Reveling in Nature’s Splendor
Jared Rawle’s day job as a sets shading artist involves creating digital worlds at Pixar Animation—working exclusively on a computer. While he enjoys his job, Rawle says his true passion involves a brush in his hand, layers of oil paint on his canvas, and an easel set up on a patch of gorgeous Utah land, where he calls home.
Although claiming many of his paintings never make it past his own self-criticism, this young artist who is still developing his craft says he continues to find it “strangely addicting.” He explains, “I love how paintings magnify the feeling and emotion of a scene. The abstract marks feel more real than a photo, and it’s such a good way to celebrate the beauty of nature. I love that I don’t have to be the best, or better than anyone around me, to enjoy it. It’s something I can challenge myself with. It just makes me happy.”
Having worked with pastels, watercolor, gouache, charcoal and even sculpted with clay in the past, oils is the medium he feels most comfortable. “I love the freedom oil painting provides; it is very forgiving. I can paint and scrape and smudge and repaint over the top until I get the painting the way I like,” he says. “I think the magic of painting for me is the implied detail of a painting, where with only a few strokes and marks you can represent an entire tree with thousands of leaves or a field of grass where no actual blades of grass were actually painted.”
His scenes of grazing horses, serene sheep under skies peppered with fluffy clouds and distant ice capped mountaintops evoke a love of nature, which Rawle says comes from the emotions that fill him when painting outdoors. “Painting in plein air is always the most invigorating and enjoyable to me,” he shares. “Usually what I’m going for is the emotional impact or feeling of what drew me to the scene in the first place. There is a freshness to plein air paintings that is hard to mimic in the studio.”
Represented by Meyer Gallery, Park City, Utah, you can see his warm and inviting works this May at the gallery’s 60 Year Anniversary Show and again in August for his next solo outing. —Doreen Manning
representationMeyer Gallery, Park City, UT, meyergallery.com
upcoming shows60-year Anniversary Show, May 2025, Meyer Gallery.Solo exhibition, August 2025, Meyer Gallery
This story appeared in the April/May 2025 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Subscribe today to read every issue in its entirety.
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