Plein Air Painting at Wheeler Farm

There’s nothing like early morning in Utah. Should you be brave enough to venture out before the crack of dawn, you will be more than compensated for your efforts with cool temperatures, a quiet atmosphere, and one of the most gorgeous light shows in nature. That is, unless it rains—which is exactly what happened to me and Emily Carruth Fuller on our first plein air painting excursion to Wheeler Historic Farm. We still had gorgeous light and a great time, we just went for cocoa afterward. The whole idea of going to Wheeler stemmed from a long time goal to paint sheep. I swear, as soon as you start actively looking for farm animals, you can never find them. I was really close to pulling up a chair next to the 12300 freeway exit (there is a lovely, if somewhat inaccessible pasture there). If anyone is interested in trying this place out, I highly recommend it. There is a wealth of beautiful things to look at, friendly staff, and no risk of getting run off the road by a semi.

This is Emily Carruth Fuller. Painting in the rain just two months after her second son was born. Totally hard core.

This was my effort from the first trip. I was fighting the rain the whole time with a similar umbrella-on-easel structure like you see in Emily’s picture above. In the end, I kinda like what the water did to the texture.

This is what came of our second visit. It’s a much more buttoned-up oil sketch. This time instead of fighting the rain, I was racing to catch the light before the sun came all the way over the mountains.