For the Beauty of the Land

Sometimes a guy just has to get away to think. I had one of those times yesterday afternoon as I stole away for a quick hike in the desert. The winter sun was warm but the air was still crisp from the recent snow. The red desert sand stood in stark contrast to the clear blue sky and the snow-covered peaks of Pine Valley Mountain off in the distance. I often find myself stunned by the perfect beauty of God's creations and feel like more than a casual observer as I walk among them. What a beautiful place this is. I am thankful for my time here.

Snowy weekend results in Icy River Painting

Boy, it's been cold in Utah the past couple of weeks and we've had more than our share of snow. Over the weekend we travelled to Annabella Utah, near Richfield, for a big Holiday party with my kids and grandkids. It was cold, but didn't stop us from enjoying the snow. When I got back to the studio I launched into this painting of a scene along the Fremont River with the sun casting long blue shadows across the snow.

See Step-by-step watercolor painting demonstration on this painting

Roland Lee Drawing Chosen for Display at Tonbridge Castle in England

While in England this summer I sketched the Tonbridge Castle Gatehouse in my travel sketchbook. The drawing came to the attention of Shaun Jeffery, whose extensive collection of Tonbridge memorabilia is on permanent display in the Tonbridge Castle Museum. After exchanging several emails, I agreed to allow the drawing to become part of the Castle Museum collection. If you are ever in Tonbridge, Kent, England stop by and take a look!

A visit to LDS Temple Square in Salt Lake City

We braved a big winter storm to travel to Salt Lake City over the weekend. Although the roads were indeed treacherous, we survived to enjoy the resulting white blanket of beauty that always follows. We attended a beautiful banquet high above the city in the Joseph Smith building, followed by a wonderful concert featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and orchestra. It was a grand way to usher in the Christmas season and remember the birth of the Savior of the World.

Prince's Purchase Third Roland Lee Painting of Switzerland

Click here to see a demonstration of the painting steps for "Swiss Valley."

Over the weekend we visited snowy Salt Lake City to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and see the beautiful lights on Temple Square. We also had a nice visit with art collectors Jeff and Karianne Prince who purchased their third Roland Lee painting of Switzerland. All three paintings are beautifully displayed in the living room of their lovely home in Salt Lake city. Over the years they have become special friends.

Jeff and Karianne Prince with their painting of a Swiss Village.




Artist Roland Lee and The Prince's with their Roland Lee painting of Schloss Reitburg, a castle in Switzerland. Jeff spent two years in Switzerland serving as an LDS missionary and has a special place in his heart for the beautiful country and people of Switzerland. Click here to see sketch used to paint Schloss Reitburg

Solace at Sinawava - finished Painting of Zion National Park

This is the finished painting I've been working on for a couple of weeks. I named it "Solace at Sinawava." The Temple of Sinawava is at the entrance to Zion Narrows.

New Painting of Zion National Park

I've been working on this big painting for two weeks and thought I'd show it off a little. The location is in Zion National Park near the Temple of Sinawava. This is where they filmed my watercolor class for the new documentary on the Zion Centennial. The river is low in the fall but the reflections are amazing with the yellow cottonwoods in full color. I was anxious to get back and start this painting.I should finish the painting off tomorrow.

Roland Lee Watercolor Class filmed for Zion National Park Documentary

Sound man holds boom microphone on Sandra Feldman (left) while cameras roll on artists Vanessa McCullough and Lola Krummenacher (center) and Myron Laub (right) as they work on paintings on location by the Virgin River in Zion National Park.

Yesterday I conducted a painting workshop in Zion National Park. But this was a little different. This time we were followed around by a film crew making a video documentary about the Centennial of Zion National Park. Emmy award winning film producer Phil Tuckett, with 30 Emmy awards to his credit, is producing the film leading a crew from the advanced film production program at Dixie State College. In the photo above I stand by the demonstration painting I completed near the Temple of Sinawava.

A Cameraman zooms in on artist John Mangels while John's wife enjoys the show. At first the artists were shy, but once they got into their paintings they forgot about the cameras. The filming took several hours.

Dick Rose works on a small watercolor painting by the Virgin River near the Temple of Sinawava. Dick is president of the Southern Utah Watercolor Society.

English Cottage Lane Watercolor Painting

This little painting came on the tail end of the paintings for my England and Europe one man show at Mission Gallery. I shot several photos during the process and finally got time to post them. This is a little lane in England.

After doing a quick outline sketch on the watercolor paper I begin with some very broad washes, wet-into-wet, allowing the pigments to blend freely from warm at the top to cool in the shadow areas.

With the underglazes in place and dry, I begin painting the dark areas on the cottages and the distant trees.

Next to the finished painting is the original photo I used as reference. Obviously I always use a lot of artistic license in my paintings. Remember my role as an artist is not to duplicate a photo, but to create a new image based on my own personal experiences.

click for more step by step process in painting "Cottage Lane"

Click for information on purchasing this painting of Cottage Lane in Kent England

November Watercolor Painting Class

We enjoyed another watercolor class with some great artists yesterday. We devoted our classtime to a study of how to paint water, and everyone did great. Class members included: Phil Larsen, Lottie Hurst, Lillie Jones, Karen Bettilyon, Vicki Clayton, Shari Cannon, and Gail Alger.