MAJESTIC MOUNTAINS II

Out my studio window, I can see the southern mountains of the Salt Lake Valley and the way they bend, wrapping around us like a warm hug on the southeast corner of the valley. There’s often a moment at dusk/sunset when I really should be standing up to start dinner for the fam, but I’m squeezing in just a few more brushstrokes on the easel. And then I’ll happen to look up out my window. My eye will catch on one of the peaks, the highest tip painted in glorious pink, and I’ll just stop and catch my breath. This little moment of creative energy buzzing from the universe right back into my studio, into my soul, filling me up in all kinds of ways. It’s impossible to capture fully. But I don’t know if I’ll ever stop trying. People ask me all the time what I’d paint if I was painting just for me and I think some of these paintings I did for this show right now were my answer to that. But maybe they all are? I paint joy. Does it matter if it comes out in reds or yellows or lemons or mountains? It’s all the same. It’s all there to lift us from the hard parts of our lives and elevate to a better place for as long as we want to stay. That by the act of painting it or looking at it or appreciating it, we taste the joy ourselves, invite it to make a home in us and carry us the next time the wind blows.

 [“Majestic Mountains II” 16x20, available at the #135show on 11/2! @utahartmarket at @cottonwoodccutah]