About the Artist

ARTIST STATEMENT:

 

With a lifelong connection with Yosemite National Park that has stretched over 60 years, I paint a place we all love -- Yosemite National Park. When I was 18, I boarded a Greyhound bus that brought me from Los Angeles to my first job in the park, working at The Ahwahnee Hotel. In those first years, I spent each weekend backpacking the High Sierra with friends, which ignited my love for the natural world. Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada are still my backyard with a studio in Mariposa, CA.  I have 25 sketchbooks that record  these trips that remind me of so many great times in beautiful places.  

 

Collectors have described my work as “expressionistic, colorful, and even whimsical,” but I choose not to identify with a single painting style. I primarily work “en plein air” – outside, in the Park – which inspires me to paint from my heart using a “fresh ala prima” (wet-into-wet) interpretation that is uniquely my own. As feel the breeze, hear moving water, birds singing, and the wind blowing through trees, I am poised to paint.  My color choices expresses a particular joy I feel while the painting becomes spontaneous and alive!

 

As I arrive at my selected location for the day, I set up, squeeze out my oil paints, and spend a few moments appreciating where I am to help define my focus and intent. I design each piece with a simple idea with good composition and appealing color harmony. By carefully studying Yosemite’s granite forms, my drawings are faithful, but my own intuition is the strongest component of my working style.

 

Starting with an abstract block-in underpainting, I nail down moving light, then slow down to complete the painting. My easel allows me to work with large canvases (up to 36” x 48”) as well as smaller panels. I use large brushes and palette knives for thick texture to start and progressively use smaller and smaller brushes and knives to complete each slightly piece. Most of each painting is completed in the field, but I usually give each piece a good, hard look back in my painting studio in Mariposa. 

 

Being a plein air painter comes naturally to me and I love sharing this very special place with others through my work. I am so grateful to have the best job in the Park!

 

Penny Otwell

Mariposa, California

January, 2025

 

 

 

PENNY OTWELL - VITAE

 

Hear this Audio Interview:  2018 - Yosemite Can 'O Peaches Program, Yosemite Valley

Here is a link to an interview with Penny Otwell and John DeGrazio in 2018:

 

https://yosemitecanopeaches.com/2018/06/25/penny-otwell-yosemite-peaches/

 

 

2025 

June 6-8  Plein Air Festival

Teaching beginner-intermediate oil painting on June 6 

Sierra Artists, Mariposa 

2024  

Plein air painting in Yosemite and Mariposa

Sierra Art Trails - two weekends - juried show October

 

2023

Plein air painting in Yosemite and Mariposa

No shows

 

2022

Solo Show -- High Spirit - Paintings by Penny Otwell - Sepetmber 19 - October 30

The Ansel Adams Gallery, Yosemite Valley, California

2021

In the time of Covid, I continued painting and showing at several galleries.  

No shows.  I was able to paint in Yosemite Valley when it was closed to the public.

The Mono Lake Committee - teaching beginning oil painting - July

 

2020

Solo Show --January, 2020 -- WILD TRUTH, Paintings by Penny Otwell

A Sense of Place Gallery - Fresno, California  

 

Solo Show -- October 11- November 21, 2020  GLACIAL CONCLUSIONS

The Ansel Adams Gallery, Yosemite Valley

2019 

 Invitation - Participation - INTERNATIONAL PARKS SHOW

Eisele Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio  April 11, 2019

 

Invitation - The Treetop Gallery, Mariposa - Mariposa County Arts Council

TWO FROM THE HEART - January 24-March 15

Penny Otwell and Tim DeWitt

 

Mono Lake Committee 

Teaching - Beginning Oil Painting  August 11-13

 

Sierra Art Trails 2019   Participant, Juried studio tour - Mariposa Home Studio - October 4-6, 2019

 

2018  

Two-Artist Show

Natural Wonders – Penny Otwell & Monique Wales

  Carnegie Arts Center, Turlock, CA

January 31 – April 22, 2018 

 

Sierra Art Trails Open Studio  Juried participation, Mariposa, California

 

2018 Solo Show The Ansel Adams Gallery, Yosemite, California - 

SEEING IS BELIEVING, May 20 - July 7, 2018 

 

Mono Lake Committee, July – Instruction:  Beginning Oil Painting

 

Yosemite Renaissance   Juried Competition acceptance

 

Show Judge – Carnegie Arts Center -  Valley Showcase  July 11-Aug 31

 

Juried Participant Farms & Fields, Carnegie Arts Center May 2-July 29  

 

2017  

Solo Show– The Ansel Adams Gallery, Yosemite Valley

 

Juried Show, California Plein Air, accepted participant

 

Sierra Art Trails - Juried Open Studio - October, Mariposa, CA

 

Award, Juried Acceptance Yosemite Renaissance

 

Mono Lake Committee– Instruction – Beginning Oil Painting

 

2016

The Ansel Adams Gallery  - Solo Show - Mountain Rhythm – 

        The Paintings of Penny Otwell

        September 13 - November 5, 2016

 

Solo Retrospective Show Invitational-- CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPES by Penny Otwell

The King's Art Center

Hanford, California

July 29 - September 21, 2016

 

WILDING MUSEUM OF ART AND NATURE

Solvang, California

Juried Group Show - California National Parks

June 17 - October 3, 2016

 

Subaru, America, Inc.  

My work was chosen to portray Yosemite as the theme of the Subaru booth at the Philadelphia Flower Show, March, 2016.  I selected an image ("Breaking Away") for an actual Car Wrap for a Subaru Forester car that was displayed at the booth.  In addition they produced four large metal prints that hung in the booth.  Subaru has continued a relationship with Yosemite with  financial assistance for the Park's solid waste program.   4 different images on postcards were also produced and given away to thousands of visitors to the show.  I was honored that my work was chosen.

 

Book -- Invitational Participation in the Publication:  ART OF THE NATIONAL PARKS, Historic Connections, Contemporary Interpretations

 Fresco Publications, 2013,   Jean Stern, Susan Hallsten McGarry, Terry Lawson Dunn   

 

2015

Solo Show – The Ansel Adams Gallery, Yosemite Valley

Mariposa County Arts Council

Oil en plein air painting workshop  May, Yosemite Valley

 

Balanced Rock Foundation, Yosemite

Watercolor en plein air painting workshop July  - Tuolumne Meadows

 

2014 

Mono Lake Committee

 Loosen Up with Watercolor  Mono Lake Region  August 22-24

 

A Sense of Place Gallery, Fresno 

 3 Group shows

 

Home studio tour - Sierra Art Trails juried participation

 

Yosemite Climbing Museum (non-profit)

 Featured Artist for the year for FACELIFT Weekend

Three of my  pieces of art were used on their promotional products for a weekend program in Yosemite Valley

 

PATAGONIA Tee Shirts

Invited to submit several paintings for tee PATAGONIA brand tee shirts -- they used two Otwell paintings

 

2013

Invitation - ARTIST IN RESIDENCE - April 18 - March 7 - 2013 

Obed National Recreation Area, Tennessee

Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, Tennessee

Spring Show - The Carnegie Art Center, Turlock, CA  -- juried show  April - June, 2013

 

Lecture/slide show at Parson's Lodge Series -- "Painting the High Mountains"  July 21, Tuolumne Meadows 2pm

 

Solo Show - Along those Lines - The Ansel Adams Gallery, Yosemite Valley  September 14 - November 8

 

Juried Show - Sierra Art Trails -- Open Studio Tours - Mariposa, CA  -  October 4-6, 2013

 

2012

 Solo Show STONE & BRUSH - The Paintings of Penny Otwell

 The Ansel Adams Gallery, Yosemite Valley, August - October, 2012

 

2011 LOCAL COLOR

   Small Group Show -- The Ansel Adams Gallery, Yosemite Village, 

  September 1 - October 15, 2011

 

 The Carnegie Art Center, Turlock, CA

 Group Show, July 2011 - February, 2012

 

Prior to 2012, Otwell participated in Yosemite Renaissance almost every year; small local art shows in Mariposa, and Yosemite art groups.

The artist moved to Yosemite in 1964 and has worked and lived in the area most of her life.  Otwell was on the original board of directors for Yosemite Renaissance, and she worked for Yosemite National History Association, Yosemite Association, and was hired by John Curry from the Yosemite Park & Curry Company in 1964.  

 

Corporate Collections

Permanent Collections:  Delaware North, Yosemite 2008, purchased four large watercolors 

Subaru, purchased four images of Otwell paintings on metal for their corporate offices