About the Artist

Thank you for visiting my website! Please linger awhile and enjoy the images of Nature found in my portfolio of works.  I am blessed to have lived amidst beauty from the red sandstone cliffs of Utah to the pastoral hay fields of the Yampa Valley. I have traveled the back country of the West on horseback and with a backpack, known powder mornings, deep snow-pack and lush wildflowered meadows,  climbed to rocky summits, and have drunk deeply of  Nature's presence.  Through my art, I hope  to convey the power of wild places and share that healing power with you. My art only begins a conversation. Your heart  provides the meaning.

Awards and Recognition:

2022 Oil Painters of America National Show

2021 Grand Canyon Celebration of Art

2020 Grand Canyon Celebration of Art Plein Air

2020 American Impressionist Society Honorable Mention  Wet Paint

2019 Award for Excellence OPA National Show Plein Air Event

2018 Zion National Park Plein Air Invitational

2017 Second Place Award Steamboat Art Museum Plein Air
2016 Second Place Award Steamboat Art Museum Plein Air Event

2014 Best of Show Plein Air Artists of Colorado, Abend Gallery Denver CO, "Convergence"
2014 Telluride Plein Air
2014 Solo Show Circle Seven Fine Art Steamboat Springs CO
2013 Special Award for Excellence Moab Plein Air
2008 Third prize Estes Park Plein Air Painting the Parks

Although Bonnie McGee has painted since childhood, attending summer classes at the Art Institute of Chicago at age nine, she began to paint full time in 1999 after attending the Plein Air Painters of America workshop in Steamboat Springs. She has studied with Albert Handel, Tucker Smith, Kevin MacPherson, Quang Ho, Scott Christensen and Kathryn Stats.  After years of participating in various plein air events including Estes Park, Telluride and Steamboat Springs, in 2014 she captured Best of Show honors at the Plein Air Artists of Colorado Juried Show in Denver. Her studio and plein air paintings hang in corporate and personal collections in the US and abroad.

Painting is but one of many passions.  McGee is an accomplished sailor, having completed a four and a half year circumnavigation on her 33 foot sailboat via Panama and South Africa.  Her inspiring and beautifully crafted book, VOICES ON THE WIND, weaves together photos and stories of remote islanders and how they influenced her view of her own culture. She is still a sought after speaker at sailing events and yacht clubs.

On her journey through life, McGee has summited 28 of Colorado’s “Fourteeners,” run seven half marathons, and worked in the British Virgin Islands. She is a passionate powder skier and fly fisher.

McGee’s artwork reflects all these passions, but her favorite subject matter captures her love of wild places and the serenity she feels in a grand landscape.  Painting slows her down, allowing her to stand quietly observant to the beauty around her. She is represented by Wild Horse Gallery in Steamboat Springs.