Finished my second year of the #stradaeasel 31 day challenge!

Painting from life every day has a powerful effect on my growth as a painter. I don’t have time to paint from life every day, but participating in a challenge really helps! I did it last year during the month of January, and then again this year.

On January 29th as I stood in a snow-covered field at dusk, with no one else around, I watched flocks of geese screech across the pink sky. I folded up my easel since the painting light was gone, put on some warmer gloves to revive my hands, and walked further into the field to admire the mountains and feel the cold air on my face. January has taken on a brilliance now that I’ve done multiple plein air paintings during the last two Januarys and it’s been amazing.

I hope you enjoy my collage of January paintings from 2019!

Peaks and Valleys: Around the Wasatch Front

Join me for my solo show of plein air works at the Marmalade Library between June 4th and July 20th, 2018. There will be an opening reception where you can meet the artist and view the works on Thursday, June 14, 2018 from 7:00 to 8:30pm. 

The show will include primarily new works from 2018 of plein air scenes from around Salt Lake City, Ogden, Lehi, Midway and a few other spots in the valley. 

I'm so pleased to get to share my work, answer your questions, and also showcase this valley I've grown to love living in. Please come by and see the show!

Winter Plein Air

Hey there! Today we went on a nice adventure so I could get out and do some plein air (painting outdoors). We drove up a canyon near our neighborhood, grabbed the gear, and I picked a spot to paint. We had an appointment at 6pm we didn't want to be late for, so I set a timer and painted an 8x10 panel in less than 1.5 hours! (That's a record for me). It's not my very favorite plein air, my fingers were cold, I had some new gear to try, and I was standing on a bed of squishy, wet snow in dim winter light. The warm yellow glow right over the Oquirrh Mountains was reflecting off the reservoir, and that was my inspiration. Loved getting out to get some chill on my cheeks!

This was also a return to the first place I painted plein air, and this one was much more relaxed, and turned out much better than the first scary attempt.