Colleen Later at work in her garden

Another trademark that sets her latest work apart is the use of the copyrighted Double Image Format. In this series of paintings two different paintings are shown on one canvas.  The main image, generally a single floral, vineyard, landscape, or still life appears in the top section of the painting. The bottom image will be an object or scene that relates directly to or in contrast with the theme of the painting.

Colleen holds both a B.F.A. (Bachelor of Fine Arts) and a M.F.A. (Masters of Fine Arts) degree in painting and sculpture. She studied painting under Utah’s foremost landscape artist, Harrison Groutage, at Utah State University.  She was also a member of the Flying Professors, flying to Eastern Utah to teach art for the University Extension Service.

Over thirty years experience in teaching sculpture and painting at colleges and universities in Utah and Oregon has given Colleen a rich background in image making. Her style is Contemporary Realism and the technique she uses most is Imprimatura, starting with an underpainting of thin color and building the image layer upon layer until just the right look is achieved.

Being an artist full time enables Colleen to produce a prolific body of work. The paintings shown on this web site are just a sample of the work she is producing.

Colleen’s marriage to her agent-manager, Bud, has lasted for over fifty six years, so she must be doing something right. She is a mother of seven children. Five of them attending college at the same time, while Colleen was getting her M.F.A. degree.

Following college Colleen and Bud have represented other artists in galleries they have owned in Charlottesville, VA. and St. George, UT, but today Colleen concentrates on her own artwork, painting twelve to fourteen hours a day six days a week.

Artist Profile

It’s All About Color!

That’s the first thing you notice about Colleen Later’s paintings.

In college, Colleen’s professors called her a colorist, and that’s exactly what she is. Her paintings are alive with color right from the tube. Even her whites sing and are never completely white and she uses black only to enrich and deepen the Viridian Green or Alizarin Crimson hues in the borders of all her work.  The borders are one of the trademarks that make up a Colleen Later Original.