Artist Series 2026: Lexi Dowdall
Lexi Dowdall is an artist—a supremely talented one at that—but her art is just one (beautiful) bullet on her diverse resume.
A fifth-generation Utahn, she’s about as outdoorsy as you’d expect: mountain biking, hiking, trail running, and skiing (and by that we mean shredding) are as second nature to her as breathing. Her day job is currently the PR and communications manager at Alta Ski Area, but she continues to create freelance content and art on the side for brands and organizations.
She’s also an athlete for the clothing brand Wild Rye, and has been a production manager for Sweetgrass films, an athlete and blogger for Ski Utah, and the director of freeride for the IFSA, just to name a few. She has a degree in biology, which she doesn’t use professionally—“After college I got a job working from 1 to 7 so I could ski, and unfortunately, that set the trajectory for me”—but shows how deep her appreciation is for the landscapes she plays in and paints.
As for those paintings, she’s a self-taught watercolorist, with countless hours logged watching YouTube tutorials. For Wagner Custom’s newest artist series graphics, she created four vibrant watercolor paintings of some of her favorite resorts: Alta, Jackson Hole, the Tetons, and Big Sky. But she didn’t paint them with tap water.
Lexi collects mountain snowpack to create her watercolors.
“I was thinking, there’s got to be a way to connect the viewer to the painting in a more visceral way, so each of these paintings uses snowmelt from each of those mountains,” she said. “In my mind, I’m bringing the mountain to you.”
We caught up recently with Dowdall to find out what inspires her, and how she translated her vision to our topsheets. Here’s what she had to say.
Wagner: Where did you grow up skiing?
Dowdall: I'm born and raised in Salt Lake City. And ever since I was born, my dad worked in the medical clinic at Snowbird, so my sister and I skied there all the time.
Wagner: How did you get started in painting?
Dowdall: In 2020, I went from working 50 hours a week to zero. So I started watching YouTube videos on how to watercolor paint and realized I had an aptitude for this. Watercolor especially was a beautiful metaphor in COVID, because I’m a type A person, and all of that control went out the window. With watercolor, it’s the same way.
Wagner: These are part of your Paint by Powder Project, where you paint a mountain with snowmelt from that specific place and then donate a portion of the proceeds to Protect Our Winters. Why is the snowmelt important to you and your art, and how do you collect all the snow?
Dowdall: When I worked for the IFSA, they sanctioned so many freeride events, and any time I would go to a new mountain, I brought snow back. I would stuff snow into a water jug and put it in my backpack. The closet in my spare bedroom has, like, 35 or 40 milk jugs of labeled water. When guests come, I’m like, ‘There’s the water!’ Then I’ll pour that into my mason jar to use. With watercolor, you wet the paper first; the water is truly integrating with the paper. So in my mind, I’m bringing the mountain to you.
A glimpse into Lexi's design process.
Wagner: What’s your process like?
Dowdall: I really suck at painting from my imagination, so when I'm at a place, I take a photo of the most iconic run or land form. And the watercolor painting is such a process. You have to put a layer down and wait for it to dry. It’s quite time consuming, and every painting goes through such an ugly duckling phase where I want to throw it away. But you have to have so much faith in the process and keep going. You have to trust that you have the skill. It’s a real mental game.
Wagner: That sounds like a lot of things in life.
Dowdall: Yes. I read “The Artist’s Way,” which was a life lesson about how failure happens. While reading it, I stumbled upon this woman on YouTube named Ohn Mar Win, and her mindset really changed the way I approach art. Basically, we all created art until third grade, and then it’s no longer part of the curriculum. So when we pick it back up as adults, we’re all at an 8-year-old level. But if you dedicate yourself to this process, you will see improvement.
She gave me permission to fail, and that allowed me to keep going on the journey. The lesson there is that we all have creative energy, and so much of the world around us says it has to be perfect. No matter what it is, it’s ok to suck as long as you’re enjoying it.
Lexi holding her original watercolor: Jackson
Wagner: Was the ski format difficult for you?
Dowdall: It was a super big challenge. They’re so tall and skinny. I was so out of my depth; I paint mostly in 8 by 10 rectangles. The first painting was so overwhelming—it took a month or so—and the other three paintings went a little better. The hardest part was getting an even gradient for the sky. I threw away so many in the recycling bin. But I learned so much during the process and I would have never challenged myself to do this otherwise. It was so great.
Wagner: So, is your dad getting a pair—and will he choose the Alta version?
Dowdall: I hope so! We’ll also be carrying a fleet of demo skis with my graphics at the Alta ski shop, and the thought of boarding the chair with someone who has them is so cool.
Check out Dowdall’s art on her website, Kapowder Ink, or follow her (or her polydactyl heterochromic cat, Darwin) on Instagram.
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Article by Kimberly Beekman
Kimberly Beekman is the former editor-in-chief of the late, great Skiing Magazine (RIP), and a longtime editor of SKI Magazine before that. She currently uses the title of “freelancer” as a beard to ski powder all over the world. She lives in Steamboat, Colorado, with her wonderful daughter and terrible cat.
