The View

My son and his family recently went to Zion's National Park. They had a blast experiencing the breath-taking scenery that abounds there! His wife took a photo of "the boys" overlooking a valley on the edge of an overhanging rock ... I couldn't resist the opportunity to paint the scene. Since Kyle and Kaiden both have their birthday on the same day in June, it will be my present to them this year! Hope they like it ...

"Tazer"

Maureen's cousin and his wife visited us this past month while on their way to see a friend in Colorado. They are from Whistler, BC in Canada so we don't get to see them much. However, when we do get to visit with them, we enjoy their company so much! They are very sweet and kind folks ... we look forward to each opportunity to be with them!

This time, they asked me if I would paint a portrait of "Tazer", their son's German shepherd that recently passed away. I told them I would give it a shot! Hope they like it ...

A wonderful opportunity!

My sweet cousin, Christine, commissioned me to paint these two pieces ... one for her husband's office and the other for their home in Wyoming. The scale of both paintings was very fun to work with ... both are fairly large pieces and offered several challenges for me. I loved the experience, however, and learned a lot in the process! Thank you, Chris, for the opportunity!

"Escondido"

Several years ago, I painted a little Cottontail rabbit hidden in the weeds and snow along the Provo River. I ran on to him while fly fishing one winter morning. I used it as reference material for the painting class I teach. This time, however, one of my students wanted to do a fawn instead of the rabbit ... I liked the idea and off we went! This is my version of the little guy! One of my little granddaughters told me (when she saw it for the first time), "Grandpa, he looks so cold and alone"! I am glad my efforts evoked that sort of emotion from a little girl ... that is just what I was trying to portray. Must have got it right somehow this time! Enjoy ...

Lighting the Coast

My friend is quite a photographer ... he took the reference photo of this lighthouse along the Oregon coast. I thought it was just stunning! The members of the painting class I teach voted to use it as one of our subjects this spring! This is my rendition of our classwork effort! Enjoy ...

PS ... I gave the original to my friend who inspired the piece!

Bella

My friend asked if I would be willing to do a painting of their young English Bulldog, Bella, who recently passed away due to complications with cancer. I love doing animal portraits so I jumped at the opportunity!

I had never tried to paint an animal with so many wrinkles before … it truly was a challenge! However, I learned a lot, not only about the “how to’s” of trial and error, but also about the bulldog breed in general. In the process, I discovered that several other friends also have bulldogs as pets.

I certainly hope that this painting will bring comfort and closure to the family along with some good memories of Belle during the short time they had her in their lives.

If any of you would like a portrait done of your pet, please don’t hesitate to call or contact me … would love to help you!

 

Quincy, Illinois ... generational gratitude!

 I have had another opportunity to participate as an artist in a commemorative work related to early LDS church history, working with Glenn Rawson of the History of the Saints TV program.

Here is brief history regarding these pieces ...

After Governor Boggs of Missouri issued the “extermination” order in 1838, the saints were driven from Missouri and sought refuge across the Mississippi River in Illinois. The good people of Quincy, though outnumbered by the refugee Saints, were among the only ones who would give quarter and refuge to them. They literally saved their lives during the winter of 1838-39! John Wood, the founder of Quincy led the effort to help the beleaguered Mormon refugees.

The LDS church will be placing a permanent exhibit in the new History Museum in downtown Quincy, Illinois this spring as an official “thank you” to the people of the Quincy area for the kindness of their ancestors so many years ago.

In these two paintings, I was able to render how the Quincy downtown area may have looked in the 1840's, and how the Jonathan Browning home may have appeared just before he and his family left Quincy for Nauvoo around the time of their conversion to the Church in the early 1840's.

I am again honored to have been able to participate in such a project.

 

Kirt Harmon Documentary

One of my young friends asked if she could do a documentary of me and my art for a school project last year. It was fun to work with her through the interviews and filming. I soon forgot about it until one of my associates at work congratulated me on my documentary that he had seen on you tube! I really didn't know to what he was referring at first ... then I remembered Jana's project. Well, here it is ... enjoy! I think she did a great job!

Candice's Dolly

Last year, I had the opportunity to go to Alaska with my friend, Brett. His daughter, Candice, and her husband were in our group as well. This piece depicts her first encounter with a large Dolly Varden.

Nathan's Buddies

20 years ago, Nathan and I had the privilege of our first Alaska adventure, compliments of Gary Wright. He and his son, Colin, invited us to go with them to the Kenai Peninsula. One of the fishing adventures was to take a float plane across the Cook Inlet to a lake where Sockeye salmon were migrating upstream into a little creek to spawn.

We were not the only fishers there ... several brown bears were also interested in the tasty denizens. These two characters entertained us almost the entire day. Nathan even had a confrontation with them over one of his fish!

This year, Nathan and I returned again to Alaska together for another fly fishing adventure! We didn't have any intimate encounters with bears this trip like in years past, but one bear did find us curious enough to check us out several times during our wade into his "fishing grounds". He was just leery enough of us to give us "wide birth" though. It was fun to know that he was always around and interested in what we were doing!

Enjoy!

Misty Morning Elk

A friend of mine gave me a photo of this majestic royal elk crossing a river on a crisp September morning last year. I loved the early morning fog and light. Hope I captured the beauty and raw nature of the moment!

Christmas stories by candlelight

Each year I do a "Christmas" painting that we use for our family Christmas card. This is the 2014 version. I wanted to do an old fashioned "scripture by candlelight" composition. I had done one similar to this one years ago as a study with Jerry Yarnell. Hope you enjoy ...

Portland Temple

Nathan and Holly sent me some beautiful photos of the Portland Temple that they took while there recently. This is "their" temple and I just had to get it onto canvas for them!

Ellie's Day

Our grand daughter, Ellie, chose to be baptized last month. She lives up in Seattle, so I was able to go up and attend the service. After the ordinance, we went over to the Bellevue LDS Temple for some photos since it was so close to the Stake Center. When I browsed my photos upon my return home, I realized that I just had to paint this one! What a beautiful girl on a beautiful day!

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!

 

Another view of majestic Machu Picchu!

I decided to try one more piece depicting the remarkable Machu Picchu in Peru! We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and I hope I have captured some of the drama and mystique of this special place!

Spectacular Machu Picchu

When we arrived at the base of Machu Picchu, it was pouring rain ... the locals called it, "raining llamas y alpacas". We were so disappointed ... we thought our trip was blown! However, we made our way to the top and the rain had turned into a drizzle. By the time we had hiked to this vantage point, the rain had stopped and the sun was peeking through the misty clouds that still schrouded the citadel. It was so cool!

What an incredible experience!

Old iconic barn

This is one of the many iconic old barns in rural Utah. This particular one is located in the West Layton area.
Sure enjoyed this nostalgic painting experience ...

Little Llama girl

On one of our lunch stops during our visit to Peru, we came on to this little girl and her llama. She was so cute! Our granddaughter, Katie, took some candid shots of her from a distance. In this piece, really tried to capture her innocence along with her relationship with this beautiful llama.

Uros Boys

During our visit to Peru, we had the opportunity to spend some time in Puno at Lake Titcaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. In the Puno bay lives a group of people, called the Uros, that still make their homes on floating islands made of the lake reeds. Everything they own is made of the lake reeds ... their homes, boats, nets, etc. They even use the reeds as a food source.

This happy, little guy lived on one of the floating islands we visited and I just couldn't resist painting his joyful face as soon as we returned home!

Brad and Cisco

This is the third piece in my body of work called "Brads' Gang". This was a wonderful experience for me! Though horses are one of the most difficult animals to paint, I love to try! The southern Utah setting and Cisco's beauty made this a real joy to paint!

Austin and Chance

Austin Cooper, my nephew, sadly passed away last month. His parents asked if I would be willing to do a painting of him with his little son, Chance. Of course, I wanted to help ... humbled I did my best. I hope it brings comfort and peace to their family.

Ellie

The elephant has long been the symbol of the “Ivory” companies where I have worked for over 30 years. Our CEO, Clark Ivory and his wife, Chris have been called to serve as Mission Presidents in Romania beginning in July 2014, so in their honor, I wanted to paint my version of the majestic elephant.

My wife had the opportunity to spend some time in Africa this past spring, and came home with many fun photos of African animals. I have had fun painting many of them  … lion, leopard, wart hog, and gorilla so far. I finally worked up the courage to try to paint one of these unique creatures … the elephant!

It posed some interesting challenges not the least of which was how to make their skin look so rough and wrinkly! I had fun experimenting with several different techniques, and just making it up as I went along!

Last month, our group painting class wanted to use my painting as reference material and learn how to paint him as well! I think they really enjoyed the  experience.

This piece is currently being framed, by my friend Cindy Cima (who, by the way, does all of my framing  and who I highly recommend to you for your framing needs!). I will deliver it to the Ivory’s in the coming days! Hope they enjoy “Ellie”!

 

Grand View

One of my young friends asked if I could do a painting of his girl friend and her cousin overlooking the Grand Canyon. It was a fun project ... enjoy!

Translating the Book of Mormon

A couple of weeks ago, the host of  "History of the Saints" TV program asked me if I could paint a piece depicting Joseph and Oliver translating the Book of Mormon. He said that most of the pertinent art was not accurate. He wanted Joseph with elbows on knees looking into the seer stone (not shown) with Oliver, with quill and ink well, looking a bit weary. A candle was their light source and the plates were on another table covered with a cloth. This is my version of that description! It was another wonderful painting experience. Justin posed as model for both Oliver and Joseph while he was here for the Christmas holiday.

JAG and Treasure

I had the privilege of doing a painting of my friend's horses last month in their home pasture located in the Bountiful foothills of northern Utah. I even got to ride them and know their unique personalities somewhat before actually trying to paint them!

This past week, I was able to finish this piece of Brad, JAG and Treasure, two beautiful buckskins, on the Kings Peak trail in the Uintah Mountains of N/E Utah. I absolutely felt connected with this piece! I spent many days of my early life in these mountains and with horses, so it evoked many memories and emotions as I painted.

Again, I was able to take from a couple of photos to create this composite painting. I so enjoyed the experience!

Joseph and Hyrum

Once again, I have had another remarkable painting experience! My friend, Glenn Rawson, of the History of the Saints and Joseph Smith Papers TV programs, petitioned me to help him provide a painting for his upcoming program centered on the story of Joseph Smith's early ordeal and leg operation when he was a young boy.

Glenn gave me some of the text and asked if I could paint a scene depicting Hyrum's compassion for his younger brother as he recovered from such an ordeal. Hyrum was constantly at this side, giving him comfort and even supporting his leg so as to help ease Joseph's pain.

I only had a couple of days to complete the painting in order to meet the production deadlines so I painted quickly and decisively, not knowing exactly what the end result would actually be. This experience taught me so much ... I am thankful to Glenn for the opportunity! I have a new appreciation for these two brothers, for their family love, support and commitment to each other.

Houston Homestead

One of our dear friends asked me if I would do a painting of her grandmother on the front porch of her old Houston home. She sent me several reference photos of the home and of "Bernice", and from these I was able to make a composite painting. It was fun to come up with a composition that incorporated the white picket fence, the tire swing the beautiful trees and pink bushes, and even Bernice knitting in her rocking chair on the front porch! Very fun experience ...

But Mary kept all of these things and pondered them in her heart ...

Over the past few years, I have tried to do a painting each year that Maureen and I can use for our family Christmas card. This year I decided to try a Nativity featuring a close up of Mary and Jesus, perhaps a little on the non-traditional side. I wanted to show, not only the intimacy, but also the perplexity of the whole experience from her point of view ... a young mother in such humble circumstances, knowing what she knew, but perhaps not well understood by most of her family and friends!

I wanted to express the humanity of the birth experience in a stable among animals but also the glory 'round about the life-changing event. A special thanks to our friend Shalon (model for Mary) and our new grandson Jaxin (model for Jesus)! Merry Christmas to you all!

Alpine Loop

Last month, Maureen and I had the opportunity to take the scenic route home from Heber City through Provo Canyon and over the Alpine Loop dropping us down into American Fork Canyon. Wow, the colors were strikingly brilliant, especially the aspens and maples! I just had to come home and paint it!

Maureen's niece and her daughters came up from So. Cal. to visit us that next week and they (the two girls) helped me block in the rich shadows of the under painting. I later finished up the details ... sure hope I was able to capture a hint of the grandeur and explosion of color that we experienced!

The greatest snow on earth!

Last year, one of my work associates approached me to help her paint a scene from her recent snow boarding experience at the Brighton Ski Resort in Utah. She had taken a photo of her favorite run and wanted to capture it on canvas. I showed her how I would start it and block it in, and then gave her that thumbnail for reference. The other day, she brought my thumbnail canvas back to me, having finally finished her painting! I liked the composition and since I already had an under painted canvas I decided to finish mine, too! I do love painting snow scenes!

Fishing the Falls

Another painting centered on fly fishing in the wilderness! I just can't get enough of it! Hope you can enjoy this peaceful experience as much as I do albeit vicariously!

Arolik Sentinel

This past August, I had the opportunity to go to the Alaska back for a river run/fly fishing adventure. I posted the story earlier on this blog, but I also wanted to share this painting. One of our group took several photos of this eagle as we passed by on the river. He didn't seem to bothered by our presence. So majestic, so wild, so Alaska! Enjoy ...

Bryce Beauty

Bryce Canyon is one of the most beautiful and unique places in the West. I have always wanted to paint it, but have never had the courage to do so. This Fall, we attended Maureen's family reunion at Lake Powell and we drove right past Bryce coming and going without going in ... can you believe it?!! It did, however, inspire me to give it a try as a painting! Hope you enjoy ...

Alaska 2013

Last January, my friend, Brett Taylor, offered me a spot in his regular Alaska trek. Most of the group had made a trip like this several times over the past decade or so. I would be the green horn! As it turned out in the end, they ended up expanding the group to include 12 … much larger than originally planned. They were mostly high school buddies, through Brett’s connection was work related to one of the organizers. Besides the school mates and Brett, the group included a recently called missionary (Australia), Brett’s daughter and new son-in-law, and me.

Through the months leading up to the trip, we had several conference calls to discuss equipment needs, food assignments, logistics, etc. Since this was an unguided trip, we would be entirely on our own once the flight service landed us on Kanectok Lake, the head waters of the 100 mile river we were to negotiate and fish.

I decided to fly standby to Anchorage, but bought a ticket to Bethel on Alaska Air to ensure that I would not miss the fly out from Bethel because once they fly a group into the head waters and they start down the river, there is no possible way to get another person to join the group … the trip would be lost.

The flight to Anchorage: Monday August 19^th finally came … I decided to try to get on the early direct flight to Anchorage from SLC (10:00 am). I checked my personal dry bag and a group equipment bag, and carried on my rods, reels and change of clothes for the return trip. Maureen was on an overnight trip so she wasn’t available to take me to the airport that morning, so I arranged with my home teacher, Elder Glen Pace, to give me a ride to the airport. At the last minute, Brett offered to swing by and take me with them. This was a relief since I was a bit worried about how I was going to get all my gear into the terminal to check it in ( I did not think they would be able to check them curbside through to Bethel given my unique flight arrangements).

In hind sight, it would have been much better for me to have purchased a ticket on Alaska Air for all of the flights … it wasn’t that expensive and it would have helped both Maureen and I in the stress department! She ended up being my travel agent again to both help me get there and to return … thanks, Sweetie!

Maureen actually met me at the gate after her trip and planned to ensure that I made it on to the flight and to see me off. As it turned out, I did get a seat on the flight, but it was delayed for a mechanical reason. A few minutes turned into an hour, then two … eventually costing us a twelve hour delay. Maureen stayed with me until around 6:00 pm … she figured that if they had not cancelled the flight by then, it would eventually take off, and she had a lot to do at home. Sure enough, they ended up changing planes and getting us out of there around 10:30 pm, arriving in Anchorage around 1:00 am. Maureen had arranged a hotel for me that night so I could at least get a few hours of sleep before the big adventure began.

Bethel: The flight to Bethel was uneventful arriving at 7:30 am. Miraculously, all of our bags made it! The outfitter, Papa Bear Adventures, met us at the airport with a couple of trucks and took us to their lodge. I use that term loosely … it was just a small clap board house on a dirt road, just like every other residence in Bethel! Bethel was everything that Nathan and Holly said it would be! He he …

The weather was cold, foggy and wet. We divided our gear into four groups since it would take for flights to get us into the lake. After weighing and thoughtfully dividing the gear, all we had to do then was to wait for a break in the weather. Finally around 6:00 pm the pilots gave us the “all clear” and the first two groups loaded up the two Beavers for the one hour flight into Kanectok Lake. We decided that the most experienced guys should go with this first group just in case they might have to spend the night up there at the lake. This turned out to be a good decision.

The planes returned for the rest of us a couple of hours later. We loaded up the first plane and they took off, but about 80 miles into the flight the pilots decided it was just too dangerous to attempt to traverse the mountain range in the fog and so returned us back to Bethel. What a disappointment!  And so the wait began …

We were sure we would get out the next day since the weather seemed to be a bit better than the day before in Bethel. However, what mattered was how the weather was up where we were going not what it was like where we were! As it turned out, we were stranded for the next two days! Finally, the group already up at the lake decided that they had better push on or they would not be able to traverse the 100 miles of river and make it out on time the next Tuesday. Most of our remaining group wanted to extend our trip so that they would not be rushed down the river, that is, if the pilots could ever get us in! I told them that I could not extend. One of the other organizers also said that extending would not work for him either. We were about to pull the plug on our entire trip and come back home when the pilots told us that they thought they could get us into another river system called the “Arolik” … a 45 mile river, much shorter than the 100 mile Kanectok. We decided that would be our best option so we boarded the planes again and we were off!

The Arolik: We landed without incident in the lake and immediately began to assemble rafts (after coating ourselves with bug juice!). We all pitched in, some building frames, others pumping up the rafts. Remember how I said we had divided the gear evenly. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Weight-wise it was close, but none of us foresaw this scenario as even a remote possibility! As it turned out, the other group had the water purification filters, lighters, our kitchen box and the ammo  … we had all the bread, most of the toilet paper. Consequently, we had to boil our drinking water and hope that no bears became a problem!

Within a half hour we were all loaded and on the river. What we didn’t know was that the first 10 miles of this river was “unfloatable” – just too little water! We had to walk the boats down the river … what a pain! We made it a few before we had to think about setting up camp for the night. Just after 9:00 pm, we found a great little gravel bar and decided to call it home for the night.  Of course, I had to try to do a little fishing before it got too dark. We hadn’t been able to fish the entire way thus far … we were too busy pulling boats along. Besides, there just wasn’t much water in the river. I did manage to drift an egg pattern in a couple of deeper runs only to have my indicator be the target of several small grayling strikes. Being somewhat desperate to catch a fish, I did the unthinkable … I applied floatant to glow bug egg pattern and drifted it like a dry fly! Sure enough those little graylings just couldn’t leave it alone! At least the stink of being “skunked” was off! Four days in Alaska without catching a fish makes one a bit crazy you know!

The next morning we broke camp and pushed forward a few more miles to the confluence of the south fork. The river was now floatable and fishable! We stopped and set up a couple of fishing rods to fish along the way. I thought a “bounce” rig would be perfect for this river so I set it up … probably the first time one had ever been used up there! None of the people I had spoken with had ever heard of it before so I thought it might be effect … boy was I right! One fish after another … huge trout, grayling, dolly varden and arctic char! Just incredible!

About mid-afternoon, we stopped fish some promising “salmon” water ahead. Because the water was so clear, it was important to sneak up on the silvers … they are very spooky in clear water. So I carefully made my way within casting distance and “bang” … fish on! I had been using my 6 wt. rod for the other fish and just re-rigged it with a streamer ... I didn't have time to dig out my big stick for the salmon! Somehow I was able to land the 20lb. silver on 3x tippet with my 6 wt. rod! Pretty fun! After catching several salmon, the others moved into my spot and I climbed up onto a ledge so that I could better see down into the water. I would spot the fish and tell the others where to cast … we caught several other silvers this way. Finally, the fish moved up stream from us and we had to move on. I was fun to observe how they reacted to our presentations and to our presence.

We made camp that night downstream of a good looking run so after pitching our tent and while the others took their turn with dinner, I booked it upstream to the spot we passed over earlier. The bounce rig was on fire! Drift after drift produced incredible fish … 30” char, 24” grayling, 24” dollies, and 28” rainbow trout! They needed a crowbar to get me off the river that night!

The next morning the weather was beautiful after the fog burned off. In fact, it stayed partly cloudy most of the day! We had great fishing as we made our way downstream and really enjoyed the A-typical day! Every place we stopped had evidence of bear activity … tracks and scat everywhere, partially eaten salmon, etc. We didn’t have any up close and personal bear encounters, but we did see a couple as we made our way down the river. We were glad that these were the only bear encounters for us on this trip!

Weather: That night the weather turned for the worst, raining and blowing all night! It was so bad that the tent kept smacking down on us with each wind gust throughout the night! In fact, the weather was so brutal, we didn’t even attempt to leave our tents until later next morning. The wind finally eased up a little enough for us to break camp and get back on the river. It never stopped raining and blowing the rest of the trip! We had to keep forging ahead though, in order to make it down the river in a timely manner. We found a good camp site later that day and made camp early so we could get out of the weather.

The next day, Monday, was wet and cold but not as windy … thank goodness! As it turned out, it was our best fishing day of our trip! We were able to catch a lot of silvers along the way, stopping at each hole and fishing it until it shut down. I fly fished the entire trip, while the others mostly used spinning gear to make the long casts necessary to reach the salmon. My right hand finally started hurting me so bad that I had to stop fly fishing. Let me say that again, I finally reached the point that I had fished too much … is that even possible?!! Yes, it was! To this day, my hand is still swollen and sore with little improvement since getting back home. Maureen has convinced me that I need to go to the doctor to get it diagnosed! I’m pretty sure he is going to say that I have “flyfishingitis” and that abstinence and time are all I will need to recover! Hope it doesn’t take too long …

The tide: That night we made our last camp on the river. We found the highest gravel bar we could and set up camp. We knew we were within a mile or so of our take out point based on the GPS coordinate we had been given. Sometime around 2 am, we awoke to just in time to see the water only a couple of feet away! After some concerned shouts, we were all up and stowing our sleeping bags and pads, getting dressed and putting on our waders! Within 10 minutes, the water was coming in our tent just as I got my foot into my wading boots! By the time we had our tents down the water was knee deep. We threw our gear into the boats and drug them up onto the tundra grass as the tide continued to rise. We just had to wait there in the blackness, until the sun came up five hours later. Oh, did I mention it was raining and blowing the entire time! That wind right off the Behring Sea is pretty cold at 3:00 am! Those were the longest hours of my life (except for maybe the several hours of darkness just after the Guatemala earthquake back in 1976)!

Finally the tide receded and it got light! We made our way downstream to the take out point. Once we found it, we had to unload the boats and portage them up over the tundra to a flooded area where we reloaded them and pushed them a long way to the road. There we unloaded the gear again, disassembled the boats and waited a couple more hours until the pick-up guy came! That was one of the most miserable mornings of my life … cold, wet, and exhausted! Finally the kid came with the truck. We loaded the gear into his truck and trailer and he took us about 20 miles to an air strip in the Eskimo village of Quinahagak where we again waited for the other half of our group to arrive an hour or so later. What a reunion when we were all back together! It was fun to hear about their trip as well as regale them with stories from ours. We ended up donating our leftover food and camp equipment to the lady at the airstrip … she was thrilled! We spent the next couple of hours waiting for our plane ride back to Bethel continuing to recount the events of each of our unique trips!

Finally our planes arrived and we made our way back to Bethel … to a hot shower and clean, dry clothes! We reorganized our gear and made ready for our flights back into civilization! It seemed to take forever to check all of our gear at the Bethel airport, but we finally made it on to the very full flight back to Anchorage. Once there, we made our way to the airport Chile’s restaurant (apparently a tradition from years past). Each of us had different flights to catch so we said our goodbyes and off we went. I, again, was flying standby on the 1:30 am flight back to Utah. It was oversold and I did not get on. Maureen was worried about me not making that flight and she was already working on getting me back home … by now it was nearly 4 am back in Utah. She was able to get me a ID90 ticket on an Alaska Air flight into Seattle around 5 am. Once in Seattle, I tried to board two Delta flights back to SLC but they were also oversold. She finally was able to purchase a ZED fare on a Southwest flight round that left Seattle about 3:30 pm. Whew … what an ordeal to get home! She picked me up at the airport around 6:00 pm only to have to turn around and go back for her evening flight she had to work that night!

This trip did not entirely cure me of Alaska, but it did help me check this sort of trip off my bucket list for good! I am tired, sore and sleepy … nothing a little time won’t cure! I am already thinking of my next adventure … this time it will be with a guide, a bed and a shower!

Tikal Temples

The majestic ancient city of Tikal is located in the rain forest in northern Guatemala. It is truly a breathtaking site to see the tall temples poking through the jungle canopy as you fly in. This scene is a view of the main temples in the square from one of the lesser temples beyond.

I painted this for my brother-in-law who also happens to be one of my favorite missionary companions. We served together in Guatemala and each of us, as we finished our missions, had the opportunity to visit this national treasure for a couple of days.

Pumba

While staying in Kruger National Wildlife Refuge, Maureen literally ran inot this guy as she walked between the main lodge and her cabin. He didn't seem to pay much attention to her, though. He just did what warthogs do ... follow their noses and eat! They were able to get several shots of the beast as he made his way across the compound.

Mo's gorilla

One of the highlights of Maureen's trip to Africa was "gorilla trekking" in Uganda. She said it was one of the hardest yet rewarding things she had ever done! After hiking nearly three a hours straight up hill, they finally found the gorilla family munching away on leaves at the top of the mountain. She got some great shots of the group, but this image was my favorite, so naturally its the one I just had to paint!

The Blacksmith Shop @ Haun's Mill

 I was asked to do one other painting for this commemoration ... the blacksmith shop at Haun's Mill. This is the place where the saints took final refuge from the mob as they began their work of destruction. In all, 17 men and boys were murdered before it was all over at the hands of over 200 men on horseback, their anonymity hidden behind their painted black faces. Sobering indeed to contemplate the horrors that went on here so many years ago.

After studying the journal accounts of the settlement and events, this is how I envisioned the blacksmith shop. It was built and owned by a member of the church, James Houston, and was still under construction at the time of the tragedy, so the cracks between the logs were not chinked or dobbed. It was about 18' square, made of local timber and a bark roof.

When the mob rode in, the men went to the blacksmith shop where they had hidden their remaining weapons (the locals had illegally disarmed the saints previously several times).  The women and children ran to the woods to hide. Basically, the men were defenseless.  The mob came with their weapons and their bullets and their guns.  The blacksmith shop was not secure enough that it could protect them, so the guns went through the spaces in the logs. 

This has been a sobering yet faith promoting experience for me to participate in this project. I am grateful for those survivors and their descendants who have risen above this incident through the years, their faith still in tact. 

Mufasa

 













Maureen just spent several glorious weeks in Africa with her friend, Carol. They had the privilege of experiencing first-hand the many incredible attractions that Africa has to offer ... from swimming with the sharks, to walking among the mountain gorillas ... from the bustling cities to the beauties of nature! She brought home some great photos and stories. I couldn't wait to get started on my "Africa" body of work based on her experiences.

This is the first installment! They were able to watch a pride of lions on consecutive days, seeing their day to day activities and adventures. Hope you enjoy ... Mufasa! Acrylic on canvas 24"x18"

Leopard!

Although Maureen didn't see a leopard in a tree, I used my artistic license to take "her" photos and place "her" leopard in this tree! She actually got to see a leopard up close and personal! It fought with a honey badger over its kill right before her eyes! The leopard won the skirmish and got the meal! Unfortunately, it was getting dark and the photos didn't turn out very well. So, I tried to capture the leopard in all his glory "after the fight and meal"! Acrylic on canvas 24"x18"