| Artist Statement
From the very first visit,
my husband and I were so captivated by southern Utah that after
a few summer trips we decided to pick up and move from the island
of Crete to the town of Boulder, Utah. The landscape, which offers
different marvels in each direction, has been my subject matter
for pastel drawings which I've executed in the past five years
since moving here. Having previously been painting Greek gardens,
interiors, and the small cultivated island of Crete in oils, this
is a big and exciting change for me. The incredible variety of
form and color and the immense scale which Utah offers have been
a joyous inspiration.
These works are a celebration of visual delights, all of which have been drawn on site. To me, working on site provides that edge of immediacy which breathes vitality into the work. There is a bonding of the artist to the subject which I hope will bring these landscapes alive to the viewer.
My work ranges in price from $250 to $3500. If you're
interested in seeing more work or biographical information please
let me know.
The larger works I ship without glass.
My address is: Scotty Mitchell, P.O. Box 1512, Boulder, UT, 84716 and my e-mail is scottym@color-country.net |
Excerpts from "Pastel Landscapes by Scotty Mitchell"
-- by Jacqui Smalley
Southern Utah's landscape has found a new and joyous voice in the plein air pastels of Scotty Mitchell. Mitchell's drawings capture with fluidity and power the fantastical hues and silhouettes of its canyons and deserts. Rendered with pastel chalks, they recreate with startling clarity the illusion of sandstone's tactile softness. Medium and subject are so perfectly matched that for a moment the viewer is transported into the landscape.The sandstone glows, the streaks of minerals rake down the sides of the cliffs, and the smell of sagebrush seems to waft into the room.
For the viewer who has never been to Boulder, it is almost like "being there". Better than a photograph the drawings capture not just the stark surface reality memorialized in a photo, but the fleeting impression that flashes before ones eyes. The cliffs appear in all their radiance, unveiling the drama and subtlety of light and shadow, the fantastical brilliancy of color, and the tactile opulence and permanence of the rocks that have transfixed viewers since the days of the Anasazi.
Many artists have been transfigured by Southern Utah's landscape and attempted to portray its wildness in various media, but none have done so as lyrically, or with such verisimilitude as Scotty Mitchell.
(The writer is an art historian who has spent the past 14 summers in Boulder.)
All images contained in these pages © Scotty Mitchell All Rights Reserved
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