About the Artist

 

 

 

 

I grew up in an artistic, musical family, surrounded by both.  My father, George Kosanovic, has an MFA. My mother taught elementary school art, and was a draftsman at Boeing.  Creativity was always encouraged.  Many weekends our family would go plein air painting in the Seattle suburbs. My Dad often gave us a 3 color palette, varying the yellows, reds and blues.  The best family vacations were spent painting the Northwest coastal areas, or  Southern Utah.  I have amazing parents that I am super thankful for.

 

Education-University of Utah and San Juan College of Nursing, Farmington, New Mexico. I graduated in 1992 as an RN, on the Dean's List.

After graduation, I continued almost yearly summer painting trips with family & friends on the Oregon coast, returning to this thing that I love. I began extensive painting workshops with artists (other than my Father) in 2003. 

 

I love matching the local color, or the rich, creamy grays of an overcast day.

I also love to push the colors that I see when painting outside. 

After a lot of years of experimenting with paint, I like to call my style "sometimes fauvism". It could also be called "Semi-representational expressionism".  Brush strokes strive to be a cross between Cezanne's chunks of color, and pointillism.

When painting, I hunt for a view that thrills me with interesting shapes, light and shadow patterns, colors and textures. When painting, as with music, I strive to make each note beautiful, each spot of color delicious. 

I paint plein air year round, hopeful to paraphrase the Creator's endless colors and vistas on canvas. Plein air provides unbelievable moments, watching the light change in ways that may never happen again. Seeing a desert hare bouncing past, the smell of wet sage, hearing an afternoon convention of crows or the song of a Swainston thrush in a deep forest,  feeling the sun or a pocket of cool air move by.  During these moments, my father would pause his brush to say, "we are rich as kings!".  I wish to share with the viewer the exuberant joy of the fabulous landscapes around us.

 

Collections-

USA, Europe, Japan, England, Ireland,

Korea, Canada, India, Brazil and China

 

 

Galleries-

Kolb Studio, South Rim Grand Canyon, Arizona

Gallery 24, Torrey, Utah 

Worthington Gallery, Springdale, Utah

Artisan's Gallery, Cedar City, Utah

Relics Framemakers & Gallery, Holladay, Utah

Sedona Arts Center, Sedona, Arizona

Moab Made, Moab, Utah

 

Events 2020-

Grand Canyon Celebration of Art 2020 invitational

Monuments & Canyons, Colorado National Monument plein air Invitational, September-Oct 2020

Steamboat Springs Plein air September 2020

Sedona Plein air Invitational 2020

 

Events 2019

January-

February-

March-Moab/Arches workshop

June-Plein air workshop, Lucca, Italy

July-Door County Plein Air invitational, Wisconsin

August-

September- Grand Canyon Celebration of Art Invitational  

Escalante Plein Air, Utah

October-Monuments & Canyons Plein air invitational

Sedona Plein air invitational 2019

November- Bermuda Plein Air 2019

 

 

Moab Plein Air, October 6-12, 2018

Sedona Plein air Invitational, October 13-21, 2018

Zion, Utah November 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exhibits/Awards-

OPA- Sedona Paintout  2019, 2nd Place

 

Sedona Plein Air Invitational, Oct 2018

Red Rock Arts/ Plein Air Moab, Honorable Mention, 2018

1st Place-Driggs Plein air- Music on Main quick draw, 2017

Honorable Mention, Driggs Plein air- Shakespere in the Park Quick draw, 2017

Zion Invitational Plein air, Nov. 2017

Grand Canyon Celebration of Art Invitational 2015, '16

Honorable Mention, Midway Plein Air, Utah, 2015

Honorable Mention, Plein Air Moab, 2014

Honorable Mention, Driggs Idaho Plein Air, 2014

Featured Artist, July 2014 Gallery 24, Torrey, Utah

Driggs Plein Air, Driggs, Idaho 14', 15',16', 17', 18'

Spring City Plein Air, 2011,'13 , '14

Western Art Collector Magazine, March 2014

2nd Place Plein Air Moab, image for 2013 Plein Air Moab Ad used in; 

Art of the West, Southwest Art, Plein Air Magazines, July,August, September issues.

Western Art Collector Magazine, March 2013 "Lay of the Land"

Zion National Park Plein Air Paint Out (Quick Draw) 2013, '14, '15

Carmel Valley Watershed Conservancy Plein Air, 2013

Ogden Plein Air, 2012, '13, '14

Holladay Plein Air, 2012,  '13

Midway Plein Air, 2010, '11, '12, '13, '14, '15, '18

2nd Place Award, Plein Air Moab, October 2012

Escalante Plein Air, Everett Ruess Days, 2012, '13, '14, '15, '17, '18

Moab Plein Air, 2012, '13, '14, '16, 17', '18

2nd Place amateur division, Midway Plein Air Paradise June-July 2012

1st Place amateur division, Midway Plein Air Paradise, June-July, 2011

1st Place amateur division &  Award Of Merit, Midway Plein Air Paradise, 2010

Maynard Dixon Campout/Plein air, Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts, May, 2015