tried fishing from the shoreline. Robert taught me a new rigging using a Senko lure from Gary Yamamoto with a "Texpose" weedless rigging. You fish it extremely slowly crawling it over the rocky bottom. I managed to pull up this big largemouth bass with it and now I'm a believer too.
I serve as a volunteer on the St. George City Public Arts Commission. We are responsible for acquiring and placing sculptures in the city. We have recently finished a "Water Walk" which winds down Main Street and ends in interactive water features in the new City Plaza. A special feature was the placement of a sculpture by Annette Everett called "Sand Man" which honored the many volunteers who helped sandbag homes during a terrible flood recently. My best friend Lyman Hafen spoke at the ceremony and the sculpture was enveiled.
Painting this effect in watercolor requires me to lay down underglazes of very warm hues, and come back over the top with cooler glazes for the shadows. The sky in this painting was laid out quickly using a wet-into-wet technique. I am happy with the soft edges in the sky as warm light transitions to cool. Notice the splattering effect in the lower part of the painting created by tapping a brush with clear water into the almost-dry wash. This gives a very natural texture to the under-glazes.
"Zion's River" 8x12 watercolor by Roland Lee
I am working on Arches 140 lb. Cold-press watercolor paper stapled to "Incredible Art Board". As usual I begin with a light (4h) pencil drawing to define my edges. Using a 1-inch flat brush I start by laying in both the sky and the water at the same time using wet-into-wet technique. First I wet the paper on the sky area and apply a small amount of yellow ochre along the horizon, then do a graded wash with Ultramarine blue from the top down. While that area dries I immediately apply clear water to the water area and float the reflection colors into it.
I allow the pigment to mingle in the wet in wet wash by tipping my board vertically to allow the paint to run down. This helps give the appearance of vertical reflections of the cliffs and trees in the water. Now I let both washes dry completely. 
On the distant warm cliffs I lay in the shadow shapes with Quinacridone coral and ultramarine blue allowing the pigments to mingle. Moving down to the foliage I apply simple shapes using both wet in wet and drybrush to create a sense of texture. 
I use negative painting (backpainting) in several places to define lighter trunks and branches against the darker background. I also further define the shapes on the cliff with darker applications of paint, making the same adjustments in the water reflections. 
My photo reference was taken with my pocket digital camera. In a high contrast lighting situation it is difficult for the camera to read the shadows and the highlights, so the shadows are way to dark with no detail. In my painting I overcome that by lightening the middle ground values. 
The finished painting. I feel like I captured the warm glow of the canyon and the colorful reflections in the water. What do you think?
Today the weather was so gorgeous I took a little walk in the desert at lunchtime and shot these photos of yellow wildflowers. The desert is full of them right now and all the red sand is covered in grass. Yesterday's rain should bring out lots more wildflowers in the coming weeks. I'm keeping my eye on the cactus blossoms as well. Pretty soon they'll give us a show too.
The Mission Gallery sponsored a special art show tonight at the Cliffs community near Ivins, Utah. Three artists displayed their work at the Cliffs clubhouse, which was a gorgeous place to show art. Two other artists displayed in the model home nearby. Although the attendance was light the evening was beautiful and the view spectacular. One of my new paintings sold to Ellen Gianni who just returned from Fairbanks Alaska and stopped by with Mr. and Mrs. Sheets, also collectors of mine.
(Top)Ellen Gianni and I pose in the Cliffs Clubhouse after she purchased my painting "Zion Canyon Shadows"(left).
Here are two more paintings in the red Desert series. I finally got them all posted. In the next few days I will upload a few of the step by step sequences on how I painted some of these watercolors. I just need to find a little time to crop and resize the photos.
