A native of Germany and European trained, Vivi Crandall is known for her dramatic, action-filled paintings of animals in western landscape. For twenty years, she was art director for "The Washington Post" and then in 1973, she and her husband moved to Wyoming where they settled near Casper. They became owners of a dude ranch and served as hunting guides, and also became gallery owners, fund raisers for wildlife, and publishers of Crandall's wildlife prints. In the off-season from the dude and hunting ranch, Crandall painted and established herself in the art market as a wildlife artist, a subject she studied continually in her guide activities.