A Western artist who spent her life painting horses recently died at her Central Oregon home, but not before learning of her inclusion in the 2006 Prix De West Invitational Art Show at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

Joelle Smith, 47, of Alfalfa, lost her three-year battle with cancer on Aug. 5.

Born in Portland in 1958, she graduated from Southern Oregon State College in Ashland in 1982.

Smith worked in watercolor exclusively for 20 years before adding oil painting to her repertoire eight years ago. She began sculpting in bronze in 2001.

Among Smith’s works are the 1999 American Paint Horse Association World Show poster and National Cowgirl Hall of Fame poster. Her illustrations covered several fronts of Western Horseman, Cascade Horseman and Paint Horse Journal magazines.

Most all of Smith’s paintings are of a Western theme, featuring horses and often riders, the inspiration for which came from the horses on her Alfalfa ranch as well as from brandings and roundups she attended throughout the West, according to her mother, Sally Smith.

The Prix de West invitational show is an annual art exhibit of nearly 300 Western paintings and sculptures by some of the nation’s finest contemporary Western artists, according to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

According to the museum, the exhibiting artists bring a diversity of styles ranging from historical pieces that reflect the early days of the West to more contemporary and impressionist works.

Smith will have three works on display at the show held next June: a bronze, a watercolor, and an oil painting.

A memorial service for Smith is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27, at First Presbyterian Church in Bend, 230 NE Ninth St.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Joelle Smith Memorial Fund, 2660 NE Highway 20, Suite 610, PMB 302, Bend, or to the Charles M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Mont.

Images of Smith’s works can be viewed at www.joelle smith.com.