traditional landscape paintings by dawn chandler

philmont

(scroll down to explore the new philmont series; click on each to enlarge it.)

If Philmont is part of your story, these landscapes are painted with you in mind.

As my friend Susan recently said, “Art can remind us of who we are, where we’ve been, and the stories we carry inside of us.” The paintings on this page do exactly that for me — and for so many others whose lives have been shaped by Philmont Scout Ranch.

From the age of 15 through my college years, I spent part of each summer backpacking — and eventually guiding others backpacking — at Philmont in Colfax County, New Mexico. In 1982, at 17, I had the life-transforming experience of participating in Philmont’s Rayado program, an intense, challenging backpacking trek essentially equivalent to Outward Bound, which my brothers had also done. Two years later, in 1984, I had the privilege of being chosen as a Rayado Ranger and leading a group of young women on their own Rayado trek.

This year, 2026, marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of Philmont’s Rayado program. From July 23–26, I gathered at Philmont with scores of others to celebrate this milestone. To honor the occasion, I created a series of Philmont landscape paintings, ten of which were on display during the reunion. Three of those ten paintings were raffled to raise money for the Rayado Trek Scholarship Fund, with one winning ticket drawn each evening of the reunion. The holder of that ticket got choose one painting from the series — which made the raffle especially fun.

I’m proud to announce the Rayado Reunion art lovers raised over $5,500 for Rayado scholarships.

Incidentally, after being a Rayado Ranger, I served as a Ranger Trainer for two years, and in 1988 had the honor of being Philmont’s first woman backcountry Camp Director. I spent that amazing summer, as well as the following, at Abreu. From 1997 – 2022 I rounded out my Philmont career by serving as the first Executive Director of the Philmont Staff Association. I share more details about my Philmont experience (and how it has inspired my art) in my conversation with Caitlin Lowe on the Silver on the Sage podcast.