most often asked. Have a different one? Just e-mail and we'll answer as promptly as our schedule allows.

Who is D. Bruce Bennett Celtic Art?

In what media do you work?

Why do you specialize in Celtic and Scottish Art?

Where can we see your art in person?

Can we use your Scottish Art as awards at our games?

Can we use your Scottish Art in our festival advertising?

How can I get first dibs on your newest original artwork?

Who is D. Bruce Bennett Celtic Art?

We're an artist who's passionate about his Scottish ancestry and his wife of Scottish descent who's promised to help him get his Scottish art into the hands of those with a similar bent. The two of us. It's just that simple.

The "D. Bruce" in our name is me - the artist (and public school art teacher since 1970). I create the art and my wife, Teresa, takes care of the rest. Hers is probably the voice you'll hear if you call us. If you have specific questions about commissioned paintings, you'll talk to me.

That's it. Well, actually, there is the slave-labor thing - my mother-in-law who helps with packaging and a good friend who helps with order fulfillment during busy seasons. Our small size is what allows us to give you that personal attention and responsiveness you keep hoping you'll find - but rarely do.

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In what media do you work?

Though my first published Scottish Art was a set of black-and-white prints from pen-and-ink drawings (and are currently half price), I work in blazing color with acrylic paints about 95 percent of the time. Acrylic paints are amazingly versatile. I simply use more water with the acrylic paint and apply it to 300-pound, cold-pressed watercolor paper when I want the softer look of watercolors - very effective for landscapes and countryside scenes. (See Southerness Lighthouse.) I combine less water with the acrylic paint and apply it either to stretched canvas or to hardboard when I want the heavier, more intense color of an oil painting style. (See Pittenweem East Harbor.)

Because acrylics dry so much faster than oils, I'm able to complete commissioned work in a timely manner and meet tight, oh-my-gosh-we-need-a-gift-for-Dad deadlines. Incidentally, contrary to popular notions, oil paintings have not been proven more durable or longer-lasting than acrylic paintings.

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Why do you specialize in Celtic and Scottish Art?

DNA, pure and simple.

For several years, we attended the Longs Peak Scottish-Irish Highland Festival in nearby Estes Park, Colorado. Feverishly taking photos, I became totally enmeshed in the music and activities of the day. During these same years, I was looking for a viable art niche, having produced art in the Southwestern, nostalgic American heartland, and American West genres with minimal satisfaction.

In 1992, as I was customarily snapping photos at the Estes Park games, something else snapped. I realized there were no vendors offering original artwork of these heart-stopping images. A charter member of the "Slow Club," I'd finally found my art niche: Scottish Art. By the next year's Estes Park games, I'd produced a collection of paintings, and we began a ten-year run of exhibiting at Highland games up and down the Front Range in Colorado and New Mexico. In 1998, we "opened" our on-line gallery.

As I tried to educate myself about Scottish heritage in order to paint accurately, I discovered my Celtic roots - Clan Kerr and Clan Stephenson being the most obvious. We'd always known about my wife's Clan Sinclair, Clan Carr, Reid, and McCoy roots, but my Celtic DNA was a surprise. We're suckers for our roots and history in general, so what better way for an artist to use his talents than to paint from his roots?

In 1999, we began touring the British Isles on extended photo shoots. At this writing, we've spent about 17 weeks altogether, shooting well over 200 locations or properties. As you can imagine, we've learned a great deal about Celtic and Scottish history. I sincerely hope that knowledge and experience is reflected in my Scottish Art.

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Where can we see your art in person?

At the moment, you'll have to be content with the website. But you might have seen it in person in the past and not realized it.

From 1993-2003, we exhibited at the Longs Peak Scottish-Irish Highland Festival in nearby Estes Park, Colorado. (My art was used for its advertising in 2002 and 2003.) We've also exhibited at other regional games in the western U.S. In fact, I received the Chieftain's Award for a portrait we exhibited at the 1996 Colorado Scottish Festival and Rocky Mountain Games, in Highlands Ranch near Denver, Colorado.

I was also the Featured Guest Artist at - and my art was used in the advertising for - the 1997 Rio Grande Valley Celtic Festival & Highland Games in Albuquerque, New Mexico. My art was also used for the advertising of the 2002 and 2003 Rio Rancho Highland Games and Scottish/Irish Highland Festival. Also in 2003, the St. Andrew's Society of Maine commissioned me to create a custom piece of art for their advertising materials.

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Can we use your Scottish Art as awards at our games?

Of course. If you're the harried volunteer in charge of awards for your regional games, a "trophy" of one of our pieces of Scottish Art, matted and framed, beats out the predictable fake-gold-fake-wood trophy any day.

See an image or images on this website, already in print, that would work? Hot dog. You’re halfway home already. Depending on the dollar amount of your order, you may qualify for a wholesale discount. See our vendor policies.

Remember, the nice thing about many of our print images is that they fit standard, pre-cut mats and standard frames found in art supply stores - like Hobby Lobby or Michaels - and the frame departments of discount stores. You can mat and frame these pieces very inexpensively. If the award is a biggie, you can take our print to a custom frame shop for something a little more . . . well . . . expensive and wowy-zowy.

Don't see what you want? Commission original artwork unique to your games or your region. Your choice. Order from our inventory of products, or design an original just for your event.

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Can we use your Scottish Art in our festival advertising?

Some games officials, tired of home-boy photos and stale clip art, have bought one-time rights to our print images for their advertising materials, program book, and T-shirts. Our terms are very reasonable, and we're easy to work with. It benefits you because you get to use fresh, high-caliber art for your event. It benefits us because it's great exposure.

Other games and band officials have decided they want to buy limited rights to a brand new piece of Scottish Art that they've commissioned me to paint.

In 2003, the St. Andrews of Maine games officials commissioned a new piece of Scottish Art, unique for their games.

In 2005, we received a call from the Jacobites Pipe & Drum Band in Sarasota, Florida, asking for us to create customized Scottish Art for their 2006 spring concert. The resulting Sarasota Sunset Piper was a Florida twist on our very popular Callin' the Brothers image. In 2007, they pulled out all the stops with an extravaganza titled The Uprising! The image they asked me to produce for projection on stage during the concert and for all their advertising materials can be seen on their home page, but it's only part of the full image. Take a look at the full image of a Jacobite piper at Culloden. If you're in that area, you're sure to see my art on their advertising materials and at the concert.

In 2005, the Kansas City Games commissioners began making plans for me to produce Scottish Art for advertising their 2006 Kansas City Scottish Highland Games. The result – Henderson Sword Dancer – was a remake of Happy Feet in the Henderson tartan. For their 2007 Highland Games, they asked that Bonnie Piper at Loch Lomond be morphed into McNabb Piper.

Interested? Learn more about the process of commissioning a painting.

As you well know, most games committees are on tight budgets. For a few years, we took on the challenge of printing commemorative art posters. See what we've done on our Highland Games Posters page for some of the festivals which used our artwork on their advertising material.

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I want to know when you upload new Scottish Art.
How can I get first dibs on your newest original artwork?

Subscribe below if you'd like to see our new Scottish Art before the general public sees it. You'll be automatically added to our opt-in list.

We routinely e-mail press releases to our own customers and opt-in people like you as soon as we've uploaded a new original printing, released a new print, or have a special offer.

We promise not to drip on you. We do NOT sell our e-mail list or customer names to anyone and will quickly and meekly remove your name if you ask.

Do you have any kind of filtering devices/programs? Please add our e-mail address to your address book right now so that our press releases will get through to you. Also, please remember to alert us when you change providers and/or e-mail addresses.

And . . . thank you for being interested enough in Bruce's art to make this opt-in request!

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