Plein Air Painting on the Yellowstone

Welcome to Yellowstone, 8x10" oil

I was accepted into a plein air paint out, Plein Air Painting on the Yellowstone, August 9-16. Look for me out there next week. I'll post my paintings and photos on my Facebook page. I'll also be showing my work in their exhibit. If you're in the area, please stop by and watch us paint or visit the show. 

Park County, MT.   August 9-16, 2014 Surrounded by four majestic mountain ranges, Park County offers a beautiful natural setting for relaxation and recreation along the legendary Yellowstone River.  The quaint and quiet town of Livingston is steeped in the history of Lewis & Clark, Calamity Jane and Yellowstone National Park. Visual artists, writers and musicians call Park County home.  We invite you to come and experience why so many are drawn to this inspiring area.  Artists will be painting from Wilsall to Cooke City and Springdale to the western border of Park County, Montana. Fun activities will be planned throughout the week ending with the Wet Paintings Exhibit. For more info, visit livingstoncenter.org

As featured on LivingstonCenter.org:

S’ZANNE REYNOLDS  founded her painting and photography company, Studio Zanne, in Austin, TX. She spends much of her time as a resident artist in various towns, traveling across America and abroad on her “plein air” explorations of the great outdoors. A member of the American Impressionist Society, Reynolds’ artwork enjoys a growing global audience and is collected throughout the US, as well as Europe.

After a 15 year career in the advertising and publishing industries with companies like SicolaMartin, GSD&M and Harcourt, Reynolds returned to fine art with a bold vision of her surroundings, expressed in strong images, brilliant color and a style uniquely her own. Described as seemingly effortless, her work explores a spontaneous approach to the impressionistic landscape and provocative portrait, capturing a mood or expression with a clarity and candor of brushstrokes.

Reynolds studied under contemporary masters including Ann Templeton, Huihan Liu, Peggy Kroll-Roberts and Nancy Bush. Early influences on her career include Wolf Kahn, Paul Gauguin and the Blue Rider German expressionists. After post-graduate fine art studies in France, her European explorations included painting in Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, England and the Netherlands.

Reynolds earned a BA in Fine Art in Illinois and a BFA in Graphic Design in Texas. She has served as faculty at the Contemporary Austin Art School, formerly Austin Museum of Art’s Laguna Gloria Art School, and offers workshops in her local and visited communities. Reynolds is currently venturing out on painting and photography tours across the US in her travel trailer while engaging in the art scenes around the country.

http://www.studiozanne.com
http://www.studiozanne.blogspot.com

West Yellowstone Gallery Sales

Montana Majestic, 6x8" oil

I'm excited to announce that my West Yellowstone gallery, The Nymph's Emporium, sold this plein air piece for me the first of August....to a nice Utah couple from who wanted a souvenir of the Yellowstone area.

My art (top right three) at The Nymph's Emporium, Fine Art and Western Wear

My artwork, far left, at the Nymph's Emporium

Plein Air Sales in West Yellowstone

These three paintings went to a great new home in July, to the owners of the KOA. The art work depict their property here in West Yellowstone; they show my favorite hillsides to revel in nature, to feel wild and alive! 

Hillside Happiness, 8x16" oil

Wildflower Frenzy, 12x10" oil

The Old School House, 6x8" oil

Spring's Eye Candy

"Valerie's View" 8x10" oil by S'zanne Reynolds

A view of a friend's garden in full bloom Wednesday afternoon was a veritable smorgasbord of color. Painted with irises, roses, hanging plants and honey-suckle...her yard was a symphony of birds crooning, butterflies flirting, and squirrels tangoing among the sunlit tree tops which dappled a neighbor's rusty ol' tin roof in a sweet scene of Monet-like eye candy.

I do love painting outdoors and the effort of capturing dancing light.

"Like a New Emotion"

"Sailor Sam" by S'zanne Reynolds, 16x12" oil

This guy sat for me for about 4 hours. His portrait went home with a friend last week after a dinner party who fell in love with his eyes...she said they followed her everywhere. She confirmed she still thought he was just as dreamy the night after. Good thing!

Songwriters explore their emotions all the time. They show us their pain and they share their joy...which in turn shows us the pains and joys we all have in common. Artists can often do the same...or we can hide behind our easels and pretend everything is OK, and just reflect what's going on around us. Or can we? Maybe what's going on inside, really shows through anyway...in spite of ourselves! Maybe in order to create, we have to have a relationship with our feelings outside of ourselves.

So what do you see in his eyes? dreams? pain? joy? suffering? sensuality? or something else?

One of my favorite songs sung by Annie Lennox speaks of this to me...the memories and emotions that we carry around in our stilled presence, like a freeze framed portrait of our memories:

"Here comes the rain again
Falling on my head like a memory
Falling on my head like a new emotion
I want to walk in the open wind
I want to talk like lovers do
I want to dive into your ocean
Is it raining with you

So baby talk to me
Like lovers do
Walk with me
Like lovers do
Talk to me
Like lovers do

Here comes the rain again
Raining in my head like a tragedy
Tearing me apart like a new emotion
Oooooh
I want to breathe in the open wind
I want to kiss like lovers do
I want to dive into your ocean
Is it raining with you

So baby talk to me
Like lovers do

Here comes the rain again
Falling on my head like a memory
Falling on my head like a new emotion
(Here it comes again, here it comes
again)
I want to walk in the open wind
I want to talk like lovers do
I want dive into your ocean
Is it raining with you"

by the Eurythmics

The Gifts of Gratitude

Bittersweet, 11x14" oil on linen
© 2010 S'zanne Reynolds

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance,
chaos into order, confusion to clarity...
Gratitude makes sense of our past,
brings peace for today, and creates a vision for
tomorrow.
--Melody Beattie

...dedicated to the broken hearted.

Brenda's Blooms

20x20" oil on canvas
$800 + $50 s/h in US

It was such a gorgeous spring day outside yesterday that I just had to paint my neighbor's tree. It had been calling me for the last few days and I wanted to get to it before the rains hit again. It was fun to sit outside and watch all the neighborhood activities from my driveway.

Willamette Park: who let the dogs out??!

We painted from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and then watched our instructor demo until 4 p.m..

Then Patty (above) and I, and a few others, stayed and painted until about 7 p.m. as the light was spectacular!


Some of the four legged hazards of plein air painting. One of them decided to pee on somebody's art supplies-yikes!

A Quick Plein Air Study

Roadside Dappling
10" x 8" (25.4cm x 20.4cm)
Oil on Sanded Board

Limited prints available