The desert is a fascinating place. Both harsh and filled with beauty, the deserts of Central Oregon and Southern Utah have much to offer if you know where to look. A recent road trip to the red rock deserts of Southern Utah combined with living in the high desert of Central Oregon is what inspired artist Dee McBrien-Lee to create her most recent series. Deeply in love with Southern Utah and Central Oregon, McBrien-Lee and her husband had considered settling in the St George, Utah area prior to their discovery of Bend in 2007. Lifestyle, culture and many other factors figured into their decision to make a permanent move to Bend after living in Park City and having a second home outside St. George for 4+ years.
“Red Rock country has fascinated me ever since our honeymoon when we rented a houseboat on Lake Powell, just the two of us, for 10 days. It was truly magical and I told myself if we ever found a place to live that looked like that, we would be home. When we discovered St. George, I was convinced that would be where we would retire. Then we found Bend and here we are.”
Whenever possible this artist heads back to red rock country. Most recently she spent the month of April in Southern Utah where she was inspired to paint almost every day. “The morning we left Bend for Utah we had a beautiful sunrise which seemed like a sign of a good trip to come. We travel through Burns on to Winnemucca and over to the Great Basin Highway with the final leg of the trip down through Snow Canyon and into Ivins, Utah. Throughout the drive there are many amazing vistas and forever skies. I have looked at these landscapes for years thinking that I would one day record them on canvas. As we approach the end of the drive we go through Snow Canyon which always gives me a feeling I cannot describe. It is purely spiritual. We have arrived."
"Spring in the desert is amazing. We hiked almost every day. Cactus flowers bloomed everywhere, the river was still flowing in the canyon and owls and coyote were having their young. Rainbows, waterfalls and petroglyphs were everywhere. There was always something special to see. Our return to Bend in May was a perfect ending to the trip. Flowers were starting to bloom and we had a special treat of a week of rain. Central Oregon and Southern Utah are at once similar and very different and I was full to bursting with inspiration."
"Tale of Two Deserts" includes paintings of locations from Southern Utah and the deserts of Oregon plus views from the passenger seat on the long drive from here to there and back again. McBrien-Lee interprets her surroundings with bold color, movement and a tendency toward the abstract.
