Portrait by Brandon Sullivan Cave Creek, Arizona, painter Beth Zink pauses in her studio in the company of her toy pugs, Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and Sophie. On the easel is one of the artist’s works, Purple Agaves.

Beth Zink’s vivid palette takes its cues from desert plants

A 1965 championship trophy might seem an unusual container for paintbrushes; however, the award provides poignant inspiration for Cave Creek, Arizona, artist Beth Zink.

“It’s from a golf tournament my father won,” she explains. “He didn’t want me to major in art because he said I couldn’t make a living. I wish he was still alive. He’d go berserk to see a painting like this,” she adds with a sentimental smile, motioning to one of her larger works.

Zink is enthusiastic as she talks about her paintings. Inspired by light and shadow patterns found in nature, the up-close images of plants and flowers the artist paints embrace the beauty of the desert and explode with vivid colors that are so pure they look pluck-ed from a rainbow. The result is a painterly form of Realism that is as fresh, vibrant and energetic as the artist herself.

Growing up in Rhode Island, Zink fondly recalls her elementary school art teacher being very attentive to her. “I was one of two students chosen to paint an angel on the school’s front windows, and all of a sudden I was a ‘somebody,’” recalls the 60-year-old. “When you find success, whether it’s piano or golf or art, you are more likely than not to continue with instruction and practice. Talent, of course, is a bonus, but all you need is desire.”

The blossoms of a prickly pear cactus seem to glow in Spring Fever, 48" x 36".

Zink was awarded a four-year scholarship as a Rhode Island State Scholar and went on to major in art with a minor in education at Bethany College in West Virginia. Continuing to hone her natural talent, she taught art in public and private schools for more than 20 years.

The artist moved West a few years after graduation when she discovered the blue skies of Colorado and met her husband, Jon. Married 31 years now with two adult children, the pair settled in Arizona in 1986. Zink quickly became known for her golf course landscapes, including commissioned works for professional tour events, country clubs, resorts and corporations nationwide. But her heart was drawn to contemporary botanicals.

“I am so enthralled with the forms of desert plants and the shadows they cast,” Zink explains. “The beauty of nature inspires me, and these dramatic plants are so interesting, with their intriguing compositions and negative space.”

Stepping inside Zink’s studio is like going from black and white to an energy-charged, over-the-rainbow Oz. Here, color-splashed paintings showcase the drama of the Southwest landscape, with its kaleidoscope of colors. Desert plants thrive in her paintings, with blossoms that are at the peak of their beauty.

“I painted this from a photo that had beautifully formed blooms, and then I just amped up the color to create more drama,” Beth Zink says of the prickly pear cactus in Red Heads, 48" x 60".

“Some of these species bloom at night, and I thought the blossoms looked like elegant ladies,” she says of the Christmas cactus in Ladies of the Night, 18" x 18".

The reds and yellows in the prickly pear cacti of Some Like It Hot instill a feeling of calm and serenity, according to the artist. It is a “mood” that represents “the warmth of this beautiful desert in which we live.” The painting measures 24" x 30".