16x20 Acrylic on canvas, © 2019
Collection of the Artist
We moved to Utah after a 40-year absence. Finding a house had become a problem—the housing market was off. We found a home in Springville, Utah; across the street was a vacant lot and beyond a vacant field and the mountains seemed to surround us. In the valley from time to time was a head of about 20 deer grazing and running to and fro.
One morning, after a stormy night, was a beautiful sunrise, and with the wet environment it deepened the saturation of the colors. The "ghost clouds" were down on the mountains and beauty abounded. As I walked out to check the weather for the day, this is what I saw from the porch, so I took a picture and thought that it would make a good painting.
It was a couple of years later and the valley turned into a sprawling middle school and my mind thought of what used to be. So I retrieved the picture that I had taken, cropped it, drew it, and painted—a view from the front porch.