St. George Art Festival Great Place to See Hundreds of Artist's Work on Display

Duane and Shauna Woodmansee purchased another painting for their collection

Last spring some wonderful collectors, Duane and Shauna Woodmansee purchased their first original watercolor from me at the St. George Art Festival. they stopped by my gallery yesterday to view my new paintings for this years festival and purchased another one for their collection. I'd like to invite everyone to stop by my double-booth at this year's St. George Art Festival Friday and Saturday March 29 and 30. It runs from 10am to 6pm both days in the fabulous St. George City Town Square. Stop by and see us. I'll have plenty of new paintings and prints on display.

How to Draw Almost Anything Workshop

Our beautiful town square provided plenty of outdoor sketching opportunities for our workshop on How to draw anything

Each year I teach one workshop on drawing. Of course drawing is fundamental to all art forms, but I  feel it is key to understanding how we see in nature. Learning to observe light and shadow with our artists brain allows us to quickly draw anything we see. This workshop included time in the studio as well as sketching outdoors in our travel sketchbooks. We explored methods for establishing value contrast quickly and describing mass and form with middle values in three simple steps. If you'd like to find out more, take one of my art workshops!

The Portland Art Museum - Some Thoughts on Fine Art

Artist Roland Lee at the Portland Art Museum

My volunteer work with the Zion Natural History Association and the Zion National Park Foundation took me to Portland Oregon this week for the annual APPL conference. While there I was able to slip away and visit some of the art sites including the Portland Art Museum. The public transportation makes it easy to get around, and the city is very friendly, so it was relatively easy to find our way to the Art Museum. They have a large collection covering many subjects and genres, with a current display of very contemporary works spanning the past century. Each trip to a museum causes me to think and re-think about what constitues fine art. While I can accept and appreciate that all art deals with human emotions, I must say that to create art that displays the worst of human behavior and flaunts the baseness of humanity is a waste of talent. Reality gives us enough of that. Most of the big museums provide their share of art pieces that are very disturbing, and the Portland was no exception. But thankfully much of the art was uplifting, especially the fine impressionist paintings -- and the display space was wonderful. In any case I always appreciate the many donors, docents, curators, volunteers, and patrons that provide places for us to enjoy art, and make our own choices.

Some of the best watercolor painters (and friends) in the world!

Our March 2013 watercolor workshop in Salt Lake City, UT

What a joy it is to rub shoulders with some of the best painters in the world. That's what it is like when I get together with other artists. Even though, I am the teacher, I learn just as much from them. Likewise, when we all display our paintings, I am more excited about theirs than I am my own. It is so great to be able to enjoy the experience of watercolor painting with others. Thanks so much to Margo Cook for organizing and producing these great workshops.

Roland Lee Painting nets $3500 for Dixie State University scholarships

Dr. Ed and Idonna Snow pose with Roland Lee and their new original painting following the scholarship auction for Dixie State University

Dr. Ed and Idonna Snow purchased a Roland Lee painting at a Dixie State University fundraising banquet Friday night raising $3500.00 for scholarships. In it's ninth year, the "Fire and Ice" banquet and auction is held to raise funds specifically for needs-based scholarships. I have donated an original painting each year for most of those 9 years.

Art for Kids at Panorama Elementary School

Oh, the energy of 60 second-graders!

How do you choose from so many hands raised? Do I look a little dazed?

Listening to the children read during recess

Do these kids look happy? Miss Ridd's class with their own boxes of art cards.

I was invited to talk to the young children at Panorama Elementary School in Washington recently. Alice Blair, an arts advocate who helps the second grade students with reading skills, invited me to share some thoughts with these "budding" artists. Lacey Ridd was the host teacher and her class was joined by two others to fill the room with over 60 eager and enthusiastic kids! I am always amazed at the depth of understanding that the kids have. They asked thoughtful and well-worded questions about my career and what they could do to become artists. I encouraged them to draw what they see and to get out and enjoy our beautiful world. After presenting a powerpoint demonstration I gave each of them a box of my art cards and encouraged them to write and draw in them. I was pretty tired afterward, and once again amazed at their energy and the ability of their teachers to keep up with them day after day.

Watercolor Award at Sears Invitational Art Show

Roland Lee with collectors Lawrence and Janine Lambert in front of his painting "Duck Creek Deadfall." The Lambert's own a number of Roland's paintings.

I was pleased to receive an award at the Sears Invitational Art Show currently being exhibited on the Dixie State University campus in the Eccles Museum. It is always an honor to be invited to participate in this prestigious show. My watercolor painting, "Snow Canyon Sunrise" received second place in watercolor. I also exhibited a new big painting called "Duck Creek Deadfall."

Roland with his award winning painting "Snow Canyon Sunrise."

Watercolor Workshop at snowy Flaming Gorge

Flaming Gorge Reservoir at Sunset near the town of Dutch John Utah

The beautiful desert covered in snow

A great group of experienced artists at the Flaming Gorge Resort

We're enjoying two days of watercolor painting at Flaming Gorge Resort. A great group of experienced artists are hard at work in my watercolor workshop exploring the finer points of landscape painting. Tomorrow we work on snow paintings which will fit right in with the snow storm we are expecting the next two days. This is our first time to visit this part of our beautiful state and we are impressed. The drive across the mountains and desert to get here treated us to some amazing views of mesas and rocks layered with a foot of snow. What a fairy-tale site!

Warm Up Your Brushes with Two Winter Watercolor Workshops

"Snow and Barn" watercolor workshop demonstration painting

Ready for a winter vacation? I will offer two watercolor master classes during February. The first, "Winning Ways with Watercolor" will be held at the Flaming Gorge Resort near Vernal, Utah. Take a mini winter vacation and join us for this exciting two-day workshop February 7 - 8, which will include several of my most popular techniques: Seeing the light in nature; Unravelling the secrets of negative painting; Keys to believable lakes and rivers; Snow scenes that sing; and Converting bad photos into great paintings. The resort is offering special $59 nightly rates for our workshop, so let's get away for a couple of days and paint away the winter blues.

Or, warm up your brushes at A Passion for Painting studio in St. George February 14-15 as we explore "The Landscape in Winter." This is one of my favorite classes and is perfect for all levels. Each workshop will consist of artist demonstrations, powerpoint step-by-step examples, and plenty of student painting time.

"Winning Ways with Watercolor"
February 7-8, 2013
Flaming Gorge Resort
$175
9am to 4pm each day
To register contact:
Lori Burchinal
435-828-3688

"The Landscape in Winter"
February 14 - 15, 2013
A Passion for Painting, St. George UT
$175
9am to 4pm each day
To register contact:
Becky Whitney
435-628-5890

Painting the Southern Utah Red Cliffs with Water

The January workshop centered around painting the red cliffs of southern Utah. One of my favorite subjects, I always enjoy tackling this landscape theme. We explored several techniques  for portraying both the angularity of the cliffs and the surface forms and fissures. I did three class demonstrations during the two-day workshop. 

The Sentinel is a familiar cliff at Zion National Park. Here we concentrated on the techniques for making a form turn in nature.

I chose a softer color scheme with lots of pinks and purples for this scene near Kayenta, Utah. We studied the effects of aerial perspective on the distant cliffs.

The second day we added the element of water. I used a much warmer color scheme so I could contrast the oranges against the blue of the water in this scene of Ivins Reservoir.