Demonstrations
Suzanne Gibson: Shapes and Shadows in the Shifting Sun
Sun September 21, 2025 @ 8:00 am – 10:00 am
Suzanne will demonstrate oil painting with found objects and local subject matter. Shapes and Shadows and some flowers are most likely going to need some attention!
Learn about the challenges with the shifting sun. Learn how to spot and recognize the “Sweet Spot” of a plein air painting in this paint- along session.
Bring your supplies.
Suzanne was born in northern England, and has lived in southern California for over 40 years. As an artist and designer, Suzanne has her BA in Interior Design and has been teaching art for over 25 years.
In 2025, Suzanne was added to the faculty at the Plein Air convention and Expo as an ambassador to the scholarship and young artist program.
In 2023 she added Escalante, Utah to her list of favorite
places to paint, and in 2024 participated and was awarded 2nd Place in the Drawing category with her ink drawing of the People’s Exchange.
Learn more about Suzanne’s art at https://suzannes-studio-fine-art-design-art-instruction.square.site/
California Girls: All Medium Painting Demo
Thu September 25, 2025 @ 9:00 am – 11:30 amEscalante, Utah 84726
What could be more inspiring than a landscape demo featuring a watercolorist, a pastelist, an oil painter using a brush, and an oil painter using a palette knife? Susan De’Armond, Patricia Rose Ford, Nita Harper, and Terry Chacon promise to wow you by painting the same landscape using entirely different plein air techniques.
These California artists have traveled extensively throughout the Southwest for many years. The beautiful red rocks have always been among their favorites. They can’t wait to show you how they create the scenes with their different mediums and talents.
Terry Chacon started painting in plein air early 2000. She studied with Susan Sarback, the renowned artist and student of Henry Hensche. She loved the style of Monet, Henry Hensche, and Charles Hawthorne. In early 2005, she and a group of artist from the Riverside Art Museum under the direction of Daniel Foster started the Plein Air Artist of Riverside in Riverside, Ca. After many years as president of the group, and after meeting her traveling painting buddies — Nita Harper, Pat Ford and Susan DeArmond — she decided to start traveling to as many places as she could with her plein air equipment, including her palette knife and paint.
Terry has painted in South Africa, Australia, England, Canada, Mexico and many states throughout the United States of America. Some of her most favorite places to paint include Escalante, Utah where she has painted many times and is looking forward to returning to in 2025.
Terry uses a palette knife which she feels gives her oil paintings the color and feel of the impressionist style of the artists she so admires. You can see more of her work at www.terrydchacon.com
Susan De’Armond always had a creative nature; looking for an outlet wherever it could be found. She was introduced to watercolor for presentations at the Interior Design program at Kendall College of Art and Design. Susan turned to painting for art’s sake in 2007. Soon after she found her passion in plein air painting. It was as she envisioned it should be: standing before and immersed in the subject. The Southwest holds endless inspiration for Susan!
The sparse vegetation allows the terrain to rise and show off shapes and angles. The light too has more opportunity to show changing moods. You can see more of her work at www.susandearmond.com
As a landscape painter, Patricia Rose Ford loves the great outdoors, particularly the scenes of the southwestern deserts and coastlines. She is drawn to plein air pastels because she enjoys being in nature, looking at a beautiful scene, and translating the emotions of what she sees onto the paper.
Patricia’s hope is that she conveys in her art the feelings of joy and tranquility that she experiences while painting. Currently, her main medium is plein air pastel. However, she also enjoys acrylic and oils. Her work has been exhibited in local and national juried shows throughout the United States. She has also been honored with numerous awards.
For Patricia Rose, an even greater reward has been enjoying the camaraderie of fellow artists, studying with plein air masters, and the experience of meeting and getting to know the individuals who appreciate and collect her paintings. You can learn more about her and her art at https://patricia-rose-ford.pixels.com/ and http://fineartbypatriciarose.blogspot.com.
Nita Harper is an award winning artist living in the desert of Southern California. Moves from Illinois to Florida, Texas, and eventually, California, exposed her to the country’s vast and varied landscape.
Nita studied art with an emphasis in painting at Stephens College, the University of Arizona, and the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. She also studied with several noted painters. She has been fortunate to travel to many beautiful painting destinations including Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon, and other breathtaking locations.
Nita is particularly drawn to the vast, unspoiled lands of the American Southwest. She is a member of the PAC6, a group of six women artists committed to painting adventures like those of the early painters who traveled the west over a century ago. A painting trip on horseback into the Eastern Sierras was the trip of a lifetime. Nita believes that artists are the luckiest people in the world. You can see more of Nita’s work at www.nitaharperart.com
Günther Haidenthaller: Watercolor Simplified
Thu September 25, 2025 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pmEscalante, United States
Watercolor has a reputation for being “hard” which is completely undeserved. Yes, it’s a bit unforgiving, but not difficult. We will first cover the basics of composition/design and dialing in the values. This short (1.5–2 hours) demo will show you how to create background washes with a variety of interesting colors, soft or even lost edges by painting wet in wet, then hard-edged darker shapes for color and temperature contrast, and establishing correct, believable values. It’s all about just having fun staining paper!
The hardest part of painting on location is the local Utah desert environment, where keeping the paper wet and manageable becomes your greatest challenge. But at the end of the day, it’s all about just having fun staining paper!
Bring a comfortable chair and a sketchpad to take notes with.
Günther Johannes Haidenthaller emigrated with his family from Austria as a child, and grew up drawing and painting. He studied illustration and advertising design at Utah State University, and spent 27 years as a designer and art director. Günther left full time employment in 2015 to pursue his passion for painting.
Günther works in watercolor, oils, pencil, pen and ink, and yes–crayons! His art can be found in private collections around the United States and in Europe. He is a member of Oil Painters of America (OPA), American Impressionist Society (AIS), is currently the president of the Utah Watercolor Society, vice president of the Intermountain Society of Artists, and Board member of the Midway Art Association. He makes his home in Alpine, Utah.
You can see more of his work at https://www.vonhaiderthalfineart.com
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