Friday, February 29, 2008

Mike Malm Show at Trailside Gallery and gallery hopping in Scottsdale

Artist Roland Lee at the Trailside Gallery in Scottsdale ArizonaWe stayed over an extra day in order to do a little gallery hopping in Scottsdale and enjoy the warm 80 degree Arizona sunshine. We did plenty of both! After picking up our rental car we drove from Tempe to the Scottsdale Art District, an area teeming with galleries and shops. We started with the Trailside Gallery, one of my favorites hoping to see some of Mike Malm's work. We were rewarded with a real treat as they had about ten big pieces on display. When I told the the gallery rep I had one of Mike's originals hanging in my living room, she really perked up sensing a sale in the making. His paintings were incredible and I truly wished I could buy a couple today. What a master!

This painting "Dappled" by Michael Malm was Nellie's favorite.

We then moved on to Leslie Levy, Legacy Gallery, Overland Trails, and others, stopping to chat with Jessica Hunter in the Rive Gauche gallery. A few quick questions told me she knew her stuff and I enjoyed visiting with her. They display works by a number of Utah artists including sculptor L'Deane Trueblood who is a good friend of mine (of course I own a wonderful bronze by her as well.) Nellie and I also enjoyed the work of Jerry Cox especially "Hammock Lovers" which hangs suspended from the ceiling. The figurative paintings of Bryce Cameron Liston were knockouts and we enjoyed the peaceful paintings of Doug Aagard and the big bold color-filled paintings of Jeff Ham.

It's always fun to charge the artistic batteries by visiting galleries, but I often wish I were a rich art collector with an unlimited budget rather than a starving artist with a credit card.

Private Art Show in Phoenix Arizona

From Denver we caught a plane to Phoenix Arizona for a private Five-person art show sponsored by the Mission Gallery. Artists included Marty Ricks, Kieth Bond, Julie Rogers, Ron Rencher and I. We enjoyed meeting many new art collectors there, who purchased a number of paintings. I was honored to have my painting "Bavarian Steet Scene" chosen for the collection of Dr. Harvey and Wendy Taylor. It was a pleasure getting to know them as well as the other collectors who attended. Special thanks to Jane Juber and Michelle Root from the Mission Gallery who organized the show and to George and Kay Ferrin who hosted the event at their lovely home in Ahwatukee.

Denver Conference on Public Lands and a trip to the Denver Art Museum

Artist Roland Lee at the Denver Art Museum

From Houston we flew up to Denver Colorado for the Association for Partners in Public Lands Conference. As a board member of the Zion National Park Foundation and the Zion Natural History Association I joined with others who represent national parks from all over the United States. While preservation of public lands is always at the forefront of interest, we are especially concerned about ways to introduce a computer generation to the outdoors and share our love of the wilderness with them. We addressed some very interesting issues associated with that need.

Of course we were able to spend time in the wonderful Denver Art Museum and see the "Inspiring Impressionism" exhibit as well as the Western Art Collection. We had hoped to hook up with Peter Hassrick at the museum, who is judging the upcoming Zion Centennial Art Competition that we have been working on the past year, but his schedule and ours didn't match up.

Roland Lee in front of Wilson Hurley painting at the Denver Art Museum

I was excited to see this massive painting of Yellowstone Falls by one of my favorite landscape painters Wilson Hurley. He was an inspiration to me early in my career but I have not been able to see many of his paintings up close.

Friday, February 22, 2008

San Antonio Texas Watercolor Workshop

Roland Lee watercolor workshop for San Antonio Watercolor Group Feb 2008

I've spent a great four days presenting a watercolor workshop in San Antonio Texas. Thanks to Barbara Brunner who organized the workshop sponsored by the San Antonio Watercolor Group. I met a wonderful group of accomplished artists who I now consider friends. And what a classy group! We couldn't have been treated nicer.

Nellie and I were met at the airport by Barbara with a vase of flowers, and we were treated like royalty the whole time. They put us up in a top floor suite at the Crowne Plaza hotel which turned out to be the nicest and friendliest hotel we've ever stayed at. The staff went out of their way to accomodate all our needs and the facility was superb.The weather has been in the high 70's the whole time so we've been loving it.

Roland and Nellie Lee in front of the Alamo in San Antonio Texas

Our good friends Greg and Kathy Cherry invited us to their home for a delicious salmon dinner one evening and took us to the Alamo and the Riverwalk another night. We were fortunate that the Alamo was open Friday evening for special re-enactments of the Alamo history. It was fun to visit with Greg and Kathy especially since we share cute grandkids together. Now we are flying over to Houston to spend a day with Jana, Phil, Matty and Katie. Then off to Denver for the APPL conference. We expect a big climate change between here and there since snow is predicted tomorrow up there.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Sears Invitational Art Show Award

Watercolor painting of Lake Powell by Roland Lee

The Sears Invitational Art Show kicked off yesterday at Dixie State College. I entered two pieces, one of which won an award. My painting "Lake Powell Morning" was awarded third place in watercolor. I also exhibited "Stone Buttress" which previously won Best of Show at the St. George Art Museum recently.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Workshop demonstration paintings

River Reflections watercolor demonstration painting by Roland Lee

This is one of the snow paintings I began in my February workshop and finished up in the studio. We were working on how to paint water reflections.

watercolor demonstration painting by Roland Lee

Roland Lee watercolor demonstration painting how to paint snowWe all used the same photo reference and worked on this painting together. First we planned the design with a thumbnail sketch deciding where we wanted the emphasis to be. then we went to work. I was pleased with the student's results and felt many of them were more exciting than mine was.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

February 2-Day Watercolor Painting Workshop

February 2008 watercolor painting workshop with Roland Lee

Today we started another 2-day workshop at A Passion for Painting Art Gallery. It's great to rub shoulders with such a quality group of artists. Pretty much any of them could have been teaching this workshop instead of me--in fact Lola and Shari currently are teaching painting classes. Artists include:Sue Sheets, Carrie Ruppe, Jon Elliot, Boots Nelson, Karen Bettilyon, Shari Cannon, Lola Krummenacher, and Gail Alger.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Las Vegas Private Art Show

Collectors Nick and Christina Leventis with artist Roland Lee after purchasing his painting of a Vermont Barn

Last night we had a wonderful 6-person private art show in Las Vegas at the lovely home of Doug and Lori Gerrard. The show was sponsored by the Mission Gallery and featured works of J. Kirk Richards, Marty Ricks, Frederick Stephens, David Koch, Annette Everett and Roland Lee. Special thanks to the many collectors who turned out and to new collectors Nick and Christina Leventis who purchased my painting "Autumn Farm."