Zion Ponderosa Ranch

A few sketchbook drawings done on location around our "Rockin' R" cabin on the Zions Ponderosa Ranch near Zion National Park. I have done numerous pencil drawings of the big Ponderosa Pine Trees that we love so much.
Click here to see more sketchbook drawings of Zion National Park

Some R and R at the Rockin' R

This morning we're heading up to Zion's Ponderosa Ranch to spend the weekend at our Rockin' R Zion cabin. Located on the east side of Zion National Park just on the park boundary, our Zion cabin has been our haven of peace for over 30 years. We are situated on a ridge above Lemon Springs in a stand of ancient Ponderosa Pines. It is a beautiful place to relax, and I plan on spending time sitting in my sky chair, picking my Taylor guitar, and doing a little drawing in my sketchbook. I'll let you know how it turns out -- oh, and I'm not taking the computer either.

Utah Watercolor Society Award of Merit

I was fortunate to have two watercolor paintings juried into the Utah Watercolor Society Annual Juried show. The two transparent watercolor paintings were both of the southern Utah landscape. One painting of Ivins Reservoir near Kayenta Utah received an Award of Merit at the show which was held at the Iron Horse Gallery in Park City Utah. The second was a painting of Gunlock Reservoir overflow during the recent flooding in southern Utah.
Click to see watercolor paintings

Fly Fishing Painting

My last post of the Lake Powell painting reminded me of how much I enjoy fishing in Utah's lakes. My new favorite lake is Sand Hollow Reservoir near St. George, Utah where we go bass fishing. I am also a novice at Fly Fishing and had a chance to fly fish in New Zealand last summer. Here's a little fly fishing painting I did recently. It's only 5 inches x 6 inches.

Lake Powell Painting

A week on Lake Powell resulted in this watercolor painting of Moki Canyon near Bullfrog. The reflection of the Sandstone cliffs on the still water of the side canyons is incredible, especially during the quiet morning hours.

Valley Forge Sketchbook

I completed several on-location pencil drawings at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. I always carry a hardbound sketchbook when I travel and refer back to it later in the studio when working on larger studio watercolor paintings. I used this sketchbook drawing for the watercolor painting of Washingtons Headquarters shown in my last post.

Top 100 National Arts for the Parks Painting of Valley Forge

Last summer we visited some of the historical sites which were significant in our country's birth. I was impressed when we visited Valley Forge Pennsylvania to learn that this house was donated by Isaac Potts for George Washington to use as his headquarters during the war. I envisioned it in the snow and painted it that way back in the studio. This painting was accepted into the Top 100 Mini Arts for the Parks competition this year and will be displayed in Jackson Wyoming from September 2006 through 2007.

TOP 200 ARTS FOR THE PARKS 2006
Painting of Kolob Canyons in Zion National Park
This painting (below) of the Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park was selected from over 2000 paintings for the 2006 National Arts for the Parks competition.

European Watercolor Paintings

This past week I dug into my sketchbooks and decided to do some paintings from our trip to Germany and Switzerland. Even though it's been a couple of years since we were there my memory is still vivid of all the places we visited.

One Foot Island Painting

This is one of my favorite places in the Cook Islands. It is a painting I did of "One Foot Island." You can walk completely around the island in about 15 minutes. Although it is not permanently inhabited, there is a tiny post office where you can get your passport stamped and mail a postcard. I got my sketchbook stamped, but I'll bet it would take forever to receive mail sent from this tiny motu in the South Pacific.

NEW ZEALAND SKETCHBOOK DRAWINGS





Check out all my South Pacific Paintings here.

Sketching around our cabin in East Zion

Click here to see an album of sketches done this week in Zion

This album includes sketches I did a few days ago at the Ponderosa area on the east rim of Zion National Park. We have a cabin there where we spend a lot of time in the summers. I always take my sketchbook and try to do some sketching.



On this trip to the cabin we found things were not entirely in order. Upon closer examination we discovered a black bear had visited our cabin and demolished our barbeque grill. He then left a deposit to let us know he'd been there. I've started whistling real loud on my hikes around the cabin these days.


Paintings by Roland Lee of Zion National Park

Although I sketch mainly for fun, many of my drawings end up as finished watercolor paintings. This painting is of the Sentinel in Zion Canyon. Click on this link to view my complete gallery of Zion National Park Paintings.