Mary Rhodes Hillside Path with Lavender, Oil on Canvas, Reno and Palm Springs Painter, c. 1965 to 1980

The Piece

An original oil landscape by Mary Rhodes, presented in its original walnut toned wood frame with a linen liner. A winding dirt track curves across sunlit hills, drawing the eye from the foreground into the distance, and banks of lavender grey brush crowd the near ground. Rhodes builds the brush and flowers in confident impasto, then lets the far sage and aqua hills soften into atmosphere under a pale, diffused sky.

The palette is wheat gold, muted celadon green, dusty lavender and pale sky, warm but restrained. It is signed at lower right in orange red, Mary Rhodes.

History & Provenance

Mary Rhodes was a trained painter and teacher who took her art degree and first training in the East and taught painting across the United States before settling in northern Nevada. In 1966 she was one of the charter members who opened the Artists' Co-operative of Reno in an old French laundry on Mill Street, and that summer she chaired an art show at the Carson City Mall. In September 1969 the Reno store Home Furniture named her its Artist of the Month, praising her florals and her ability to capture the basic form, simplicity and emotion in mountains, rocks and growing things, and noting awards in juried shows in Nevada and California and classes she had taught at Lake Tahoe and in Carson City.

By 1969 she was also painting in the desert at Palm Springs, where she took prizes with the Shadow Mountain Palette Club and chaired its annual ball, and she returned to Reno to show landscapes, flowers and kitchen still lifes at the co-op. Dry golden hills, sage and brush like these belong to the country she painted on both sides of the Sierra. The full record, with every newspaper source, is on the Mary Rhodes artist page.

Product Details

Why It Belongs in Your Home

This painting carries warmth in a way that feels natural rather than manufactured. The golden tones soften a space at once, while the celadon greens and dusty lavender bring in quiet color without overwhelming the room. The curved path pulls the eye inward and keeps a wall from feeling static, and the textured brush in the foreground catches the light differently through the day.

At 24 x 30 inches it is substantial enough to ground a console, sit above a fireplace or anchor a bedroom wall, and balanced enough to layer with other works in a collected interior. It pairs easily with walnut, linen upholstery, aged brass and soft neutral textiles. It is a regional painting by a documented Nevada artist, and it looks like late afternoon light held still.