Blooming Yucca
Pastel | Plein Air | 8×8”
A plein air painting created during the St. George Plein Air Festival at the Red Hills Desert Garden in St. George, Utah.
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This painting was created as one of my three submissions for the 2026 St. George Plein Air Festival. It was a really enjoyable day of the festival, as most of the 70+ participating artists were painting on location together. These paint-outs have been a great way of making friends over the past year I’ve been doing them, and this event was no exception.
My approach is usually that I don’t take these events too seriously. I like to paint without pressure and take the time to see what others are making. However, the structure of this event allowed us to submit two paintings of our choice along with one additional painting created during the paint-out for the show and sale, so I definitely wanted to like this painting.
I was glad that this event was held at the Desert Hills Rock Garden, a botanical park in the heart of St. George. I've developed a comfort zone in smaller abstract botanical paintings.This lent itself well to the low pressure day I wanted to have.
There was so much to paint here, but I’ll admit I chose my spot because it looked like It would be shaded the entire time. It was early April, and temperatures were already reaching the high 80s. I faced some blooming yuccas and beyond them I could see the rocky hillside that some of my new friends opted to paint at. They were not so much interested in botanicals and chose a location that felt more within their artistic comfort zone, but not so much their physical one. I did not envy their spot in the full midday sun.
It’s fascinating to observe others at work and to see the choices they make, from the challenges or comforts they seek out to their chosen subjects, compositions, materials, colors, and more. Art-making is a series of choices, and I love gaining insight into the thinking of others. There are countless decisions an artist makes which branch into a completely unique outcome every time. Nearly 70 artists painted at the same place, and no paintings ended up alike. I love it!
