Arthur Roy Mitchell ... was king of western pulp magazine cover artists, and a meticulous historian and preservationist, but beyond all this he stood out as a colorful character. ... [His] critiquing of [students] work leaned toward the negative side with only an occasional "not too damn bad," which was an ultimate in "Mitch-praise," and enough to send a students ego soaring. ... "The artists purpose," [said Mitchell] "is not to reconstruct nature, but to communicate his own emotion and interest to others."