A SELF-PROCLAIMED perfectionist, Lexi says that becoming an artist has been a humbling experience. Letting go has been challenging, but also empowering. “You cannot control the outcome of watercolor, you just have to watch it unfold,” she says. “It’s very contrary to my nature and how I want to run my life, so it teaches me a lot about life in general. At the end of the day, if I have to recycle a piece of paper because it didn’t work out, it’s fine. The stakes are low. It’s better to learn something than to sit there and freak out about not painting something perfect.” Close friend and accomplished action sports photog-rapher, Re Wikstrom, has watched Lexi become an artist. “When I asked why she chose watercolor over other paint mediums,” Re says, “her casual answer was: because it seemed like the most difficult one to learn. She chose the hard way and began to master it. I love that, and it speaks to her character.” Britt Templin, the owner of TF Brewing, says that every time she sees Lexi she’s beaming. “You can tell she loves what she does,” says Templin. “To me, this shows through in her paintings.” Through her art business, Kapowder, Lexi donates 5 percent of her sales to Protect Our Winters, in hopes that her work will help bring awareness to the effects of climate change in the Wasatch mountains and beyond. Paint by Powder is a love letter to the mountains of Utah, which, in her opinion, will always hold the best skiing on the planet. While watercolor painting has become her main focus, Lexi’s creativity still goes well beyond the canvas. In any given week, she may help create a film, paint a ski resort, model for ski photos, manage social media or write a story for Ski Utah. She’s continuously honing her ability to capture and convey the unique aspects of moments that matter. Of course, none of it would be possible without the spark of soul-filling days skiing in the mountain range she loves dearly. WHEN COLLECTING snow to paint, Lexi carries a large backpack filled with a few jugs to ensure she has enough water for each work. She’s gotten plenty of weird looks from ski patrol while collecting snow—some want to ensure she’s not injured while others have concerns about her eventually drinking the snow. And it’s not just pristine powder she’s after. One time, commissioned to create a painting of the historic Alta Peru-vian Lodge, Lexi decided to bottle hot tub water to paint, topping it off with a shot of tequila from the infamous bar. Although the pack of old men in the hot tub had a lot of questions, they promised to buy a print when Lexi finished her painting. As a skier-artist, Lexi aims to capture and share her deep connection to the mountains. Her work encapsulates a sense of wonder and that oddly present nostalgia of a perfect mo-ment as it begins to pass by. It’s the feeling of yearning for somewhere you have been, somewhere you still love, for a moment in time you would like to live again. She also aims to paint the why. It’s a question skiers are all too familiar with. Why fight the traffic to Alta? Why wake before the sun for a dawn patrol tour? Why move across the country, work late restaurant shifts, sleep on dirty couches? To see Lexi’s work—a celebration of all the little moments—is to see a glimmer of her why in watercolor. 094 The Ski Journal
The Ski Journal Volume 18, Issue 1: Page 94
