On My Art

1952. I was born in Canada and raised in Utah. Received a BFA and MFA from BYU and taught printmaking there for sixteen years.

Drawing and then painting desert landscape has been my primary focus for over fifty years. You do the work, learn, teach, keep painting, maybe win and award or two (or not), but you keep on painting. Lately, I seek out those views which are overlooked; not the usual scenic turn out icons. Though I love the slick-rock and towering red cliffs, I think I love the multiplicity of greys, siennas, pale ochres, the blue greens of Morrison hills, purples and faded umbers of the badlands even more. hey seem to be what I tend to paint these past years. Love of the desert, refuge and contemplation . . . and painting. It is an ongoing search for beauty and the desire to paint something “worthy” . . . 

The scent of sage of cliff rose blooms. 
Canyon wren’s song—coyote’s call. 
An amber sunset setting rice grass plumes ablaze 
and sandstone walls aglow. 
The flow of cottonwoods, golden 
along the stream—leaves shimmering, agleam. 
All these for refuge—for sanctuary. 
All that is holy does compass these also 
into that great whole.