To Uintah Basin Art League members, art isn’t just a pretty picture. It’s color, lighting, music and passion, all reflected in works that are on display at Western Heritage Museum through Oct. 1.

One of the artists featured last Wednesday during a reception to mark the start of a new exhibit, “Rhythm and Hues,” was Dennis Jensen, who not only plays African drums but — using trigonometry and calculus — makes them as well. He offered demonstrations of his work to the audience and other artists.

Jensen, of Roosevelt, attended his first drum circle in Canada in 1983 and made his first drum in 1991. He puts roughly 100 to 150 hours into making each drum.

Jensen is mostly self-taught, playing many of the rhythms and beats by ear. “You have to know how it feels to move your body in rhythm,” Jensen said. “Being in a drum circle where there are 12 or 15 people, you may not know them, but there’s a relationship there in the music, you can talk to each other and answer each other. One drummer will put an accent in and everyone in the circle hears it and one person might answer them and then a third person will answer and it’ll start making conversations within the music where it goes deeper and deeper.”

Jensen is a new member of the Art League but in the past he has been a featured guest. His mother, Hazel Jensen, has been a member since its inception, and that’s how Dennis got involved.

“At first I thought the league was all about oil paintings, but it’s not,” Jensen said.

Many of the artists listen to music to help them feel creative and rested while they paint in mediums of oil, acrylic and watercolor. They derive their inspiration not only from music, but also nature and visual surroundings.

Some members enjoy doing Plein Aire paintings. En Plein Aire is a French term meaning “on location” or “in the fresh air.”

“My kids have a saying — ‘If you want to ride alive, let Mom drive’ — because I’m always looking at the scenery,” said artist Lynn Mecham, “I’m always thinking of the next painting and what I can do to make previous paintings better.”

Mecham said paintings of people take the longest to do because a tree will look like a tree no matter how it bends but people have to look natural.

“On-location painting is one of the best ways to really spur you on,” Hazel Jensen said. “My first Plein Aire painting was horrible and a very good artist said not to worry about it; just throw it out just do another one. I found that I kept doing it and it gets more and more fun. In the spring you hear the birds singing while you’re painting. You can really feel what you’re painting.”

She said the only problem with painting outdoors is that you have to take the whole world you see and shrink it down to what can fit on a canvas. Plein Aire paintings have to be painted fast because of light, shadow and weather changes.

“Art is kind of an emotional thing,” Jensen said. “It’s enjoyable to share your art with others and it is nice to sell it too; but just to share it feels good, for people to look at your work and enjoy it.”

Jensen believes art to be a growing process and doesn’t think it’s something anyone can ever really quit. She said she will probably be painting until she’s 100.

Carol Sporcich Dye does watercolors and oils, but at the reception she only had her oil paintings. Dye said she used to do only oils until a problem occurred when one of her children got into her paints. She switched to watercolors for awhile, but since her retirement she has gone back to oils.

“I think I was born drawing and painting, but I didn’t get to do it when my children were young. Now that I’m retired I can paint more,” Dye said. “I have a daughter who went to Africa and brought back photos and so I paint through her photos.”

The Uintah Basin Art League meets once a month to critique fellow artists’ work and to discuss future activities. Membership is $20 a year, which pays for the league’s mailings and brochures. The Art League has adult members of all skill levels, from seasoned artists to beginners who want to paint as a hobby.

Though its members are mainly from Roosevelt, the Art League is open to anyone.