I do not choose the landscape, it chooses me. I’m drawn to it and
the urge to express myself with paint is overwhelming. Mother
Nature is a terrific designer but sometimes she needs a little help
when it comes to painting her likeness on canvas.
Plein air painting, in particular, is the purest form of artistic
expression because you do not have time to mull things over. You
see what’s in front of you, you mix a color and you put it down with
authority. I will drive for days just to have the opportunity to paint
a particular location like the California Coast, Rocky Mountain
National Park or Big Bend here in Texas. Painting the landscape
allows me to emotionally connect with it and in short two hour
bursts of energy, emotion, inspiration and gusto create something
totally unique.
Every painting I have sold it is because the buyer made an
emotional connection to it. If I have created something that
reminds someone of something special in their life, then I have
reached out and touched their heart with my art. How cool is that?

What a privilege it is to get out in this world and paint! For me, nothing compares to leaving the comforts of home and going outdoors for an encounter with nature. I love the beauty and serenity along with the harshness and disorder that seem to coexist when I’m outdoors. While beauty is one facet of painting, in the finished product I am reminded of the entire experience as it was created – the preparation, the drive, the hike, steep slopes, cold feet, and the wildlife – both the good and the bad. It’s all part of the total experience that makes me a different person at the end of the day.

I had a friend once say, “Every time I see one of your paintings it makes me want to go out hiking!” It’s comments like these that make me feel my efforts have accomplished something good. There are few things more rewarding than getting outside and experiencing nature to help us know ourselves better, and bring us closer to our Creator. If my work can turn hearts to the outdoors, I know it has been a success.

My love for painting En Plein Air took me out of the studio and into the surroundings we enjoy in our beautiful country. Painting the Alpine splendor of our mountains and streams, or the unique beauty of the Red Rock of Zion, I am always moved each time I’m allowed to venture into it’s wonder and magical vista’s and capture these images.  I have studied  with Jeff Hein, Rob Adamson, and Bryce Billings. Their unique take on drafting, drawing and Plein Air landscapes, has taken me and my work to new levels afield.

Drawing from life whether it’s the figure or landscape, as an artists we will never stop learning. Jeff, Rob and Bryce are masters at their crafts and I am so incredibly blessed to have been associated with them and allowed to be a part of each of their lives.

I am currently a member of Plein Air Painters of Utah. This allows me to paint with people with the same amount of passion and love of this beautiful country we live in. We are out in a different location each month, so I will look forward to seeing you along the trail, and would hope you will stop and have a chat!

Thank you, It’s going to be a great ride.

The paths I have walked!

My lifetime memories seem to be in segments and specific blocks of time.

Part one would be my earliest memories of childhood on the farm and early school years in Murray, Utah. Those experiences were all part of my first exposure to life. Then, I was an “Army Brat”, and teenager, in Europe during the 1960’s. That was certainly an education in itself.

Next came college, falling in love, getting married and the U.S. Army. That would be classified as part two.

Part three was a time of family and building a career, both of which I am so very proud of. From a tire technician in 1975 to the CEO of my own business in 1998, I feel I have experienced it all.

In all of these segments I have driven myself to the outer most reaches of my abilities. I have been successful in many different areas.

Part four now finds me leaving a career of 35 years with all the enthusiasm of that young soldier of fortune in the 1970’s, but the difference is that I am armed with the knowledge and past experience of those 35 years.

Until recently, I hadn’t any formal art training. Art has always been a passion of mine from a very early age. In Kindergarten, Mrs. Shipler, my teacher, sent a drawing of a rooster I had done in class to a Utah based magazine called “The Children’s Friend”.  It was previewed on the back cover of the magazine. In that moment of recognition I felt that art would always be something I would enjoy and share with others.

After moving from England to the US as a teenager, Jane Hunt received her degree in illustration from the Cleveland Institute of Art. The oil painter now resides in Colorado, where she continues to be awed and inspired by the beauty surrounding her.

“Even though I paint a lot of studies on location, my landscapes are actually less about describing a specific place than they are about the feelings evoked.  In an impressionistic, tonal style I try to convey the emotional connection that I had with each scene.

Moving cross-Atlantic three times in my early years, I spent much of my life with an underlying sense of homesickness.  This yearning propelled me to try to create a sense of ‘home’ within my landscapes.

Painting outside in the enormity of nature leads to a feeling of being connected to the divine and helps keep life in perspective.

My greatest hope is that my work gives its viewers this same sense of comfort and connectedness; a gentle place to rest.”

“What I admire in an artist is the ability to convey authenticity through the work; i.e., choosing and pursuing a truthfulness in both the vision and the execution.  I think Jason Sacran is one of those rare artists whose work seems thoroughly authentic.  His character portraits are insightful and beautifully rendered, with great feeing and empathy, and his plein-air landscapes are exhilarating examples of spontaneous response to nature.  He is definitely a talent here to stay.”  Budd Harris Bishop,  Director Emeritus, Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville.

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BIOGRAPHY

Jason Sacran has a BFA in painting from Tennessee Tech University, and credits towards an MFA from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Jason and his family live in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he was the curator for the Fort Smith Art Center for almost three years. In 2010 Jason became a full-time artist/painter, and part-time instructor for the University of Arkansas Fort Smith. Jason is also the Arkansas state ambassador for the Portrait Society of America. He has had several exhibitions and been awarded many times for his works and achievements including a first place award in the Portrait Society of Americas 2011 Members Competition, Best of Show in the 2010 Wisconsin Plein Air Painter Association Annual Competition and Best of Show in the 2010 Winthrop Rockefeller Institution Invitational. Although known for his figurative and portrait work, Jason is quickly rising as a top plein air painter, and considers plein air one of, if not his favorite subject.

STATEMENT

“I am a contemporary representational painter, working primarily outdoors. I paint what catches my interest in the moment. This could be almost anything; an orchestration of shapes, color contrast, light and shadow patterns, a mood or atmosphere, a subject I have never tried, or a subject I enjoy, etc. I am drawn to paint places and things that say something about the day and time I live in now. Although my work is not necessarily subject driven, I find myself painting the overlooked and simultaneously familiar aspects of everyday life – scenes we pass by but rarely take the time to fully consider. In the chaos of daily life, I believe we all take the simple and familiar for granted. Sometimes it is these quiet unadorned places that make the most worthy subjects.”

Guest Artist Ray Roberts

Award winning artist, Ray Roberts,​was born in 1954 and grew up in an Orange County, California with orange groves, before the days of freeways and sprawling housing developments. It has given him an enduring affection for the untamed, undeveloped California of his youth.

in 1969, after the early death of his father and mother’s ill-health, Ray was sent to Orme School, a beautiful, ranch-style boarding school in the Arizona desert. Its strong fine arts program helped Ray to discover his artistic talent.

He then attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where he studied under John Asaro. He has also studied under Dan McCaw, Len Chmiel, Ned Jacob, and Mark Daily, among others.

Art Center is where Ray also met his wife, impressionist painter Peggi Kroll. While dating, the two of them would go out nightclubbing, to sketch rather than dance! It has been a successful partnership ever since.
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Like many successful artists before him, Ray first pursued a career as an illustrator, establishing a studio in Los Angeles and then Scottsdale, Arizona. He got up the courage to switch to fine art in 1992 and has never looked back. As well as being a PAL instructor, Ray currently teaches figure and landscape workshops with Plein Air Liaison, The Art Academy of Petaluma, formerly known as l’Atelier aux Couleurs: the Art Academy, in California, as well as several other locations across the country and abroad.
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Ray and Peggi now live on a 20 acre ranch in Angels Camp, an old California gold rush town, surrounded by the oak-studded hills. Besides being an instructor for PAL, he currently teaches landscape, portrait and figure workshops at the The Art Academy of Petaluma, formerly known as l’Atelier aux Couleurs: the Art Academy, in California, as well as several other locations across the country and abroad.

During my work in architecture, I felt deeply connected to the arts. But I truly discovered my passion when I began to explore oil painting. For me, the process of creating begins with a scene that I feel carries certain energy and evokes an emotion. I find myself drawn to subject matter with rich colors or intriguing light. The vignettes of everyday life are what inspire me to paint, regardless of whether it’s a landscape, figurative work, cityscape, or portrait.  It is my primary goal to have each artwork I create resonate with energy and the poetry of light. I follow my own ‘rule’ of painting what is important to me and feel very fortunate to be able to share that with all those who support and appreciate my work. There is nothing more gratifying that knowing that my work, which is so important to me, is appreciated by others.

Kim Lordier (b. 1966) combines keen observation and sensitivity in developing her award winning landscapes. Native to the California Bay Area and a graduate of the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, Kim utilizes a rich palette and harmonizing color effects, as she captures the abstract qualities of light as it plays upon the landscape.

Inspired by the early California Impressionists, her work has gained national attention and has been featured in Southwest Art Magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur, American Artist, The Pastel Journal and The Plein Air Magazine. Her work has been published in: California Light- A Century of Landscapes by Jean Stern and Molly Siple, Art Journey America- Landscapes by North Light Publishing, and Art of the National Parks- Historic Connections Contemporary Interpretations published by Fresco Fine Art Publications. Kim has received recognition for her landscapes at major plein air events, national pastel society shows and museum exhibitions.

“To me, the ability to portray the convincing effect of true natural light is the noblest calling of a landscape painter. Kim has earned my respect.” –Jean Stern, Executive Director of the Irvine Museum

Kim is a Signature Member of the California Art Club, Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America, Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, and a Distinguished Pastelist of the Pastel Society of the West Coast. She leads workshops across the country teaching her process to beginners and professionals alike. Most recently demonstrating at the First and Second Annual Plein Air Convention, sponsored by PleinAir Magazine.

I have always been a lover of nature and the outdoors. Some of my best memories are of my time spent hiking in the mountains and traveling to state and national parks with my parents. When I discovered my love of painting more than 40 years ago I knew I would paint on location, working from life and painting the beauty I saw around me.

With time and experience I also developed a passion for still life and figure painting. With all subject matter I’m most inspired by the direct connection I get when working from life.

It’s hard to define what I feel when working from life that I find so powerful compared to painting from a photograph or my imagination. Outdoors, painting plein air there is the energy, an elusive spiritual energy, the air and light, all the visual stimulation and the overwhelming beauty, life in flux. It all inspires and compels me to paint.

I hope that people viewing my work will sense my love of live, art and deep reverence and respect for nature, the environment and the joy I feel when painting all that I’m a part of.

Art for me has become a way of life, where I take the time to really observe and appreciate the beauty around me. I’ve always been drawn to nature, and with all the time I’ve spent outdoors I feel I can mold a scene to my own artistic vision and still have it read as an honest interpretation of the natural world. I’m grateful for the opportunity to pursue this artistic journey and embrace the challenges of recording my thoughts on canvas. I believe art can enrich the lives of those it touches, and for myself that includes the process of creating something I feel passionate about and being able to share that part of myself with others.