Private Art Show in Phoenix Arizona

From Denver we caught a plane to Phoenix Arizona for a private Five-person art show sponsored by the Mission Gallery. Artists included Marty Ricks, Kieth Bond, Julie Rogers, Ron Rencher and I. We enjoyed meeting many new art collectors there, who purchased a number of paintings. I was honored to have my painting "Bavarian Steet Scene" chosen for the collection of Dr. Harvey and Wendy Taylor. It was a pleasure getting to know them as well as the other collectors who attended. Special thanks to Jane Juber and Michelle Root from the Mission Gallery who organized the show and to George and Kay Ferrin who hosted the event at their lovely home in Ahwatukee.

Denver Conference on Public Lands and a trip to the Denver Art Museum

From Houston we flew up to Denver Colorado for the Association for Partners in Public Lands Conference. As a board member of the Zion National Park Foundation and the Zion Natural History Association I joined with others who represent national parks from all over the United States. While preservation of public lands is always at the forefront of interest, we are especially concerned about ways to introduce a computer generation to the outdoors and share our love of the wilderness with them. We addressed some very interesting issues associated with that need.

Of course we were able to spend time in the wonderful Denver Art Museum and see the "Inspiring Impressionism" exhibit as well as the Western Art Collection. We had hoped to hook up with Peter Hassrick at the museum, who is judging the upcoming Zion Centennial Art Competition that we have been working on the past year, but his schedule and ours didn't match up.



I was excited to see this massive painting of Yellowstone Falls by one of my favorite landscape painters Wilson Hurley. He was an inspiration to me early in my career but I have not been able to see many of his paintings up close.

San Antonio Texas Watercolor Workshop

I've spent a great four days presenting a watercolor workshop in San Antonio Texas. Thanks to Barbara Brunner who organized the workshop sponsored by the San Antonio Watercolor Group. I met a wonderful group of accomplished artists who I now consider friends. And what a classy group! We couldn't have been treated nicer.

Nellie and I were met at the airport by Barbara with a vase of flowers, and we were treated like royalty the whole time. They put us up in a top floor suite at the Crowne Plaza hotel which turned out to be the nicest and friendliest hotel we've ever stayed at. The staff went out of their way to accomodate all our needs and the facility was superb.The weather has been in the high 70's the whole time so we've been loving it.



Our good friends Greg and Kathy Cherry invited us to their home for a delicious salmon dinner one evening and took us to the Alamo and the Riverwalk another night. We were fortunate that the Alamo was open Friday evening for special re-enactments of the Alamo history. It was fun to visit with Greg and Kathy especially since we share cute grandkids together. Now we are flying over to Houston to spend a day with Jana, Phil, Matty and Katie. Then off to Denver for the APPL conference. We expect a big climate change between here and there since snow is predicted tomorrow up there.

Sears Invitational Art Show Award

The Sears Invitational Art Show kicked off yesterday at Dixie State College. I entered two pieces, one of which won an award. My painting "Lake Powell Morning" was awarded third place in watercolor. I also exhibited "Stone Buttress" which previously won Best of Show at the St. George Art Museum recently.

Workshop demonstration paintings

This is one of the snow paintings I began in my February workshop and finished up in the studio. We were working on how to paint water reflections.



We all used the same photo reference and worked on this painting together. First we planned the design with a thumbnail sketch deciding where we wanted the emphasis to be. then we went to work. I was pleased with the student's results and felt many of them were more exciting than mine was.

February 2-Day Watercolor Painting Workshop

Today we started another 2-day workshop at A Passion for Painting Art Gallery. It's great to rub shoulders with such a quality group of artists. Pretty much any of them could have been teaching this workshop instead of me--in fact Lola and Shari currently are teaching painting classes. Artists include:Sue Sheets, Carrie Ruppe, Jon Elliot, Boots Nelson, Karen Bettilyon, Shari Cannon, Lola Krummenacher, and Gail Alger.

Las Vegas Private Art Show

Last night we had a wonderful 6-person private art show in Las Vegas at the lovely home of Doug and Lori Gerrard. The show was sponsored by the Mission Gallery and featured works of J. Kirk Richards, Marty Ricks, Frederick Stephens, David Koch, Annette Everett and Roland Lee. Special thanks to the many collectors who turned out and to new collectors Nick and Christina Leventis who purchased my painting "Autumn Farm."

Famous Artists and Art Collectors

This evening a group of young artists and future art collectors dropped by my art studio for a tour. After showing them around the studio we talked about the role of artists and how we interpret the world around us. They had some great questions and I have no doubt some will be professional artists one day. I gave each young man a print and a box of cards to take home with them. The boys were from the Red Cliffs First Ward Boy Scouts.

Roland Lee photo of Red Mountain Snow on KSL TV

We had a rare blast of weather today. It rarely snows in St. George, but at about 2:50 this afternoon, a front rolled in with gale-force winds and sleet which covered the red hills with a white blanket in just minutes. It continued all afternoon, and made a great view when the clouds finally broke. On the way home from the studio I stopped and shot a photo of the snow on the big Red Mountain and e-mailed it to KSL Television in Salt Lake City. They aired the photo on the weather during tonight's 10pm newscast.

Carl Purcell Visits my Studio

Carl Purcell stopped by my studio following his watercolor workshop. We were joined by Mr. and Mrs. Williams from Farmington, who also stopped by the gallery to check out my new paintings. They had previously purchased one of Carl's paintings but never had the chance to meet him. So we all enjoyed a nice visit.