Royden Card

With instruction from my father I began painting at age fourteen. I had been introduced to (and immediately fell in love with) the red-rock and barren desert landscape of Utah a few years earlier. From those beginnings, I pursued a career as an artist, eventually obtaining a BFA and a MFA from BYU. I learn from nature, hoping to capture some of that energy in paint. Inspiration primarily comes from the desert landscape of the Southwest United States and the hand built structures of its’ indigenous people. I paint landscape which sometimes is not considered beautiful and usually labeled “badlands”. This mostly barren, rock and sage covered land may not be immediately appealing but I find it wondrous and spiritually fulfilling. It requires a unique outlook to be enjoyed. I believe my paintings allow people to discover its’ rarified beauty. Collectors who have lived with my paintings for a time tell me their lives have been enriched. They say that they see more color, notice more detail and beauty when they visit the desert again. During the past few years my artistic output has also included prose and poetry. Some of the literary work accompanied by sketches has been published in the book DESERT DRAWN. I have also produced an alphabet book illustrated with reproductions of my woodcuts