Young Artists

My grandkids visited this week from Highland Utah. and created this fantastic artwork while I was giving my presentation at the St. George Art Museum Thursday night.

Artist's Talk and TV interview at the St. George Museum

Every third Thursday evening the St. George Art Museum has a guest speaker. Last night I was invited to be the speaker for that series. It was a little daunting to be presenting before such a large group, especially since KCSG television came by to film an interview with me before and during the presentation for the 9:00pm news. My dad, Elwyn Reeder attended along with my son Jim Lee, his wife Barbara and their four kids, plus other collectors and friends. My wife Nellie supervised my grandkids who kept busy the whole time in the children's creativity area making paintings of their own. Along with my talk I gave a powerpoint presentation showing the creative process from field sketches to studio paintings.

Lake Powell painting featured in Art-Talk magazine

The April issue of Art-Talk magazine features a full-page width image of my painting "Lake Powell Panorama" in their calendar section. My Canyon Country exhibit at the St. George Art Museum is listed among the other national museum shows in this issue. Art-Talk is read by over 100,000 art lovers worldwide. I will be giving a talk at the museum tomorrow night at 7pm about my paintings. Everyone is invited.

Teaching the Spring Utah Watercolor Society Mini Workshop

I enjoyed spending three days with a wonderful group of artists this week as the guest instructor for Utah Watercolor Society's Spring painting workshop. I kept them busy with powerpoint demonstrations, painting demos, and painting exercises. Hopefully I didn't wear them all out! This group had some especially proficient painters. As always it was a great experience and we all made lots of new friends.

St. George Art Museum Show Sales

Although the St. George Art Museum does not conduct sales, they are helpful in passing contacts along to the exhibiting artists. We have had numerous sales of my paintings this week since the Roland Lee Canyon Country Show opened. I will be presenting a museum talk next Thursday April 19 at 7pm to discuss the exhibit and my painting techniques. There is no charge for admittance that night and everyone is welcome.

St. George Art Festival Television Interview

The KUTV News crew doing an interview with yours truly

The first day of the St. George Art Festival went well. I enjoyed meeting many new collectors as well as visiting with numerous previous collectors. With 28 paintings already on display at the St. George Art Museum I didn't have as many paintings for this show as I usually have. But it didn't seem to matter.

This morning I did a television interview from my booth for the KUTV Morning News. It's fascinating to see all the equipment they need to set up just for a few minutes of TV time. It seemed like everyone who stopped by my booth had seen me on the news this morning. Anyway my sales were very good during both days so we are pleased. I also enjoyed seeing my oldest brother Blaine, who came to town for the art show along with lots of other family members who always come to town easter weekend to get together.

Painting #1000 of the St. George Temple

Art collector Blake Arnold with his new painting of the St. George LDS Temple



For the past two months I've been working on a very large painting of the St. George LDS Temple. Each of my paintings is numbered sequentially and this is painting #1000 -- a real milestone. I've had a number of collectors ask about who would be getting this special painting. While I don't take painting commissions, three years ago I had promised a good collector, Blake Arnold, that the next time I painted the Temple he could have first crack at it. After getting it framed yesterday, Blake rushed over to see it and bought it on the spot. He had to hurry because today he and his wife are leaving for Europe. I will be exhibiting the painting at the St. George Art Festival over the weekend (with Blake's permission) so others can see it.

UTAH WATERCOLOR SOCIETY MEETING PRESENTATION
Over 100 artists turned out at the monthly meeting of the Utah Watercolor Society in Salt Lake City Tuesday night. I was the featured speaker and was a little intimidated by the large group of my peers. But they were kind to me, and listened with patience as I presented a PowerPoint demonstration "From Sketches to Paintings" outlining my techniques for working up a painting from sketchbook field studies to studio paintings. Thanks to president Gayle Allen and workshop coordinator Catherine Hostetter for setting it all up. I will be back in Salt Lake City next week to teach a three-day mini workshop for the UWS which Catherine also organized. That workshop is already filled.



Inside the Big Barn at Wheeeler Farm, where the Utah Watercolor Society holds their monthly meetings



Wheeler Farm (above) is a wonderful working farm covering many acres. I had a chance to do a few sketchbook pencil studies around the farm before the presentation.

Canyon Country Paintings Exhibit Opens

We enjoyed a good turnout at the opening reception Friday night at the St. George Art Museum. The mezzanine level features my show plus a pottery exhibit by artist and friend Glen Blakley. It was good to finally get the exhibit up. I have about 28 original paintings on display including Lake Powell, Zion National Park, Capitol Reef, Snow Canyon, Kayenta and other southwest desert locations. Also on display are sketchbook drawings done on location and demonstration displays featuring step-by-step painting techniques. The show will run through July 7, 2007. Now I'm on way up to Salt Lake City to do a demonstration for the Utah Watercolor Society, then I'll only have a few days to finalize my work for the St. George Art Festival next weekend.

Hanging the Show at the Art Museum

Because of a quick show turnaround time the St. George Art Museum, it was "all hands on deck" as we went to work hanging my one man show. Having owned a gallery for many years, Nellie and I are experienced at hanging art, so with help and guidance from Deborah Reeder, Ramona Larson, and April Cummings we launched into the project. By afternoon the show was hung and we all think it looks terrific. I have about 28 original watercolor paintings on display along with sketchbook drawings and educational displays describing the watercolor painting process. We open Friday March 30 with an artist reception from 6pm to 8pm.

A very early watercolor painting

I had a a surprise visit from collector, Joyce Oveson, who brought in one of my very first watercolor paintings for cataloging. She had purchased the painting from the original owner back in 1982 then moved from the area and so I had no record of where it was. It's always fun to visit with my collectors, as I try to keep track of each painting and its whereabouts. Sometimes it becomes a challenge when paintings change hands or get passed on to others after a death. Joyce still treasures her little painting of a desert scene called "Desert Shadows."