Lopez Island artist Steven Hill, who participated at the Sixth Annual Zion National Park Plein Air Painting Invitational in early November, was honored with a major purchase and cash award for his painting titled “Soft Glow” done in Zion Canyon.

The painting, pictured at right, was purchased by the park to become part of their permanent art collection as the “Superintendent of Zion National Park Purchase Award.” The modern collection at Zion houses works from former artists’ in residents at the park, and other past award winners and Zion artists, including Maynard Dixon, Jim Jones, Suze Woolf, John Cogan, Cody Delong, Gloria Miller Allen and others. This was Hill’s second invitation to the annual Zion event.

Hill exhibits his work in the San Juan Islands at Crow Valley Gallery on Orcas and Windswept Fine Art Gallery on Lopez, plus other galleries in the U.S. Visit his website at www.windsweptstudios.com.