REPRESENTED ARTIST
About Penny
“I have a deep connection with Yosemite National Park that has stretched over 60 years. When I was 18, I jumped on 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 days off backpacking in the high Sierra with new friends, which ignited my love for the natural world. Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada have been my home ever since. 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 place I am painting – which inspires me to paint from my heart using a “fresh ala prima” (wet-into-wet) interpretation that is uniquely my own. As I feel the light, colors, and breezes of a place and hear moving water, birds singing, and wind through trees as I paint, my work becomes very spontaneous and connected to the place.” - Penny Otwell
Artist Collection: Penny-Otwell
Gallery
Penny started filling sketchbooks with drawings as a newly arrived young working woman in Yosemite in 1964. Eventually she started painting in oils to portray the wonder she felt about the entire Sierra Nevada.
“From the first day I saw Yosemite in 1964, my life became full of art and natural history. From studying geology and botany to the many drawings I made, I wanted to know everything about this place. I am a self-taught painter and naturalist. My Mother, a painter who attended The Vancouver School of Art Deco in Vancouver, Canada, guided my interest in painting from a young age.”
Penny Otwell
REPRESENTED ARTIST
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Penny Otwell
More About Penny Otwell
Education
Penny studied science, painting, and printmaking through seminars and workshops with the best: Dr. Carl Sharsmith, Bob Fry, and painter Ken Auster from Laguna Beach.
Selected Exhibitions
2025
- Group Show, teaching, MARIPOSA PAINT OUT June -8
2024
- Juried show -- SIERRA ART TRAILS – October, 2 weekends
- Painting demonstrations
2023
- In the time of Covid-19, I painted in Yosemite.
2022
- Solo Show HIGH SPIRIT-Paintings by Penny Otwell, September 19-October 30: THE ANSEL ADAMS GALLERY
2021
- Yosemite was closed for some months. I was able to enter and paint.
2020
- Solo Show – January -- Wild Truth, Paintings by Penny Otwell
- A SENSE OF PLACE GALLERY, Fresno
- Solo Show Glacial Conclusions
- THE ANSEL ADAMS GALLERY - October 11 – November 21
2019
- Juried Show - International Parks Group Show – EISELE GALLERY, Cincinnati, Ohio, April-May 2019
- Two Artists Show -- TREETOP GALLERY, Mariposa, California, January 24 – March 15
- Juried Show -- SIERRA ART TRAILS – painting demonstrations
2018
- Two Artists Show – Natural Wonders – CARNEGIE ARTS CENTER – Turlock, California-January 31-April 22
- Juried Show -- SIERRA ART TRAILS – painting demonstrations
- Solo Show THE ANSEL ADAMS GALLERY, Seeing is Believing, May 20 – July 7
- Juried Group Show YOSEMITE RENAISSANCE
2017
- Solo Show THE ANSEL ADAMS GALLERY
- Juried Group Show CALIFORNIA PLEIN AIR, California Art Club
- Juried Show -- SIERRA ART TRAILS
2016
- Solo Show Contemporary Landscapes by Penny Otwell
- July 29-September 21: THE KING’S ART CENTER, Hanford, California
- Solo Show – THE ANSEL ADAMS GALLERY, Mountain Rhythm – The Paintings of Penny Otwell
- Group Show YOSEMITE RENAISSANCE
2015
- Solo Show THE ANSEL ADAMS GALLERY
- Juried Show YOSEMITE RENAISSANCE - cash award
- Group Show -- WILDING MUSEUM OF ART & NATURE
- Solvang, California June 17 – October 3 - award
2014
- 3 group Shows A SENSE OF PLACE GALLERY, Fresno, Calif.
- Juried show SIERRA ART TRAILS -- painting demo
2013
- Juried Show -- SIERRA ART TRAILS – painting demonstrations
- Two group shows -- CARNEGIE ART CENTER, Turlock, CA
- Solo Show -- Along Those Lines – September 1 – October 15 THE ANSEL ADAMS GALLERY
- Juried Group Show – YOSEMITE RENAISSANCE
2012
- Solo Show Stone & Brush – The Paintings of Penny Otwell, THE ANSEL ADAMS GALLERY
2011
- Group Show Local Color, September 1-October 15, THE ANSEL ADAMS GALLERY
2010
- Group Show THE ANSEL ADAMS GALLERY
Show Judging:
- 2018 CARNEGIE ARTS CENTER -- Valley Showcase July 11-Aug.31
2020YOSEMITE RENAISSANCE -- prize judge
Selected Collections And Publications
- 1981: A Winter’s Day in Yosemite with Dr. Carl Sharsmith, Drawings and Illustrations by Penny Otwell. Author: Ardeth Huntington Yosemite Natural History Assn.
- 2014: Art of the National Parks, Historic Connections, Contemporary Interpretations, FRESCO Publications, by Jean Stern, Susan Hallsten, McGarry, Terry Lawson Dunn. Penny Otwell -- color photographs and article.
Teaching
2014
- Watercolor en plein air painting workshop, BALANCED ROCK FOUNDATION
2015
- Oil en plein air painting workshop May 7-9 – MARIPOSA COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL
- Watercolor en plein air painting workshop July, Tuolumne Meadows, BALANCED ROCK FOUNDATION
2017
- Beginning Oil Painting MONO LAKE COMMITTEE, Lee Vining
2018
- MONO LAKE COMMITTEE, Beginning Oil Painting
2019
- MONO LAKE COMMITTEE August 11-13, Beginning Oil Painting
2021
- MONO LAKE COMMITTEE July, Beginning Oil Painting
2025
- SIERRA ARTISTS – Mariposa Paint Out June 6-8, Beginning Oil Painting workshop.
Associated Contributions And Experience
2013
- Slide-lecture program -- Painting the High Mountains, July 21, PARSON’S LODGE, TUOLUMNE MEADOWS, National Park Service Programs.
2024
- Slide-lecture program for FOOTHILL ARTS & LECTURES, Mariposa County Board of Supervisors Room - February. 100 attendees.
Artist in Residence:
2007
- MANZANAR – NPS January & February, Lectures and daily demonstrations for the public. 25 Acrylic painting series with Origami paper.
2013 -- April 10- March 7
- Invited to OBED NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, and BIG SOUTH FORK NATIONAL RIVER, Tennessee. Daily lectures and demonstrations and plein air work
Corporate Work:
1998
- DELAWARE NORTH, INC: Purchased four large abstract watercolors for Yosemite Lodge and menu covers for THE MOUNTAIN ROOM RESTAURANT.
2003
- PATAGONIA: Created art for two tee shirts for their “artist series.”
2000
- THE ANSEL ADAMS GALLERY: Art for a Gallery tee shirt
2014
- SUBARU, AMERICA, INC: Subaru car wrap, eight large art image prints, postcards. For their booth at the Philadelphia Flower Show in March focusing on Yosemite.
- YOSEMITE CLIMBING MUSEUM: Art featured on their tee shirt for FACELIFT Program
Connect
Facebook: www.facebook.com/penny.otwell
Instagram: @psoart
Explore Penny's Photographs
Penny Otwell
