My first somewhat successful oil painting was of the little Indian boy I saw on a Jeep trip to Southern Utah.  The child had the seat of his pants cut out exposing his bottom. It came out rather well so I named it PRARIE PAMPERS. My next oil was with a group tutored by Dibble at the old Bamburger Farm. I had the painting nearly complete when a gust of wind picked it up off my easel and dumped it into a pile of leaves and plant debris. I was starting to clean it off when Dibble came over, and suggested that I leave it alone. The shards of leaves and other plant debris had made an interesting pattern in the wet oil. When it finally dried it was rather exciting, I named it SPUD CELLAR.

HARRISON (GROUT) GROUTAGE
I met Harrison Groutage in 1955 when I designed the Fine Art Center for Dixie College, St. George. Gerald Olsen from the Dixie College art department told me that Groutage, an art instructor at Logan's USU, was one of the most talented artists in the state. He recommended him to do the mural, which I planned to use in my design. I drove to Logan, met Groutage, and was so impressed that I engaged him to do the mural, and purchased one of his paintings. This Groutage painting began our art collection, which focused primarily on fine watercolors and ink renderings.

Dixie College President, Arthur Bruhn was intrigued with the idea of a mural, although there was not enough in the budget to include it. Bruhn felt confident that if the building was designed to accommodate a mural, he could get private donations to have it done when the building was completed. He was very successful, even touched our office for $8,000 from our commission. I understood that a large share of our contribution was to go to Groutage, which pleased me. I must report that this story has an unhappy ending.  My handsome building is in the process of demolition to provide space for a huge new fine art center to accommodate the expanded college.

For the next several years Grout conducted paintouts and workshops, which I attended. Two of the workshops were in Monterey California, one with Grout, one with Grout and Ed Maryon. We spent most of the time sketching the stunningly beautiful Mission at Carmel. As I recall Grout did one watercolor on site. Most of the time we did numerous watercolor sketches and even more photographs. The final watercolors were usually done back in our studios. I am proud of two paintings I finished from this trip, one of the Mission (right) and the other of the Monterey Coast.

FARRELL R. COLLETT
When I designed the Industrial Arts Building at Weber State College, Farrell Collett was dean of the art program. At that time I did not have the pleasure of meeting him although I was an admirer of his work and felt that I walked in his shadow.  When my Orem High School was dedicated, a beautiful Farrell Collett painting hung in the main hallway. I stood many times to enjoy his painting WHITE HORSES, so stunningly real you could almost feel their soft white hair. From a Dibble article in the Tribune, Farrell commented, ”Dibble liked my horses because he felt as if he could slap one on the rump and feel horse flesh.”

In December 1993 the St. George Art Museum honored Farrell Collett with a retrospective exhibit of his work. A video of the exhibit was filmed. I had the pleasure of producing it. Fox Television provided the camera work. Glen Blakley from the Dixie College Art Department moderated the film.

The Collett Retrospective represented only a small sample of the volumes of his work. Collett is an artist who paints not only with his technical training and his gift of draftsmanship, but also with his heart. He understands and loves all the creatures on earth that appear in his paintings.

Shortly after his paintings were hung, I walked around the exhibit with him. Whenever we stopped at a group, Farrell would tell me, “I painted this one in eighty-five. This one is our back yard in Ogden - we had an early snow storm that winter.” I asked about the Cougars. “No the cougars were not in our back yard. I sketched them at the zoo.”  He would pause, then.  “This one I painted in the Stewart Flats, back of Timpanogos.”  He has a gift of dramatically rendering the scenery provided by nature for each of his paintings. There is a keen sense of design in all his work with evidence of exhaustive study sketches to arrive at the most pleasing way to paint a story.

We stopped at his painting WALKING BUFFALO. He told me to squint my eyes and see the exciting patterns and shapes that make it so fascinating. The old fellow in the painting seems to come to life as you study it. “This painting,” he said, “was done with an intent to record a tale of the passing of the great Indians and the Buffalo.”
 
The next painting we paused to study was VEGETABLE VENDER. The figure in the painting is placed so it immediately captured your attention. As you study details, your attention returns right back to the center of interest. There is timidity captured in her face for having been asked to pose, you see is a beautiful soul sitting there. The texture and lines in her face tell volumes about the life she leads. One can see and feel the texture of the brick wall, the paving, and the soft and delicate, to the course and hard patterns captured in the painting. One notes how simply and effective the painting seems to be rendered with so little effort.  These few lines and touches of color are the very essence of simplicity, which is the keystone of good design. Hours can be spent just studying Farrell Collett’s illustrations and paintings. Note his brush strokes and how forcefully he handles his range of values.

In the late thirties Collett turned down a job with the Disney Studios maintaining that teaching was more rewarding in many ways than money. He returned to teaching at Provo High School and taught art for forty-three years, thirty-seven of which were at Weber State College, where the art building now bears his name. He is listed in Who’s Who in American Art. The Accolades for Farrell Collett can go on for pages. His paintings were and still are represented in several galleries, schools, colleges and private collections throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. He has illustrated several books, numerous illustrations and calendars for companies such as Pepsi Cola, Texaco, and Browning Arms.  He is recognized as one of the top illustrators and animal artists in the United States. Some of Collett’s finest work was done in his late eighties and early nineties. One day I caught up with Farrell walking down the street with a large canvas under his arm. He stopped and showed it to me. It was one of eight paintings he was doing, which are now etched into porcelain interpretive panels and placed along the Oregon Trail’s  walking loops.
 Farrell Collett died March 14, 2000.

The three Utah artists whom I have highlighted here are in no way an effort to make judgment on the present work of the many fine artists exhibiting today. I must admit that some of the work does cause me pause. So be it, I had one heck of a struggle with our kids’ music while they passed, like forever, through teen age.