Lopez Island Artist, Steven R Hill, who participated at the sixth annual Zion National Park Plein Air Painting Invitational (Nov. 2-10) was honored with a major purchase and cash award for his painting titled “Soft Glow” done in Zion Canyon, Nov. 5.

The Hill painting was purchased by the park to become part of their permanent art collection, as the “Superintendent of Zion National Park Purchase Award” where it will reside. The modern collection at Zion houses works from former artists’ in residents at the park, and other past award winners and Zion artists, including Maynard Dixon, Jim Jones, Suze Woolf (Seattle artist), John Cogan, Cody Delong, Gloria Miller Allen, and others. This was Hill’s second consecutive invitation to the annual Zion event.

Park Superintendent Jeffrey Bradybaugh, said: “I was particularly impressed with Hill’s use of the human figure in his painting, which catches three hikers in the mid-ground, reflected in the river . . . and gives a great sense of scale to the distant canyon walls. It’s what this park is all about – the interaction of people getting out here and truly enjoying the canyon lands.”

Hill exhibits his work in the San Juan Islands at Crow Valley Gallery (Orcas) and Windswept Fine Art Gallery, (Lopez) plus other galleries in the U.S. He also teaches annual plein air painting workshops at Dakota Art Workshops in Mt. Vernon, and overseas.

For more information, visit his website: www.windsweptstudios.com