Suffer the little children to come unto me ...

One of my work associates asked if I could paint his niece and nephews around the Savior in portrait form. He gave me a photo of them with their mother to use as reference. Portraits are always challenging for me so I took me time and really tried to get each child's countenance just right. Then it came to the Savior! I understand that we don't exactly know what He looks like, but I still wanted to give it my best effort so that the viewer would understand immediately who the children were with. It was a touching and tender experience for me.

I hope this painting brings a spirit of peace and understanding to this little family in the years to come.

I truly enjoy these meaningful painting experiences. A special thanks to many of you for providing these types of opportunities for me through the past many years.

Tell me the stories of Jesus

Several years ago, I went to Seattle to meet our newest grandson, Matthew, right after he was born. I immediately fell in love with the little guy! While there, I also got to play with and read a new book that Grammy had sent along to Rachelle’s older children. At the time, I did not know that Cory had taken a photo of the experience (see below). He later sent it to me … I filed it away in my “Grandkids” file for affectionate viewing later!

This year, the LDS church sent out a “call for artists” to participate in the Fine Art event with the theme, “Tell me the stories of Jesus”.

I immediately thought of that photo of me reading to Rachelle’s kids, and this new image was born (above)! It was a little daunting at first placing us in this scene, but after a few attempts, it became a fun and meaningful painting experience for me. 

I believe there is nothing more important we can do with our little ones than to tell them the stories of Jesus while teaching them His gospel.

Mortality challenges us with weakness, sin and death. The “good news” that the angel brought so many years ago was that a Savior had been born for all of us … and He can ”fix” and help us navigate through all of these mortal challenges. May we all be able to tell the stories of Jesus to those we love!

 

Let us build a home ...

It has become a nice tradition for me to do a painting for each of my family and close friends for important occasions such as marriages, graduations, Christmas, etc.

This piece came as a result of a request from one of our good friends. I promised her a painting as a wedding gift so I asked her for any ideas. She sent me the lyrics of a song that really had meaning for her and asked if I could use it as inspiration for the painting.

The basic message of the song was that one could build a home, with the Savior's help, and with Him as the cornerstone, where all could feel welcome and safe. This is the image that came into my mind ...