The 90th Annual Art Salon hosted by the Springville Museum of Art is the premier exhibit for contemporary artists residing in the state of Utah.

This year out of over 800 entries only 214 were chosen for the show, and I am honored to have had one of my pieces chosen. Here’s me with the lovely little lady who got in (shout out to my beautiful model, Whitney!).

Bryan and I went to see the exhibit for the first time this evening and the caliber of work is truly admirable and very humbling. I’ll be honest when I say it feels strange to be exhibiting alongside so many incredible artists that I have long admired.

This painting is by my good friend Leslie Duke, an incredible artist who uses pure color and robust strokes to create rich and vibrant sculptural still life paintings.

Here is Bill’s entry. It’s a portrait of his beautiful wife, Sandra. He took this rather candid photo of her during the time I was studying under him in Bruge, Belgium, in the summer of 2012. Last year Sandra fell incredibly ill and was in the hospital for months. We had no idea if she would recover and I know Bill was in more distress than he let on. Any time he was able to come into the studio from the hospital, this is the painting he worked on. When I look at this piece, I see a lot of the pain he went through, as well as his love and adoration with every painstakingly exquisite stroke.

One of my favorite pieces was by artist Mary Sauer, a prior student of Bill’s. Reading about her process, Mary says she tries to complete the painting in one pass. Her method gives her work an incredible luminosity. I especially liked where you could still see the underpainting in the shadows on the figure.

An artist I have greatly admired for a while now is Ryan S. Brown. The painting below is part of a series called the Bre Project. Bre, a beautiful muse at only thirteen, discovered she had cancer. Ryan started the Bre Project to help the family cover the cost of the medical bills. You can read more about her journey and the project here. The painting below is truly remarkable.

This little gem by artist Heidi Daynes Darley really spoke to Bryan and me. I felt very inspired tonight to paint bigger, but this piece reminded me of why I love painting small. There’s an intimacy in tiny paintings. You have to stick your nose in it to see and treasure each stroke, obstructing everyone else’s view. Suddenly, it’s just you and the painting. In that moment of awe and appreciation, it belongs only to you.