Artist: McKenzie S. Paxton
Title: When You Pause to Breathe
Medium: Oil
Price: $1,000
Dimensions: 14 x 18 inches
Artist Biography: McKenzie Saunders Paxton grew up in Elk Ridge, Utah, a small town in the hills of south Utah Valley. Her childhood home was in a little canyon and she found an early and lasting love of the mountains there. Her father raised her to find wonder in the mountains as she hunted, hiked, fished and skied with him. Her grandfather was a snowcat driver at Deer Valley and her earliest ski memories were of hours spent racing her sister and cousins down Deer Valley's bunny hill, Wide West. McKenzie has spent many hours staring out the window on drives throughout Utah and has made studying and painting the beauty of the outdoors her career. In the winter months McKenzie paints skiers nestled in the slopes of the great Western US resorts. In the warmer months she paints the local landscape en plein air and enjoys participating in plein air competitions.
McKenzie's landscape painting was fostered by her mentors, J. Kirk Richards and Linda Curly Christensen. She spent a two year apprenticeship painting landscape murals under Christen and later studied at the JKR academy. She hopes her art inspires the viewer to slow down and notice the often ignored beauty outside. McKenzie is currently based in Provo, Utah.
