Jim Jones, a painter whose work became synonymous with the natural beauty of southern Utah, died early Saturday at his home in Springdale. He was 76 years old, and struggling with emphysema when he passed away.

"All of us are just so incredibly sad to lose someone like Jim," said Michael Benson, president of Southern Utah University. "But he's left a body of work that will last forever. His work can be found almost anywhere here in southern Utah. That's what matters."

Through the course of his storied career, Jones painted an estimated 1,400 works. More than half portrayed the vistas and landscapes of the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park, which he never tired of painting.

Born in Cedar City, Jones' father worked as a Utah Parks Company employee who managed concessions for national parks at Grand Canyon, Zions, Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon.

Frequent trips to the parks instilled in Jones an innate appreciation of Utah's southern landscape, said his older brother Gary, who lives in Salt Lake City. "All our family was wired to the beauty of red rock country," Gary Jones said.

As a child Jones copied scenes and caricatures from newspaper comics with ease. Recognizing Jones' emerging talent, his parents saved enough to send him to the Art Center in Los Angeles.

Knowing that artists rarely made money, Jones never married or had children. For more than 10 years early in his career he spent winters in Mexico where he painted portraits, beach scenes and churches, then returned home to Utah for summers. Success greeted him later, when during the last 25 years of his life he painted landscapes exclusively.

Over the years his numerous paintings graced the interiors of more and more public schools, private businesses and even LDS temples.

Jones built his own house across the Virgin River in the little town of Rockville. Situated on a bluff with a view into Zion National Park, Jones could look out of almost any window in his house to create a painting.

"He was an early riser and a self-starter," said his brother Gary. "Even his house was a work of art."

Southern Utah University granted Jones an honorary degree last May. His life and work were also the subject of a documentary film by Jon M. Smith and James M. Aton, "Jimmie Jones: Red Rock Painter." Jones left both his home and last 14 paintings to Southern Utah University to help fund construction of the university's new museum of art.

"He was a prince of a man with an enormous talent, and yet one of the most gracious, self-effacing people you'd ever meet," Benson said.

Jones is survived by his brother Gary, as well as two sisters, Patricia Embley of Pleasant Grove and Dorothy Roller of San Jose, Calif.

A funeral will be held at noon Dec. 12 in Cedar City at an LDS Stakehouse located at 256 S. 900 West in Cedar City. A memorial service and burial will be held later in Springdale, on an undetermined date.