The result of such dedication is a large collection of remarkably clean, crisp, starkly beautiful landscapes that have made him one of Utah's best known and admired painters. He is known mostly for his renderings of Utah landscapes and historical sites, often set in the early days of Utah and Mormonism. His work appears frequently in the Ensign, the LDS Church's monthly magazine, and hangs on walls at the Salt Lake City-County Building, Abravanel Hall, numerous LDS temples, Utah businesses, malls and the LDS Church Office Building, but mostly in Mormon family rooms.

"He is the premier landscape painter of LDS historic sites," says Jay Todd, former longtime editor of the Ensign. "He's made a great contribution to the Utah art community and to Latter-day Saints. His name will be permanent in the LDS community. He's made a real mark."

Rounds has painted the Sacred Grove, the Hill Cumorah, the Susquehanna River, Kirtland Temple, Liberty Jail and many more LDS historical sites, but his work goes well beyond Mormonism. His personal favorite is "View From Main Street," a serene, crystalline winter scene commissioned by entrepreneur Larry Miller.

"You look at one of his paintings, and you say, 'That's Al Rounds,' " says Dave Erickson, owner of David Erickson's Fine Art. "He evokes a feeling; he creates a dialogue between the viewer and artist. Every time you look at it you're stimulated."

A life-altering dream

The most singular trademark of Rounds' paintings is that they appear to be done in oils, but they're watercolors. "I paint like a landscape oil painter with watercolors," he says.

Watercolor is a tricky, technically demanding medium that causes most artists, including Rounds, to pull out their hair. Mistakes in oil painting can often be reworked and manipulated on the canvas, but not watercolor.

"It's horrible," says Rounds, 47. "I've been painting full time for 25 years, and I spent one month on a painting recently and threw it away. You can mess up a painting with just one stupid stroke or one thing that gets away from you. You can't save it. You just have to start over. Watercolors are totally unforgiving."

But when watercolor works, it is a luminous medium, and few have mastered it as well as Rounds. Rounds' skies are so smoothed and lush that someone once accused him of airbrushing them.

"People imitate Al's content, but not his wonderful grated washes that create his skies," says Erickson.