Southern Utah Art Guild Paint Out at the Red Mountain in Ivins, UT

Me with my finished painting

I'm always looking for a good excuse to paint outdoors, so when the Southern Utah Art Guild announced a plein air paint-out near Snow Canyon I jumped at the chance. A few faithful members gathered at the top of 300 East, which stops at the foot of Ivin's big Red Mountain. I was a little late due to Saturday morning chores, and some of the artists including Royden Card and David Hansen had already  got a good jump on their paintings. Art event guru Bobbi Wankier and SUAG president Michael Foot were there cheering us on and snapping photos of the artists at work. Bobbi's husband Erric Wankier worked on an amazing pastel painting while I worked in watercolor.

Roland Lee 5 x 8 watercolor study of the Red cliffs done on location during the paint out

She decided to shoot a short video of me painting for publicity purposes. Ever the teacher, I decided to do a step-by-step instructional video as long as I had a willing camera person. So I proceeded to explain how I chose the view, sketched out the scene and built up the glazes in succeeding values to the finished piece. Of course the painting was small, and I painted a little faster than usual so as not to bore the viewers. But it turned out okay. We'll probably post the video on YouTube at some point.

Erric Wankier with his pastel painting of the cliffs