New Painting of Switzerland Barn

After completing a series of paintings of Zion National Park, I started going through my old European sketchbooks and images. That prompted a couple of new paintings from my last trip to Switzerland. We mostly stayed in the southern part of Switzerland along the Alps, and the architecture had a definite Romanesque or Italian influence. I found this big old barn as I hiked in the foothills near Chur.

I begin the painting with a light pencil sketch on Arches watercolor paper 140lb. My initial washes are very loose, and I can tighten the edges later.The distant hills and soft trees are painted wet in wet which naturally diffuses the eges. This gives the illusion of distance caused by aerial perspective. Notice how I allow pigment to mingle in the wet areas such as the shadow on the right of the barn.
As I move further into the painting I can delineate edges by using darker values. This is the pioint where the loose images begin to take on more form and shape.We see edges due to changes in value or color. The greatest attention is drawn to areas of highest contrast.

Click here for painting details and purchase information

New Painting Demonstration of Zion's Great Arch

In order to get to our cabin on the east side of Zion National Park we must travel from one end of the park to the other, which I thoroughly enjoy. Of course I stop many times to enjoy the view, sketch, and take photos. This is one of my favorite scenes as you start up the switchbacks to the mile-long tunnel in Bridge Mountain. It is commonly known as the "Great Arch of Zion." I took careful care with the lighting on this painting to emphasize the drama.

I started this painting by doing an outline sketch with a 4H pencil on 140lb Arches paper. Then I blocked in the large value areas letting the pigment mingle and flow naturally using wet in wet techniques. I followed this up by tightening edges and using overglazes to deepen the values. Darkest darks and Smallest details are done last.

The two detail images below show my painting process.

New Painting of Kolob Canyons

This past couple of weeks I have been working on several paintings of Zion National Park. It's easy to be inspired by that magnificent place, and I never seem to tire of painting its awesome scenes.This painting called "Stone Buttress - Zion" features the Kolob Fingers area of Zion National Park. It is reached from Interstate 15 near New Harmony, Utah, rather than through the usual Springdale entrance. The best time to go is the end of the day when the sun shoots its horizontal rays and lights up the rocks in brilliant reds.

Roland Lee Article in St. George Magazine

Brian Passey did a nice article for St. George Magazine which spotlighted some of my historical pioneer paintings. The article appeared in the current July 2007 issue and included eight of my paintings. "Watercolor West" watercolor society also mentioned some of my recent awards in their member newsletter this month.

Fire and Rain in Zion - Cabin Meanderings

We've been able to spend some time at our cabin in East Zion over the past two weeks. The weather was magnificent, with huge thunderstorms and much cooler air. There is nothing like being up in the Ponderosa Pines when the wind is whistling through the branches and raindrops are glistening on the pine needles. The downside is lightning fires which have played havoc with Zion National Park and Utah all summer. I hiked up on the Observation Point Trail which you can hike to easily from our cabin and was amazed at the damage from recent fires near Orderville Gulch and Mystery Canyon. I pray that we never get a strike near our cabin. I did this little sketch of some of our nice Ponderosas surrounding the cabin.

"River Glow" Watercolor Painting of Zion Canyon

I am fascinated by the effect of water moving through the deep canyons of southern Utah. For the past week I have worked on this painting of a little spot along the Virgin River in Zion National Park. I love how the warm reds and yellows of the cliffs and trees reflect in the cool green water. The steady work of this peaceful river has carved an immense canyon over eons of time, and tumbled countless boulders into smooth stones as they rolled their way down from the high mountains.

Even though I first do a fairly careful drawing in pencil, I don't pay much attention to the edges at this point. Here I am just laying in glazes to establish the overall value pattern of the painting.









Once again I use loose washes of wet-in-wet paint as an underglaze. After these are dry I will lay in some darker glazes on top, defining the hard edges of the tree trunks by using negative painting to preserve the light areas.

Roland Lee Paintings of Zion National Park Accepted in Paint the Parks Top 100 2007 Exhibit

I was excited to learn that two of my paintings of Zion National Park were accepted into Paint America's 2007 Top 100 Paint the Parks national competition. The exhibit will travel to museums throughout America during 2007 and 2008.

Top: "Five Minutes of Fame", a watercolor painting of Zion National Park was juried into the 2007 Paint the Parks Top 100 competition.

Left: "Zion in Winter", a small watercolor painting of Zion National Park was juried into the 2007 Mini 50 competition.

Purchase Award at Wasatch Plein Air Paradise Competition in Midway, Utah

At the awards ceremony for the 2007 Wasatch Plein Air Paradise competition I received a Merit award for this painting of "Zermatt Resort" which was also purchased by the Zermatt Resort for their permanent collection. We enjoyed our time in Midway Utah painting on location in that beautiful area, and will definitely return to participate next year as well. Kudos to the organizers and many volunteers who made it a great event.

This painting "Midway Farm" painted on location during the competition was purchased at the Wasatch Plein Air Paradise show by Tamara Barrett from New Jersey.

Watercolor Painting of Zion National Park

I actually started this painting a few weeks ago in my workshop, but because of our travels I was unable to finish it until today. The subject of this painting is the "Altar of Sacrifice" in Zion National Park. It was so named because of its flat top and the red stains running down its sides. I chose a late afternoon light which spotlighted its features, so I called it "Light on the Altar."

Tomorrow we're off to Lake Powell for the Holiday weekend with my kids and grandkids. I'll be taking my sketchbook, but with all the activity I doubt I'll get much time to sketch or paint. However, I'll get some great pictures of my grandkids!

Painting the Provo River at the Wasatch Plein Air Painting Competition

Probably my favorite part of the Wasatch Plein Air Paradise competition was just being able to be outdoors for several consecutive days with no interruptions. The Provo River winds its way through the valley and I spent quite a few peaceful hours sketching by the riverside. Early one morning I hiked upriver to a pastoral spot and plunked my chair in a shady bend. The rush of the water over the rocks lulled me into a quiet reverie as I began painting. within the hour a group of about 10 women and a couple of fishing guides began working in front of me, and I enjoyed the show as the guides tried to show the novices the art of fly fishing a river. It was comical, but I had to cheer as one of them actually caught a very nice Brown Trout. I might even come back to this spot with my fly fishing gear next time.



"Peaceful River" 6" x 9" watercolor painted en plein air along the Provo River near Midway, Utah. On display at the Midway Town Hall through July 4, 2007.