New painting of Whitney Store in Kirtland Ohio

I have been working on this painting for a long time. I first conceived the idea during a trip to Kirtland with the Sons of Utah Pioneers group. One of my ancestors, James Henry Rollins and his two sisters were adopted by their uncle A. Sidney Gilbert who was a partner with Newel K. Whitney in this store. Henry learned the trade from his uncle and worked in the store as a young man. The store has been reconstructed by the LDS Church along with other historic buildings and the whole town is now a visitor's center.

Award of Merit at Utah Watercolor Society Spring Show

I was notified today that I had recieve the Jerry's Artarama Award of Merit and $100 prize from the Spring Exhibit of the Utah Watercolor Society. I received the award for "Stone Buttress" a painting of Kolob Canyons in Zion National Park. A second painting, "Banjo Man" was also juried into the exhibit. The show runs through June 16 at Palmer's Gallery in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Wisconsin Artist Visits the Studio

Today I had a visit from Joan Stackpole, an accomplished artist from Monroe, Wisconsin. Joan and her husband Brian came by the studio with friends J. Ramsey and Kathie Gibson from Cedar City. Joan loved my Painting of Zion national Park which just came off the board and was waiting for my framer, Guadalupe Rodriguez from Stylecraft Frames in Salt Lake City to pick it up. Before it got out of the studio Joan wanted a picture with me and the painting. I'm not sure she wanted me in it, but she sure liked the painting.

Roland Lee Landscape Painting of Zion National Park spotlighted in Paint the Parks Publicity Materials

I was happy to see my painting "Winter in Zion" used to illustrate the 2008 Paint the Parks Competition publicity materials (see ad below). I was fortunate to have two of my watercolor original paintings selected for the Paint the Parks traveling exhbition currently touring America through 2008. The show features paintings of America's national Parks and is presently on display at Grand Canyon National Park through May 15 and will open at the St. George Art Museum June 6. Of course my selected paintings are both of Zion National Park.

Click for Paint the Parks 2008 Traveling Exhibition Schedule

Click for complete Paint the Parks entry information for 2008-09

Roland Lee Painting of Lake Powell Raises $1200 for Doctor's Free Clinic

We attended the fundraising gala tonight for the St. George Doctor's Free Clinic. It was a dress-up dinner and auction held at the impressive Entrada Country Club in Southern Utah. I donated an original painting of Lake Powell, "Lake Powell Morning" which was purchased by Dr. and Mrs. Scott Parry. Through the sale I was able to donate $1200 towards the operation expenses for the Free Clinic.
Above: Nellie and Roland Lee at the auction.

Far left: Barbara and Jim Aikens of the Datura Gallery in Kayenta. The Gallery donated a one-of-a-kind necklace for the fundraiser auction. Above right: Joshua and Julie Aikens at the Entrada event. Joshua's company Proseedure donated the filming and production of an outstanding promotional video for the Doctor's Free Clinic.

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.