Whitney Gardner is an oil painter born and based in Southern California, with a focus in painting landscapes of the Southwest. Residing in the Mojave desert for the last fifteen years, a fascination with the rugged scenery has led her into an artful study of this region. From plein air studies to studio compositions, her paintings are an ode to the remarkable facets of the desert.
Early in her childhood, Whitney was exposed to the greater southwest, by way of family camping trips, led by her outdoorsman grandfather. From backpacking in the Unita wilderness of Utah to exploring the granite boulders of Joshua Tree National Park, the landscape of the west had an impact on Whitney. Fresh out of college, she made the decision to move to the Mojave desert, intrigued by the mystique of her childhood memories, to live in nature and develop her painting practice.
Whitney is attracted to the simplicity of the desert topography and seeks to carry this simplistic aesthetic through her work. The fleeting moments of light and color, moonrises, monsoon storms, and flora in bloom, is what excites her most as she strives to capture the ethereal aspects of life. In combining the vast environment of the desert with delicate, intimate moments in nature, Whitney presents a feminine quality to the harshness of the land she paints. With influences of artists who painted the western landscape, such as Maynard Dixion and Victor Higgins, both who developed a simplified and modern approach to their work, Whitney is also interested in making work that has a modern sensibility, while riding on the edges of traditional landscape painting.
While she considers herself a self-taught artist, in 2010, Whitney received a BFA, with high distinction, from California College of the Arts, in Oakland and San Francisco. Her work has received various awards in recent years including, Best of Show in the Joshua Tree National Park Art Expo, in 2019, Best Painting at the Slopoke Art Show, in 2022, and Artist’s Choice award at the Coors Western Art Exhibit, in 2023. Whitney has been featured in many national magazines such as, Western Art Collector, Southwest Art, Western Art and Architecture, and Fine Art Connoisseur.
Whitney currently lives in Wonder Valley, CA, and creates her paintings in a vintage Airstream trailer.
