Barbara Benda Nagle

Double Trouble Gallery in Moorhead, MN is open to you to do private shopping without other guests, for your safety and comfort.  If you want to visit our Double Trouble Gallery in person by private appointment, please call Barbara at 218-443-1126 or email barbara@barbarabendanagle.com  Appointments are scheduled hourly and available on weekends, also.

Beverly and I invite you to visit our online Benda Twins Art Store  for your shopping needs.  Not all artwork is posted on this site due to the volume of artwork that is created.

Thank you for supporting local art! Some may think that art is not essential at this strange time, but making a living by selling art is essential to us and allows us to pay our bills and keep our doors open! We are grateful for your patronage!

Beverly, my twin, and I invite you to attend the Grand Opening of Double Trouble Gallery, our new gallery located in Mourning Dove Studio. We will be showcasing our original art at all price points. We have hundreds of artworks to share with you at affordable prices for gift-giving or for your own personal private collection.

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Dates: Friday and Saturday, November 20-21st

Location: 809 20th Street North, Moorhead, MN

Save the date and we look forward to seeing you and showing you our latest works!

Barbara with two curious art lovers at Sylvan Lake

Children are magnets for art!

Children -our present and future artists.

In October, my twin sister Beverly and I packed our watercolor equipment and headed to South Dakota. We painted, hiked, played golf, and absorbed the beauty of this paradise of forest, lake, and pine needles. We rented a cabin at Sylvan Lake- an idyllic retreat of fall colors, wonderful scenery, all subject matter for plein-air painting. Mornings and evenings were spent painting or sketching by the lake and then we hiked in the afternoons, then painted in our cabin when the sun went down and the world became quiet. The wonderful folks we met embraced our willingness to share what we do. Children loved watching us paint as we asked them about school and what they thought of the Black Hills. We met rock climbers who made it clear that climbing the rocks was about “technique” rather than strength. Still, it made us shudder to hear their tales. The blessings people gave us cannot be measured.

Have you seen the spire-style rocks along the Needles Highway? These are the strange spires that have verticality beyond words and call to rock climbers around the country. When we hiked the Cathedral Spires trail, we felt as though we were inhabitants on another planet, actors in a sci-fi film. As an artist, these rocks must be studied carefully with the eye. The sketches and paintings below are all studies are a critical part of information-gathering about “the structure of things”.

Needles Eye Rock Formation on the Needles Highway, SD

Beverly on the Sylvan Lake Hiking Trail

Today I am completing a 30″x30″ acrylic painting of a scene of bison I saw on the Wilderness Loop and a 30″x 22″ painting of a similar scene. Both were inspired by the bison watercolors below-each time I paint, the aspens glow brighter, the trees grow taller, we artists are free to exaggerate. This important process for artists from sketch to studies to final pieces is the process that works for us. Stay tuned for these studies to develop into something bigger, somewhat different, perhaps bolder in color? This journey called art has beginnings and no end. What began at Sylvan Lake will traverse through spring and beyond.  Praise God for His Wonders and Creation-limitless inspiration on this earth.

Some of these artworks are currently available on the Gallery page .

Sylvan Lake Rock Sketch, Graphite pencil

Spotted on the Wilderness Loop, Watercolor Study

Sylvan Lake Rocks at Evening, Watercolor Study

Sylvan Lake Rock Reflections, Watercolor Study

Lined up Like Soldiers, Watercolor Study

Bev’s Rock Study

Black Hills Bison Study, Watercolor Study

Value Sketches at Sylvan Lake, Graphite Pencil

Beverly sketching rocks.

Black Hills Bison, 30″x22″, Watercolor

Evening at Sylvan Lake by Beverly Benda, available on Benda Twins Art Store

Aspen Glow, 10″x20″, acrylic on canvas.

Among the Aspens, Acrylic on canvas, 30″x30″