Just Released "The River Flows - Artists of the American West"

I am so excited to have my paintings included with such notable artists as Dean Mitchell and others in this new coffee table book. Available in both hardbound, and special "clam shell" collectors editions, this gorgeous book traces the history of artist who worked in watercolor to portray the western landscape and people. Compiled by Don Weller and Marlin Rotach, the book is a magnificent addition to the art libraries, and I am deeply honored to have my paintings included.

Painting Appears in Plein Air Magazine online edition

An article in Plein Air Magazine called "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" took a look at a number of paintings by plein air painters in the June-July 2020 issue. I was surprised and delighted to find my painting "Long Term Parking" included in the online additional content as well as in the weekly online newsletter American Watercolor Weekly.

American Watercolor Weekly Features Roland Lee Painting

American Watercolor Weekly features Roland Lee watercolor painting

I was happy that editor Kelly Kane selected one of my paintings for inclusion in an article in the online American Watercolor Weekly June 2020. The article is titled "Inspired by Trains and Automobiles." My painting, "Long Term Parking" was inspired by a visit to an old farm during the 2019 Plein Air Utah event in Midway Utah.

Long Term Parking by Roland Lee was featured in American Watercolor Weekly June 2, 2020 issue

Painting in Plein Air Magazine June 2020

"Morning Reflections" by Roland Lee appears in June issue "Plein Air Magazine"

My painting "Morning Reflections" is part of a special Watercolor section of the June-July 2020 Plein Air Magazine. 

Plein Air Magazine special section on watercolors

Zion Painting Featured in Western Art Collector Magazine

My painting "Hiking the Zion Narrows" is featured on page 157 in the November 2019 issue of Western Art Collector Magazine to illustrate the article "Zion Forever" about the Zion Centennial Art Show. 11 invited artists will paint en plein air during the five day event in Zion National Park concluding with an art show.

Watercolor painting of the Zion Narrows by Roland Lee

"Etched in Time" Publication Features Roland Lee Article and Paintings

A special magazine publication called "Etched in Time" features multiple Roland Lee landscape paintings, along with a chapter from Roland Lee's new book "Discovering Zion, A Pictorial Guide to the Landscape, Geology and History of Zion National Park." Thank you to publisher Darci Dumm Hansen for including my work in this beautiful new magazine.

 

Excerpt from new Roland Lee book "Discovering Zion"

Roland Lee paintings are used on all the division pages in "Etched in Time" magazine

Roland Lee in Western Art Collector Magazine October Issue "Art of Utah"

Western Art Collector Magazine Roland Lee Gallery article

My paintings "Clouds Over Zion Great Arch" and "Zion Fireglow" were featured in the special "Art of Utah" section in Western Art Collector magazine October 2019 issue.

"Clouds Over Great Arch" Zion National Park - Roland Lee

"Zion Fireglow" Watercolor by Roland Lee of Zion National Park

New Zion Book Funded on Kickstarter

Discovering Zion, a Pictorial Guide to the landscape, Geology, and History of Zion National Park by Roland Lee, Robert Eves, and Lyman Hafen.

We decided to launch a Kickstarter campaign on line to help fund our new Zion Book called "Discovering Zion, a Pictorial Guide to the landscape, Geology, and History of Zion National Park." We were amazed to see many of our friends and supporters  dive in to help us achieve our goal in just 12 hours. We are so grateful to the many people who supported our efforts.Additional funds raised will be used to seed a new program which will bring students into the park to have a plein air painting experience. Thanks again to everyone. The book will be released in early fall.

Spreads from Discovering Zion, a Pictorial Guide to Zion National Park

100 Paintings on exhibit at DSU Sears Art Museum

100 Painting covering 40 years. Roland Lee Restrospective

"Famous" Grafton Schoolhouse Painting Finds a New Home

A little plein air painting of the old Grafton Schoolhouse, which was featured in Plein Air magazine's "Postcards from the Road" page, has found a new home. Architect Eric Roberts from Nevada, an accomplished watercolorist in his own right, visited my studio and had to have the painting. You  can read about the painting in the September/October issue of Plein Air Magazine and in American Watercolor Weekly.

Grafton Schoolhouse plein air painting by Roland Lee

Roland Lee Full Page ad in Southwest Art Magazine for Zion Centennial and my Retrospective Show

There is a full-page ad in the February 2019 Southwest Art magazine featuring my 40 Year Retrospective show at the DSU Sears Art Museum this summer. It also spotlights my exhibit for the 100 year Centennial of Zion National Park.

Roland Lee 40 Year Retrospective full-page ad in February 2019 issue of Southwest Art Magazine

Southwest Art Top Landscape Artists

If you subscribe to Southwest Art Magazine you may have noticed an article about my work in the February 2019 issue that just came out. I am included in the section "Natural Wonders - 9 Top Landscape Artists to collect." Also in the February issue is a full-page advertisement for my June through August 2019 "40 Year Retrospective."

Roland Lee article in Feb 2019 Southwest Art magazine

"Plein Air Magazine" ad for Zion National Park Plein Air features Roland Lee painting

Advertisement featuring Roland Lee Painting in "Plein Air Magazine>"

My painting "View From Scout Lookout"was featured in the November 2018 issue of "Plein Air Magazine" in an advertisement for the 2018 Zion National Park Plein Air event.

Featured in Western Art Collector Magazine

October 2018 Western Art Collector Magazine features Roland Lee Paintings

The "State of the Art Utah" section of Western Art Collector Magazine this month, October 2018 featured my painting "Sands of Time".  Roland Lee paintings "A Glimpse of Heaven" and "A Time of Peace" were also featured in an ad for Zion National Park Plein Air Art Invitational in the same issue.

Article Western Art Collector October 2018

Roland Lee Painting Featured in Plein Air Magazine ad

Roland Lee and Mary Jabens featured in ad for 2018 Zion National Park Plein Air event. 

I am pleased to be featured in the October 2018 issue of Plein Air Magazine in an ad for the 2018 Zion National Park Plein Air Invitational event.

New Painting of East Zion

"Sands of Time - East Zion"  - 15 x 21 Watercolor painting by Roland Lee

I have been working on a series of new Zion paintings which will be part of my new book being published next year tentatively called Discovering Zion - Landscape, Geology and History. It will feature my landscape paintings of Zion with commentary by Dr. Robert Eves and historian Lyman Hafen.

Looking Back 35 Years to Art West Magazine

Irene Emett presents Roland Lee with a 1981 copy of Art West magazine which featured Roland's work as a new artist.

What a fun experience I had yesterday at the St. George Art Festival. A wonderful old friend Irene Emett stopped by my display with her family and presented me with a 1981 copy of "Art West" magazine that had a nice article on my paintings. She had purchased it while living in Montana and first became acquainted with my paintings. Later she moved to Veyo, Utah to live near her family and found out I was living in nearby Dammeron Valley. What was more fun, I was her Bishop in the LDS church. So we became personal friends. Well, I never knew about the magazine until she told me the story yesterday. Back in 1981, after a sell-out show at the Phippen Memorial show in Prescott Arizona, I was "discovered" by Art West magazine and they did a wonderful feature article on my work. It really helped my career as a new western artist. Wow, it's fun looking back, and it's great to have such good friends!

A 1981 issue of Art West Magazine with a feature article on artist Roland Lee

Sketching and Painting the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

Artist Roland Lee making a sketch in his field book on a research trip of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Photo by Dr. Robert L. Eves

What a week! Nellie and I enjoyed four days traveling the backroads of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument taking in the sites, studying the geology of the region, and making sketchbook studies and plein air paintings. Now that's what I call a fun week all in the name of work. We were joined by Nellie's sister Tricia and husband Dr. Robert Eves, and his colleague Dr. Larry Davis--both geology professors. Our goal was to retrace the steps they took in producing a road guide to the Grand Staircase geology about 12 years ago, and update it with illustrations and original artwork. That's where I came in. They provided the geologic information and I provided the artwork. We hope to have laid the foundation for not only an update of their previous road guide, but possibly a new guidebook aimed at simplifying the geology of the Grand Staircase for artists and photographers.

Roland Lee, Professor Robert Eves and Professor Larry Davis at LeFevre Overlook on Highway 89A. From here you can see all the geologic layers of Utah's Grand Staircase which extend northward for 150 miles from Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon.

From LeFevre Overlook we survey the landscape we will cover over the next few days.

Dr. Robert L. Eves and Dr. Larry Davis discuss the development of the sandstone narrows of Willis Creek on the Skutumpah Terrace section of the Grand Staircase in Utah. Photo by Roland Lee

Art of the National Parks Art Show April 25 through May 17 at Split Rock Gallery

This Roland Lee painting of East Temple in Zion National Park appears in the book, "Art of the National Parks" and will be displayed at a book signing event and show April 25 at Split Rock Gallery in St. George UT

Article published in Spectrum newspaper, written by Lyman Hafen, Executive Director of Zion Natural History Association.

The Zion National Park Foundation, in cooperation with Split Rock Gallery in St. George, will host a major art show and sale April 25 through May 17, highlighting the work of artists featured in the new book “Art of the National Parks.” The event is designed to celebrate the role art has played in the creation of national parks, and in particular Zion National Park, and to raise funds for the Youth Education Initiative in Zion.

Jill Burt, director of operations and development for the Zion National Park Foundation, said the event is actually part of a national tour introducing the book that features paintings by some of the country’s finest artist in many of the nation’s most beloved national parks.

“We are very pleased the book includes a magnificent section on Zion National Park,” Burt said. Among the artists featured in the Zion section are Roland Lee, Royden Card, Arlene Briathwaite, Ron Rencher, Kathryn Stats and John Cogan, all of whom will be present at the artists’ reception, sale and book-signing from 6 to 9 p.m. April 25 at Split Rock Gallery in the tower at Ancestor Square.

The work of two other artists, Joshua Been featured in the Rocky Mountain National Park section, and Linda Glover Gooch featured in the Grand Canyon National Park section, will also be part of the show.

Burt said on April 26, the guest artists will be painting in and around Ancestor Square from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“This will be a great follow-up to the St. George Art Festival held a week earlier,” Burt said. “We’re excited to give the area’s art enthusiasts an opportunity to meet these excellent artists, see them work, and have a chance to buy a piece of their work for their own collections. And the best part is that when you buy something for this show, you are supporting Zion National Park.”

The book itself will also be on sale. The 432-page tome is a compilation of images and text sharing the story of the important role of original art in the creation of America’s first national park and subsequent national parks. In her introduction to the book that includes magnificent reproductions of historic art as well as the work of more than 60 contemporary artists, Jean Stearn quotes William Henry Jackson, who wrote that his photographs and Thomas Moran’s watercolors made during the Hayden Expedition to Yellowstone in the early 1870s “… were the most important exhibits brought before the Congressional Committee. The wonderful coloring of Moran’s sketches,” he wrote, “made all the difference.”

Lyman Hafen, executive director of the Zion National Park Foundation, said the art show and sale at Split Rock Gallery is a continuation of the story of art in the national parks.

“It’s a story that began with those iconic early painters who came out west and created amazing images of these landscapes and took them back to the nation’s population centers to help people truly see what they had the power to protect,” Hafen said. “Today, great artists continue to interpret these majestic landscapes and help us remember that they are still worth protecting. Visitors to this show at Split Rock Gallery will have a unique opportunity to see some of the best contemporary art of the national parks, and to meet the great artists who produced them.”

For information, call the Zion National Park Foundation at 435-772-3264. Or email znha@infowest.com.

Art of the National Parks - A compendium of artists who are at the forefront of twenty-first-century American landscape and wildlife art

The paintings of artist Roland Lee are featured in this new award-winning book. Eight of the featured artists will participate in a special show and book signing April 25-26

Book signing and art show reception April 25 6-9pm at Split Rock Gallery. The Zion landscape paintings of Roland Lee are featured in the new book: Art of the National Parks, Historic Connections, Contemporary Interpretations (Fresco Publications 2013) which was named the Winner of the 2013 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards for Arts and Best Book. This wonderful new coffee-table-sized book illustrates the role artists continue to play in sharing the views and interpretations of nature and wildlife in our National Parks. In Art of the National Parks, seventy painters and sculptors offer unique visions of eight of the nation’s most loved National Parks: Acadia, Everglades, Grand Canyon, Grand Tetons, Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion. Susan Hallsten McGarry, well-known author and former editor of Southwest Art Magazine, does an admirable job of explaining the artists’ various styles, techniques, and philosophies. Art historian/author Jean Stern, director of the Irvine Museum, talks about the history behind the early artists who started a landslide of national interest in our country's wild lands--eventually resulting in the establishment of the National Park system. Terry Lawson Dunn, biologist and educator, highlights the national parks’ ecological successes and challenges. With more than 450 full-color images, this heavy, large-format book is a must for anyone who enjoys our National Parks. According to reviews "It is an indispensible compendium of artists who are at the forefront of twenty-first-century American landscape and wildlife art."