Darcie Peet grew up on the East Coast, but a childhood vacation to Rocky Mountain National Park set her on a course for the West. “I grew up loving the majesty of the West, and I was always drawing and painting,” she says. That love is embodied in her show Wild Places, which will be shown online at www.artzline.com. “This show has been an opportunity to look back at the places that have been so special to me over the years.” Trail of Tamarack Gold, oil, 30 x 40”Peet has traveled all throughout the West, from Alaska to the Sonoran Desert, and one thing that ties all those places together for her is the majesty and the power of the landscapes. “I used to paint plein air, and I learned so much from it, but now, my goal is to see as much as I can instead of spending time setting up my equipment, painting and packing up again.” 

Her Trail of Tamarack Gold is based off a view of Opabin Plateau, high in the Canadian Rockies, and Peet says, “There’s no way I could have carried my gear that far.” She and her husband visited in September, just in time to see the grasses and trees change colors. “There are these evergreens that aren’t evergreen. They are the tamarack trees, and they turn golden and very wispy, and the fronds eventually lose their needles.” Tumble Into Aqua Shimmer, oil, 36 x 24”

Autumn Scarlet & Sparkle, oil, 24 x 30”

Autumn Scarlet and Shimmer is another view of the Canadian Rockies, featuring Mount Rundle and the Vermilion Lakes. “There are six or seven of these little lakes, and the shrubs just have an incredible fall color,” she says. “It’s one of the most stunning, iconic settings in the area, but I’m told that these lakes are eventually going to lose their water. They are already fairly shallow.” 

Wild Places will be on view from February 13 to 26 and feature 10 new paintings from Peet, a culmination of her explorations from over the years. Wings in the Mist, oil, 20 x 16”David Wilkinson, owner of Artzline.com, says, “Darcie Peet is an outstanding artist who is passionate about studying her favorite subjects in the most remote locations. From the high mountain lakes of Alaska to the deserts of Arizona, each painting is an intimate study of the particular landscape and the flora and fauna specific to that locale…Each painting takes the viewer to hidden places, places I now desire to find myself.” —

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