In July of this year, we were able to go on our annual family camping trip with my husband’s family. This year, Wes and I were sort of in charge of planning, so we reserved a campsite in the mountains near Capitol Reef National Park. This is one of our favorite places to camp and so we were excited to share it with family. We planned lots of hikes and excursions, and I spent the entirety of the trip learning again how to balance plein air painting with family time. This post is a record of my attempts, and of our many adventures.

In June of 2025 I was able to participate in the Midway Plein Air Paradise competition held every year. Many towns and cities host painting competitions to draw tourists, and to showcase their area’s natural beauty. The competition involved a main painting competition, as well as some smaller competitions within the main one, all with prizes awarded by judges.

I wanted a permanent location for this special painting that is several years in the making. This process is a testament to how I have grown as an artist in those years; not just in my skills but also in my ability to use the equipment available to me. I specifically can see how I grew in my ability to take reference photos, how to interpret those photos, and how to compose a figure in a studio painting.

I had the opportunity to participate in an exhibition at the UVU Museum of Art with a painting I created in 2022 titled, Winterized. The exhibition was called Healing Waters: Restoring Our Relationship with Utah Lake, and as you can guess the central theme is about improving the reputation of the Utah Lake.

After the sporadic rain and snow we had towards the end of March and beginning of April, I had a hard time getting motivated to go out and paint, but once the sun came out, you bet I was headed out! I decided to start with a view that required little effort and that I already know I love to paint: Mt Timpanogos.

A sneak peak into my process for creating this one of a kind painting that was a commissioned oil painting. Click to read more!

This post is going to be a little bit of a short one. Last month we were able to spend a week in Yellowstone with family for our annual camping trip. And while I did bring my paints, I didn’t have as much time to paint as I would have liked. Being on a family trip definitely limits your painting time! But I managed to get up early and take some time to paint some of the views that we got to explore. Our campsite alone was a beautiful spot and just being outside and seeing that beautiful part of the world was a worthwhile experience.

In April earlier this year I participated in the Pleinairpril event. Pleinairpril is an instagram event with the simple challenge of painting en plein air every day in the month of April. Usually there are themes to guide your plein air decisions, but I just set the basic challenge of getting out everyday to paint outside.

Last fall, we had the pleasure of being able to go to Europe one last time before my parents moved away from Switzerland. We went intending to visit a few more iconic places in Switzerland, and for Wes to visit Paris for the first time. I have split this trip up into three posts to go with each of the three countries we visited. This is the post for Switzerland, where we were able to spend a few days in Geneva, Mürren, Lucerne, and Kandersteg.

Last fall, we had the pleasure of being able to go to Europe one last time before my parents moved away from Switzerland. We went intending to visit a few more iconic places in Switzerland, and for Wes to visit Paris for the first time. I have split this trip up into three posts to go with each of the three countries we visited. This is the post for Croatia, where we were able to spend a few days in Plitvice and Split.

Last fall, we had the pleasure of being able to go to Europe one last time before my parents moved away from Switzerland. We went intending to visit a few more iconic places in Switzerland, visit a new country for both of us, and for Wes to visit Paris for the first time. I have split this trip up into three posts to go with each of the three countries we visited. This is the post for France, where we were able to spend a few days in Paris, Versailles, and Giverny.

This blog post is a gallery of the paintings and studies I did during the 2023 September Strada Challenge. The Strada challenge is an online painting challenge hosted by the lovely people over at Strada Easels. The only requirement of the challenge is to paint something from life every single day of the month of September. I completed this challenge partially at home in Utah, and partially on a trip to Europe.

A birthday weekend spent hiking in the warm desert when home is descending into the cold weather is always a good idea.

After a trip to Israel and Italy, Wes and I settled in to explore more of the sights around Geneva. This was in April of 2022 and so I was participating in the Pleinairpril challenge, a challenge to plein…

We started our trip in the Liguria region of Italy. We toured around the Cinque Terre area, staying in the northern most town of Monterosso al Mare. Cinque Terre is a series of seaside towns built on the cliffs and painted in bright colors. The unique city layouts and trails passing between each town as well as a train system makes it very easy to navigate between all five.

2022 was the first year we could travel internationally again after the covid pandemic. My mom had planned a tour of Israel that had been delayed until April and I was lucky enough to join her and my aunt and grandma. This post includes all of the sketches and gouache studies done while I was in the holy land.

Three years ago I went to Peru for 5 weeks as part of a volunteer group. I lived in Piura for that time period and came to love the people and culture so much more than I ever could have anticipated. And though I was only there for a short time, that experience changed me in ways I didn't know were possible.
And I was going back.