St. George • Ron Larson has spent a lifetime painting the vast American West on oversized canvases large enough to swallow a living room wall.

Yet every year, he gladly saddles up for one of his humblest gigs: touching up the carousel at St. George’s Town Square Park.

“It’s kind of a love-hate relationship,” Larson said at his Ivins studio. “It’s a pain in the butt, but I view it as a community service. I want the horses on the ride to look good.”

An acclaimed oil painter and watercolorist, Larson is a member of the prestigious National Watercolor Society. His renowned redrock landscapes are featured at the University of Utah and Utah Tech University, as well as private collections as far away as Finland and Germany. A frequent award-winner, he regularly distinguishes himself at art festivals and plein air invitationals across the West.

In 2024, his oil landscape “Water Under the Bridge” won best of show at the 37th annual Sears Invitational Art Show at Utah Tech University. He also has served as artist‑in‑residence at national parks and recreation areas, from Zion to the Grand Canyon to Lake Powell.

Still, the 70-year-old artist noted, every February or March he spends a grueling week repainting the carousel horses for little pay, often logging up to 10 hours a day.

“It’s really more of a service project than a job,” he said. “I don’t get paid very much.”

High-maintenance thoroughbreds

Originally built in 1989 by Chance Rides and debuting in Chicago, the carousel was acquired by renowned theme park designer Wendell “Bud” Hurlbut in 2006 for a planned project in California. Following Hurlbut’s passing, St. George purchased the ride in 2011 to lure more residents and visitors to Town Square.

Larson said he started painting the horses the following year, when the city’s former parks and recreation director, Kent Perkins, asked if he could repair and repaint the battered ride. Some horses had been chipped in transport, while others just looked tired.

What he found, he added, was less a children’s ride and more a herd of high-maintenance thoroughbreds.

“Each one of those horses has a personality,” he continued. “Some are just absolutely crazy horses — with big, flared-out manes — and then you’ve got the little petite ones that are just simple little horses. I try to paint them to capture that character.”

To accomplish that, Larson airbrushes the horses’ bodies for a smooth, brush-stroke-free finish, then hand-paints the saddles, manes and other details to keep them looking like show ponies instead of chipped workhorses.

While he typically sticks to the original colors when brushing up the horses, Larson said he made an exception when a little girl asked if there could be a pink horse.

“I said, ‘Yeah, I can do that,’” Larson recalled. “I painted a pink one without getting permission from the city. What are they gonna do, fire me?”

‘A labor of love’

Most of the year, Larson is painting far from the carousel. Raised in the Salt Lake Valley, he trained in commercial art at what was then Utah Technical College, now Salt Lake Community College. He cut his teeth working for Reagan National Advertising, painting large billboards by hand.

“That taught me how to paint big and fast,” he said. “There’s no time to get a palette and mix your colors. You mix it on the board as you are going.”

Larson painted signs for the Young Electric Sign Co. for 20 years, then shaped neon before LED lights took over. Painting Western landscapes was a second shift for Larson until 2018, when he made it his full-time gig.

His wife, Miken, a CPA and her husband’s “biggest fan,” handles their website and marketing. She’s watched him win top honors, land prestigious residencies and sell work across the country. Still, she says, his carousel work ranks at or near the top.

“Art is about sharing beauty and giving back,” she said. “That is what the work he does on those horses is all about.”

Michelle Graves, St. George’s assistant director of parks and community service, lauded the artist for his service and commitment to the community.

“It’s really become a labor of love for Ron,” she said. “You see a lot of old carousels where everything’s faded and dated, but his artistic hand has kept ours looking brand new.”

During the St. George Arts Festival each spring, Larson sets up his booth within sight of the spinning ride.

“I like watching the kids on the horses and seeing how excited they get,” he said. “It brings me happiness.”

While he is old enough to retire, Larson said he has no plans to set down his paint and brushes. He plans to keep painting and circling back to the carousel as long as the city keeps calling.

“That’s my carousel,” he said, then paused. “Well, it’s really not. But to me, it’s personal.”