Showing posts with label Utah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Utah. Show all posts

Mountains of the Lord


22x28 acrylic on panel, © 2008
Private Collection

   Commissions are challenging because what is in the mind of the patron may not be what I see as I work out the piece. I make a deal with the patron that I will paint what I feel they want, but they always have the option of not accepting it—it has worked both ways. 
   This piece was a challenge as I don't often paint man-made objects—buildings. It was also challenging because there are two specific places but not a specific location. Mt. Timpanogos and the American Fork Temple are in a relationship that cannot exist. Two very recognizable, special places with many memories and attachments—our emotional response to mountains is unique as our brains sort out the ordinary and make them extraordinary. They look much different in photographs than then do in our minds—the majesty is gone, and the extraordinary things become ordinary. 
    As I contemplated this commission, I sought images of both locations, the parameters that were provided, and inspiration to make it unique. I found that there was a knoll that I had not seen before in the photos and it was the location that I thought would be the site for the temple. Manmade streets and objects did not seem appropriate. Even access I would not explain. I sought inspiration at Adam-ondi-Ahman—the grasses and slope of the hill. I felt these would be appropriate inclusions. If you have faith, you can move mountains and temples and put Mt. Timpanogos and the American Fork Temple in a relationship that cannot exist. 
    I resolved the mountains in their majesty. Dark clouds threaten to engulf and yet are colored with the beauty of a hopeful sunset. A beaming white temple shines into the darkness and upon the clouds as if to break up their encroaching menace. The color of the temple is white yet is full of contrasts of cool and warm colors representing the contrasts of the world and of the spirit. 
    It wasn’t until I opened up the foreground with a pathway to the temple that the composition came to completion as we are all striving to walk the narrow path that leads to the mountain of the Lord. There we find our resolution and purposeful fulfillment of life’s journey. I spent a year with the painting and was constantly painting on it in my mind and in reality, as I would see details in my travels to include and color to adjust based on things I saw. 
    I lived with the finished work for several months and feel good about the outcome and feeling. It is unique and a vision that I pray will bring inspiration to those who view it.

Wasatch Peak


24x36, acrylic on canvas, © 1995
Collection of the Artist

One day on a business trip to Salt Lake Community College I was stricken by the nearby mountains and wished for a camera. I explored some promotional materials from the college and found a picture that was nearly what I saw, so this was based on that reference photo. If you can't live in the mountains at least you can look at them.

Utah Monuments


18x24, acrylic on canvas, © 1993
Collection of the Artist

When looking for inspiration to paint, I look through all the photos that I have taken and then at the reference materials that I have on file from which one may surface as inspiration or as a challenge. This was one that surfaced as—"can I do that?" It was a great painting to work on just to see the image emerge from the canvas.

The reference source was a Union Pacific calendar.

Big Cottonwood Canyon Morning


16x20, acrylic on canvas, © 1993
Collection of the Artist

We camped in the Big Cottonwood Canyon as part of a family reunion. We were taking my daughter to college on that trip. I went looking for light and found this. It has been an enduring favorite for me.

Utah House


24x36, acrylic on canvas, 1971
Private Collection

This is a commission of a coworker at the State Board of Education, where I was the mail clerk. Her desk was right outside the mail room door. Her husband was working on an MBA from the University of Utah. I painted several watercolors from which she selected this picture. It was from some promotional material from the State of Utah.

Uintahs


36x48, acrylic on canvas, © 1970
Destroyed

Marge and I took a trip to Moon Lake in the Uintah mountains. The trees were bent due to the weight of many winter snow seasons. I took a photograph of a closed landscape (one without sky). I used the photo to paint this picture for the living room of our apartment. The apartment was on Third Avenue in Salt Lake City. The painting hung above our couch for many years.

It was damaged to the point that I destroyed it. I was sad to see it go.

Closed landscapes are always intriguing to me—not the easiest to do.