*Me with the studio painting I submitted titled “Alpine Giants”. It is based on a plein air study I completed in Switzerland.*

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. Spoiler alert, I didn’t win anything, but I spent the week painting a ton and had a really great time painting and interacting with other artists. Being a painter can become a very isolating endeavor so getting out of the house and seeing other artist friends is really good for my psyche. I painted almost everyday that week and managed to complete 8 paintings, 6 of which I submitted to the show as well as a studio painting I’ve been working on for a while. This post is a chance for me to showcase all of those paintings I completed in the week in one place, including the ones not submitted to the show.

My first day of painting included a lot of driving around, looking and scouting out possible places I could paint. For my first painting I settled on a subject I don’t paint often but I know can be pretty popular. I’ll start by saying that that is not a good enough reason to pick a subject to paint! I slaved over this barn that I thought would be interesting for someone else to buy, when I really didn’t find it interesting to me. And that made the process slow and agonizing. I ended up scraping the entire painting off after getting extremely frustrated with the composition. I definitely learned a lot about how to pick my subjects - if I’m going to create a painting other people will like, I need to first be interested in painting it. I think I learn this lesson over and over again, but keep letting myself forget it.

That isn’t to say I don’t find barns interesting to paint — I have painted many barns that I found interesting. But usually it is not the barn itself that I like, but the color or the composition it creates against the surrounding trees and mountains. This particular barn did not have any other quality like that that stood out to me, I literally just chose it because I was a nervous wreck and was feeling the intense pressure of being in a painting competition and needed something to paint that I thought would impress the judges. Needless to say, I am glad that I got this painting out of my system because the next paintings I did were much better of an experience for me.

After the disaster of a barn painting, I decided to go back up the road to a spot I had seen earlier. I had driven past it and considered stopping there first but the mounting pressure induced me to keep driving to find the perfect scene. Needless to say I came back with my tail tucked between my legs and had a much better time painting the second time around than the first. I even used the same panel I had scraped off earlier. I felt I had redeemed my day in a sort of symbolic way.

I was drawn to this scene because of the openness of the view, and the horses running around in the field. Watching them gallop around and chase each other brought me so much joy. Their carefree attitude lightened my mood considerably. The atmosphere created by the giant hills was something I wanted to focus on. The tiny horses helped to increase the feeling of grandeur. I had a fun time painting this one, it was almost laughably easy compared to my first painting, more proof that when you like the scene you are painting it equals a better painting experience. I like to think my experience with this painting can be read through the paint by anyone choosing to look at it.

For some reason this week I was really feeling like painting horses. So for my next painting I found a spot along the main road into Midway to paint some. Unlike my last painting, I wanted to make the horses the focus of the composition, and I could not have chosen a better pair to be my models. They periodically would come over to where I stood painting the scene just to investigate, and hang out by me for a while, after chasing each other in circles. I think I am still learning how to paint horse anatomy but I felt pretty good with my progress in this painting.

My next painting was with my friend Ellie. We met at a spot with a beautiful view of Mt. Timpanogos in the setting sun light. I enjoyed painting this one, mostly because I was with a friend. It was an interesting challenge, because even though there were no clouds, the light kept changing dramatically. Sunset crept up on us very unexpectedly and the light on my panel kept shifting. I didn’t end up including this painting in my final submission because I was worried there would be too many other Mt. Timpanogos paintings. But I had a really fun time painting it.

My next painting needed to be a nocturne or a sunrise painting, as I was participating in that part of the show. There is often a category of entry for paintings being done in the time between sunset and sunrise. I decided to try my hand at something I don’t do very often and got up before the sun to try and capture the sunrise. I enjoyed the challenge of this painting for many reasons, one being the strangeness of being up and driving through the canyon before the sun came up. The other for capturing the subtle light shifts as the sun rose. I really loved what the sky did, the colors it cycled through as the sun came higher up the horizon.

Another goal I had for the week was to find some aspen trees. After my sunrise painting, I still had lots of daylight and energy and so decided to take a drive to see if I could find some. I drove into the mountains over Midway and found a pull off on the side of the road. A short hike and some scrambling later, I found a good spot with a view of the hills and some back lit aspen trees. Aspens are always a challenge for composition and value because the bark, though technically white, can become all sorts of colors depending on what’s around it, and the light that is hitting it. They can be alternatively enjoyable and frustrating to paint. Thankfully this experience was the former. I really enjoyed painting these trees, I loved the blue hills behind them, and I loved the red wildflowers at their feet. I also really loved the green cast light on the trunks. It created a rainbow of a composition. All in all, I had a great and productive painting day and it was only noon by the time I started heading home.

My final painting for the main competition was painted on the border between Heber and Midway, where I met some other artist friends to paint. Painting with other artists isn’t just a fun time, it also can be really good for finding good painting spots, and for self confidence in general. This painting was by far my favorite painting of the entire experience. The painting just came together in an effortless and enjoyable way. I felt confident in my values and colors and mark-making in a way that doesn’t happen often for me.

I was drawn to the scene by the barn in shadow, and the light hitting the top of the ridge at the back of the scene. I also really loved the vibrancy of the color in the foreground, in all the spring greens and earthy reds. This painting is still one of my favorite paintings I’ve ever done.

On the day I turned in all of my paintings for the main competition, I looked around at all of the paintings that had been submitted and were already hanging on the walls and I thought to myself — I wasn’t done yet. I wanted to keep painting. So even though the main competition was over, there were still a few more days of competitions: the Heber paint out, the Midway paint out, and the Quick draw. I decided I needed to do one more painting, so I quickly signed up for the Heber paint out that was happening the next day, the only requirement being that you paint in the boundaries of Heber city. So the next day, I once more headed out to paint one final painting.

I didn’t really know where any good spots would be, so I gave myself a little wiggle room to explore the city a bit. I ended up heading toward the outskirts where I could look out over the valley toward to mountains. The clouds had finally made an appearance so the light was dappled and dramatic. One moment specifically caught my eye when a still snow capped peak caught a ray of sun. I decided that was what I would try and capture. I enjoyed the process of painting this one! I felt none of the pressure I’d been feeling all week with the main competition paintings and I just had fun trying to capture the light.

The day of the competition’s final reception was a relief. I had had an enjoyable week painting my heart out but I was also exhausted! Getting up early and driving up the canyon every day had me completely worn out. I definitely had a fun time though. Even only selling one painting, I think the chance to see my painter friends and get some good plein air practice in were valuable experiences.

I look forward every year to a plein air competition or two that I could attend. Midway is one of the closest to me and I always have a great time exploring the beautiful Wasatch mountains. It might be as close as I can get to what it feels like to paint in Switzerland without leaving Utah. Thanks for following along on this journey, and keep scrolling to see a gallery of all my final paintings that I submitted, in their sparkly new frames.

Art Events: Midway Plein Air

Artist Travels: Capitol Reef, Part 2

Painting Process: Portrait of Wes