Roland Lee Painting in the Springville Museum of Art 84th Spring Salon

I was fortunate to have one of my landscape watercolor paintings of southern Utah juried into the prestigious 84th annual Spring Salon of the Springville Museum of Art. With over 900 entries, I'm happy to have a painting selected this year. We were able to walk through the exhibit and I was impressed with both the quality of art and the presentation.

The Springville Museum of Art is a fabulous facility and the director Vern Swanson has been at the forefront of the art scene for many years.

Left: The main entrance to the Springville Museum of Art.

Left: "Left: Cliffs on Fire" an original watercolor painting by Roland Lee of the red cliffs of southern Utah juried into the 84th annual Spring Salon of the Springville Museum of Art.

Hanging the Blaine Lee Art Collection

Left: My brother Blaine Lee with several of his Jay Bryant Ward original oil paintings.

Over the weekend Nellie and I visited my brother Blaine Lee who is a founding vice-president for Franklin Covey. He just acquired a new home and requested our services to help place and hang his art collection. I was surprised and delighted to see four incredible original oil paintings by LDS painter Jay Bryant Ward in his living room. He has a spiritual affinity for these works which feature the Lord Jesus Christ pouring out His light on the world. We enjoyed a good visit and his paintings look magnificent in his new home.

Left: "Seed of Faith" original painting by Jay Ward.

Palmer's Gallery in Salt Lake City hosts the Spring Exhibition of the Utah Watercolor Society

While in Salt Lake City I delivered two of my original watercolor paintings to Palmer's Gallery on Broadway Street. The gallery will host the Spring Exhibition of the Utah Watercolor Society which kicks off with an opening reception next week. I was impressed with the design and character of the Palmer Gallery. It is going to be an excellent place to view some of the best Utah watercolor paintings as juried by noted artist Jean Grastorf. I was fortunate to have two watercolor paintings selected including "Stone Buttress" and "Banjo Man." Thanks to Exhibit chairperson Pat Heberling and the other volunteers for all their work putting this show together.

Spring Blossoms at the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival

Thanksgiving Point, in Lehi, Utah is well-known for its expansive and well-manicured gardens covering zillions of acres. Visitors of all ages enjoy discovering such delights as the "secret garden," a crashing waterfall, and endless flower displays all connected by winding stone paths and arched foot bridges. We took our grandkids and spent a couple of hours strolling through the gardens yesterday and were treated to the final glory of the annual Tulip Festival.

Tulips of every type, color, and size were evident everywhere we looked. Of course photographers and artists were taking advantage of the display and I threw in with some photos of my own. This summer there will be a big Plein Air Art Festival and painting competition in the gardens and I just might sign up. If nothing else the Tulips got our senses fired up for our trip to the Netherlands in a couple of weeks.

Utah Watercolor Society May Meeting at the Historic Wheeler Farm

Prior to the monthly meeting of the Utah Watercolor Society in Salt Lake City last night, I strolled through old Wheeler Farm where the meeting was held. My sketchbooks are full of drawings from this wonderful working farm and this time I shot a few reference photos too as the last rays of sun put a touch of gold on the place.

Left: A pencil drawing done on the grounds of the historic Wheeler Farm in Murray Utah. This sketch was done on location using a Watson-Guptil hardbound sketchbook and a 6B pencil. I use this same set-up for sketching on location all over the world.

Jean Grastorf presented an interesting demonstration at our monthly UWS meeting last night. Jean also presented a three day workshop for the group as well as judged the UWS Spring Juried Exhibition. Jean is very well-known in the watercolor world for her unique method of "pouring watercolor" which has won her membership in most of the watercolor groups and a myriad of awards. She meticulously masks out various parts of her paintings then pours mixtures of watercolor over the paper in various progressive steps. The results are very rich and colorful as you can see by her painting "Southern Breeze" above.

Plein Air Painting at the Kayenta Desert Bloom Art Festival

Roland Lee paints outdoors at the Kayenta Desert Bloom Art Festival while Linda and Dave Johannessen and Joan and John Mangels give advice.

I was invited to be one of the guest artists to paint outdoors at the new Desert Bloom Art Festival in Kayenta. I did some quick sketches of the desert arboretum flowers and cactuses, then did a quick watercolor study of pink cactus blossoms. A couple of artist friends hung around to watch and we had a mini-lesson in negative painting. My wife made the day when she showed up with some hot home-made tamales.

Robert Shepherd Painting added to my Personal Art Collection

Robert Shepherd Painting of Paradise Canyon in Southern Utah near St. George in personal art collection of Roland L. Lee

Robert Shepherd was one of my most revered mentors when I began painting. He passed away many years ago but I was fortunate to inherit his easel, taboret, and many of his personal art books. After selling my first gallery painting in 1980 I purchased one of Robert Shepherd's paintings with the proceeds -- and I still had to make time payments on it. But it hangs in my home proudly.

Today I was fortunate to acquire another full sheet original watercolor painting by Robert Shepherd from one of his major collectors and personal friends. I am thrilled with my new acquisition!

May Watercolor Painting Workshop

May watercolor worshop students included: (Back row)Susan Tyler, Linda Alexander, Joanne Asay, Gail Alger. (Front) John Mangels, Linda Johannessen, Elaine Winget.

I enjoyed teaching a watercolor painting workshop the last two days at A Passion for Painting Art Gallery in St. George Utah. This is my last watercolor landscape workshop of the season as I get ready to leave for ur European painting trip. I used both powerpoint demonstrations and painting demonstrations to teach concepts of learning to see light in the landscape. This was a great group of talented artists and they really grasped the concept of negative painting in watercolor.

A quick two minute watercolor painting showing how to use negative painting to create a sagebrush.

Virgin River in Zion Canyon Step by Step Watercolor Painting Demonstration

"A Patch of blue" Watercolor painting of the Virgin River in Zion canyon by Roland Lee

This is a big 22" x 30" full-sheet watercolor painting I started last week and finished up today. I am trying to combine some of the water reflection painting techniques I learned from David Drummond (see my Lake Powell paintings), with the more traditional reflection painting technique I often use for rivers. What caught my attention in the scene was the colorful reflection in the still part of the river. A look at the painting will tell you why I call it "A Patch of Blue." Click here for purchase information on this painting

Click on step-by-step paintings below for enlarged views

Photos of Desert Tortoises near St. George, Utah in the Red Clfifs Desert Reserve

I had another close encounter of the Tortoise kind on my walk in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. As I walked up the trail I spotted a tortoise ambling up the trail towards me. He was about 30 feet away, so I just stopped and stood still thinking he would divert his path. Instad he got closer and closer without turning. then I discovered what he was after. He walked right up into my shadow and plunked himself down for a nice rest in a shady spot right at my feet.

When I finally moved he quickly ducked in his shell, then wandered off into the desert shrubs. I don't know who was more surprised, him or me.

Click to see some more Roland Lee photos of desert tortoises in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve