With a long list of illustration credits, among them designing U.S. Postal Service stamps and illustrating for Time, Sports Illustrated and National Geographic, Andersen moved into a western art career during the early 1980s. For fifteen years, his colorful, dynamic paintings have been shown at the Prix de West, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OK, and the Cowboy Artists of America, Phoenix Art Museum, AZ, where he received the 1990 Gold Medal and the 1991 Silver Medal in oils.