I'm an alla prima kinda guy
In 2001, after 22 years as a magazine art director, I left my computer to go paint en plein air. My experience in publishing deeply informed my approach to picture-making. I was lucky to work with many talented photographers and illustrators over the years, and they were great teachers.
For a visual person, it's hard to beat nature for a workplace. I see compelling views in every direction, with constantly changing color and light. Despite the cold, wind, and bugs, I haven't once wanted to go back to a desk job.
While the heart and soul of my work will always be the great outdoors, I create some of my oil paintings in the studio, particularly larger pieces. My body of plein air work represents thousands of hours observing how sunlight interacts with nature and atmosphere, then documenting it in oil paint. Those plein air "field studies" (which I sell as finished pieces—most of the paintings you see on this site) provide invaluable reference for the big ones.
I am available for two types of commissions:
- Custom-sized originals based on any of my existing paintings, or
- Plein air explorations of your favorite property.
Please contact me or one of my gallery representatives for pricing and details.
Painting on the Alpine Tundra at Rocky Mountain National Park.
For a glimpse at how I work, check out this video produced by Twin Cities Public Television (TPT). FYI, no, I don't wear a kilt when I paint, and here, in advance, is what I meant to say about painting from photographs vs. painting from nature:
“The first is like going to the library and reading a book about Paris, the second is like going there for two weeks with your girlfriend.” —Silvio Gagnon
For more, read this write-up in American Art Collector magazine.
Home base
When not outside, I can usually be found in my studio at my South Minneapolis home. I paint larger work there, prepare boards and canvases, frame, store my crap, and host occasional workshops and open studio events.
A description of my work as a painter wouldn’t be complete without introducing my wife, Kristi. In addition to running her graphic design business, Two Spruce Design, Kristi is my webmaster, editor, and biggest fan. She is also developing a line of cocktail coasters made by chop sawing my refusés. If you have questions, feel free to direct them to either of us.
““Scott Lloyd Anderson is an immensely talented painter whose eye for landscape and daily life helps reinterpret how we live. He paints places I’ve seen over and over and finds something new, something special in what I had thought was ordinary. I’m an avid fan.””
Honors
Best of Show: Salon International 2010, Greenhouse Gallery, San Antonio
Best of Show: San Luis Obispo Plein Air Festival, 2006
Best of Show: Jaques Art Center Plein Air, 2006, 2007
1st Place, Semi-finalist, and Honorable Mention: Plein Air Magazine July/August 2011 National Salon Competition (awarded prizes for three different paintings)
1st Place: Grand Marais Art Colony Plein Air, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2011
1st Place: Telluride Plein Air 2007
2nd Place and Purchase Award: Minnetonka Magic 2006, Wilcock Gallery, Excelsior, MN
3rd Place: Arrowhead Biennial, 2012
3rd place: Laguna Plein Air Members’ Show, 2008
Best New Artist: Easton Plein Air, 2009
People’s Choice: San Luis Obispo Plein Air, 2008
People's Choice: Red Stallion Gallery, Estes Park Plein Air 2006
Collector’s Choice: Red Stallion Gallery, Estes Park Plein Air, 2005
Honorable Mention: The American Landscape 2005, Maryland Federation of Art
Best Night Painting: Grand Marais Plein Air 2015
Artist Initiative Grant: Minnesota State Arts Board, 2012
Judge
• Between the Bluffs Plein Air 2017, La Crosse, WI
• Plein Air Hudson 2017 (WI)
• Red Wing Plein Air 2013
• Grand Marais Plein Air 2006
Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition Awards
2nd Place, Painting: 2015, 2002
4th Place and Ron Merchant Award for Oil Painting: 2014
Honorable Mention: 2013
Award for Excellence: Minnesota Artists Association, Fall Open Show 2002
Selected Exhibitions
Group Exhibition, The Snow Show, Douglas Flanders & Associates, December 2017
Plein Air Invitational, Groveland Gallery, August 2017
Capturing Nature’s Light: Three Plein Air Painters, Douglas Flanders & Associates, 2016
Solo exhibition:
Paradise, Paved: An Oil Painter's Exploration of the Suburbs
Flanders Gallery, 2014
Hopkins Center for the Arts, 2014
Phipps Center for the Arts, 2016
Minnetonka Center for the Arts, 2012
Featured Artist, McBride Gallery Autumn Celebration, Annapolis, Fall 2012
Painters of the Upper Mississippi (5 artists), Lake Pepin Art & Design Center, Fall 2012
Solo show Landscapes and Urbanscapes, First Universalist Church, Minneapolis, Fall 2011
Greenhouse Gallery Spring Festival, May 2011
Plein Air Show (3 artists) New Gallery, Dallas March, 2011
Salon International 2005, 2010, 2011, Greenhouse Gallery, San Antonio
Nature of Ice group exhibition, Minneapolis 2010
In Plain Site: Paintings of Minnesota (4 artists) Bloomington Art Center, 2010
Burnsville Art Fete 2009, 2010
Plein Air Artists, Kaiping Art Center (China), November 2009
Featured Artist, McBride Gallery, Annapolis, July 2009
Featured Artist, Kelley Galleries, April 2009
Solo exhibition: Art of Construction: Paintings of the I-35W Bridge Project, Thrivent Financial Gallery, 2008
A Russian Night in Taos, Taos Art Museum & Fechin House, August 2007, 2008
Paint the Parks Top 100, 2007
Solo show, Minneapolis Woman's Club, March-April 2007
Drawn To Nature, juried exhibition, Bell Museum, University of Minnesota, 2006
Central Regional Exhibition, Oil Painters of America, 2005
Metropolitan Council (Minneapolis/St. Paul) Community Arts Partnership exhibition program, 2005
Work selected for display at the Minnesota Governor’s Residence, 2004
Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibtion, 2002-2016