DAWN SUTHERLAND

Flagstaff, Arizona

Dawn Sutherland grew up on a farm in northern Wisconsin. A teacher in her first life, a counselor in her second, Dawn began her third life as a painter in 2001. A move from Wisconsin to Arizona in 2004 immersed her in the spectacular and diverse scenery of the Southwest. “Painting outdoors uniquely captures the depth, definition, and feeling of the landscape before me. I feel there is almost always a near-perfect composition provided by nature. Sometimes a scene announces itself; sometimes I hear only a whisper. Those are the images that find their way to my heart and my canvas.” Dawn, her husband Stan, and their three cats live in Flagstaff, Arizona. When not in her studio, Dawn can be found in her gardens or on hiking trails. A founding member of Arizona Plein Air Painters, Dawn is also a member of The Nature Conservancy, Grand Canyon Conservancy, Best Friends Animal Society, and Morris Animal Foundation. She is represented by Arizona Handmade Gallery in Flagstaff and Jane Hamilton Fine Art in Tucson.

Streams of morning sunlight crescendo through fissures and side canyons. Towering walls of stone rise opalescent into the blue morning sky. Broad mesquites shelter damp sandy shores and their fragrance drifts on the breeze. Great blue herons startle, and canyon wrens’ spiraling calls echo off sheer redwall cliffs.

A symphony for one’s senses: every bend, every rapid is a repeating refrain, a rondo playing through measures of canyon drama and peaceful river passages.

River Rondo | 20x30, oil