Each year there is a exciting kind of fun preparing for Christmas. Years ago when my children were all in the home we went to the mountains and with bundled little ones and a sleigh trudged through deep snow to find the right tree. Now, we still go through a lot of effort to make our home look magical for our children's children and as of this summer our great grandchildren.
Mormon Missionaries Painting on the Berlin Wall
A few years ago Bjorn Bauerfeind from Leipzig, Germany asked me to do this painting of Mormon Missionaries painting the "Plan of Salvation" on the Berlin Wall. Bjorn grew up in East Germany and when the wall came down his folks drove him into West Berlin where he came to serve a mission for the LDS Church in Oregon. He presently serves as a counselor in the Stake Presidency in Leipzig, is a business man and he and Asnath, his wife have five children. They are an interesting family and have a great story.
Red Mountain Plein Aire Demonstration In 34 Seconds
Painting on location, Red Mountain, Mesa Arizona
Ptarmingan Mountain in the Fall
Many years ago I took this large 30 x 40 canvas up toward Yellowstone on the North Fork of the Shoshone River and painted most of this scene on location. It was purchased by Jim Nielsen, President of Husky Oil (centered in Cody, Wyoming where we lived for many years). The painting became part of the Husky Oil collection and then when Marathon Oil Company purchased Husky Oil the painting became part of the Marathon Collection.
I hadn't seen it for many years but in 2012 it was displayed in the Buffalo Bill Museum and it was like seeing an old friend.
Seriously Folks....More Rocks?
...So then I went back a couple of more times to paint this subject once again. Spring brought out the Swallows who were getting lunch while I was painting.
The Tracker
I came across this card of a painting I did a long time ago. I painted the rocks on location south of Byron, Wyoming. I met my model when we were both young men. I was scouting good painting ideas at a Mountain Man Rendezvous in the Big Horn Mountains. There were quite a few tipis but one was one in particular looked very authentic. There was a paint pony with and Indian saddle. That is where I met 19 year old Mike Terry from South Carolina. He said his parents both had Indian blood in them and that made him have a desire to articulate his heritage in a real way.
In the years since then Mike (Native American name is Bad Hand) has been able to share his love for the Plains Indian life style and has been in movies and given demonstrations to schools and museums. He has also posed for many other western artists.
Coon Creek - Winter Wonderland
Just finished this cool little 6x8 painting of Coon Creek which flows into the Shoshone River just over the bluff from my home in Byron. I think most of us kids played in Coon Creek as we were growing up. With this kind of snow we learned how to track rabbits and deer and if we saw big dog tracks we knew it had to be a wolf.
Warriors of the Crow Tribe
I've made friends with a few people that live over at Crow Agency.Many of them have been helpful as I've painted the 19th century Native American life style by posing as models, by charging around on horseback while I shoot photos of them in action. It has been a pleasure to watch them have fun especially when they are re-enacting the Custer Battle. Their ancestors were allies of George Custer and the U.S. Army back in 1876. They enjoy riding against Custer now. I even joined in on a two day ride where I was a Cheyenne Warrior on horseback and we attacked the calvary on horseback. Maybe I'll share that experience sometime.
Did I ever mention how much I like to paint rock formations, cliffs and mountains? Well, I do. A while ago I went out north of Byron, Wyoming near the cemetery on what we used to call Union Hill (When we were kids, Steve, Marv and I would take our bikes to the top of the hill and coast, getting close to 60 mph and would see if we could take the last curve without using our breaks). Anyway, some time ago I set up my portable easel and painted the rock formations you see here. This painting sat around my studio for quite a while and then...I started to envision these young braves on horseback. The coming storm almost obscures Eagle Rock. There is a lot to paint around here (Byron) and almost everywhere I go memories and thoughts will take me back to what was before I was.
Sweetwater Crossing at Devils Gate Wyoming
Pamela and I both have great-grandparents who pulled handcarts. Her great grandfather was John Cozzens from Wales and mine was Henry Florence from England. I went there a few years ago and pulled a handcart into Martin's Cove and spent a few hours painting some sketches.
Painting in Wild and Windy Wyoming
Field Painting and then the finish
I drove north out of Byron toward Bridger Montana to this area of interesting rocks and trees and started this 24x36 inch painting in the field. It's called Plein Aire painting. Some purists like to start and finish out on location. Sometimes that happens, but I brought this one back to my studio to finish it up.
What happens is that the light changes on you after about an hour to an hour and a half, so you might as well pull out another canvas and paint or pack up and go back to the studio and work there.
I'll post a video of the experience soon.
Sacred Susquehanna-LDS Church Museum
Here you will see the progress of a 48 x 60 painting representing the young prophet Joseph Smith baptizing Oliver Cowdry as the restoration of the Church of Christ began to unfold. This painting is scheduled to hang in the LDS Church Museum when it opens in October. As you can imagine I'm quite excited to be able to do this painting.
Years ago, along with my daughter Heather Hopkinson Nielsen and three of my granddaughters, Chloe, Lily and Lavender, we waded into these clear waters at the Susquehanna River in northern Pennsylvania at the place where I think Joseph and Oliver were visited by the resurrected John the Baptist and commanded to baptize each other with the authority of the Aaronic Priesthood which John had bestowed upon them. This experience happened to them as they were finishing the translation of The Book of Mormon.
Nauvoo Painting-Ever Onward at the End of Parley Street
As I finish the painting I place it in the frame. Doing so helps me to determine if I need to do more. I believe it works well as a beautiful painting and, in a small way, it helps to depict the emotions and many feelings the Mormons (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) had as they left their homes.
They knew that their neighbors were willing to kill them if they didn't leave. Some, including their Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum, had already been killed. And yet, they overcame their fear, anger, sorrow with a desire to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and they faced the future with faith and hope and generally a joyful and positive attitude. I am personally grateful to those people which included some of our own (Pam and myself) ancestors who were willing to sacrifice so much so they could practice their religion.
Take the opportunity to visit Nauvoo. The LDS Church has turned about 30 of the buildings built in the 1840s into a "living museum" and the LDS Missionaries there tell the stories of the people who lived in Nauvoo at that time. John Browning was a Mormon and his gunshop is set up just as it was when he built some of his famous weapons. You have to visit the Family History Center and let them show you your ancestors who lived there. At its peak Nauvoo was the home to about 18,000 people, the second largest city in Illinois at the time. I believe if you were born and raised in the West there is a good chance one or more of your ancestors lived there in the .1840s
Progression-Nauvoo Painting
At this point in the painting, I'm feeling pretty good about how it is coming along.
Nauvoo-Another Visit
I was invited to Nauvoo, Illinois to talk about my paintings. It was the 169th Anniversary of the departure of the Mormons from Nauvoo on the long trek to the West. They left voluntarily...because they HAD to. Anyway, I joined a large group of celebrants on the walk down Parley Street that ends at the Mississippi River and where so many people left the United States in 1846. I'm always inspired when I visit Nauvoo and now they have an LDS Temple there as well. When I returned I jumped right into this painting and this shows they quick lay in of the painting.
Castle Rock-Southern Wyoming
A few months ago on a painting trip I stopped at a great rock formation along the pioneer trail on I-80, a place that I had wanted to paint many times as I sped along the highway either coming or going, and painted this 16x20 painting. It has wonderful lights and shadows I think I'll get around to painting a large scene with pioneers or mountain men or Indians moving along the trail along its base.
Wilderness Trail
This nice 12 x 36 inch painting is going to be showing in the 28th Annual Dixie State University Sears Invitational Art Show in St. George, Utah January 13 thru March 29th.
Bar M C Ranch
I've been driving by this place between Powell and Byron in all kinds of weather and in all seasons and have thought nearly every time; "I've got to come and paint that place sometime."
Sunday, coming back from Cody, I saw the yellow tree and Monday morning I drove into the yard to get permission to be there and paint. So I met Dianne McCloud and have learned that she and her husband have this great looking ranch and it is appropriately named "Bar M C Ranch". The next couple of hours were enjoyable. They've got some beautiful horses that I'll come back and paint later.
Louis Hamblin-World War II Ace fighter pilot
I finally finished this portrait of Louis Hamblin, who was a fighter pilot during WW II over the Pacific. He was my mom, Vivian's younger brother and he had two other brothers that were also fighter pilots in the same theater of war; Len Spencer Hamblin (I was named after him) and Darwin Hamblin. During the war my dad, Harold, was on a battleship somewhere below them in the Pacific.
Uncle Lou liked kids 'cause he had a whole bunch of them and interestingly enough they are all cousins of mine! After the war and a college degree, Uncle Lou taught here in Byron for a couple of years and then for a time in Powell, but he spent a lot of years teaching and coaching in Mt. View, Wyoming.
Uncle Spencer didn't make it back and Uncle Lou got permission from the Navy to look for him or his plane where he was last seen flying as his flight group was finishing a mission. That was somewhere near Palau. When you think what they all did for us (that generation) and then came back and lived humble but very important lives...it kinda brings a lump to your throat.
FAMILY OF THE WILDERNESS-A Little Gem
This bright little painting (7x12) is kind of a masterpiece (I can't say that of my own work can I?). Here's how it began: In my studio I have this small fridge and freezer. The freezer is no more than a little cubbyhole about 13 inches wide. After I have spent the day painting I usually still have globs of fresh paint on my palette. I'm pretty frugal and so I'll slap those globs of paint on a smaller palette and put the paint in the freezer so when I take the frozen paint out the next day it will still be fresh.
After weeks of slopping paint on and then scraping paint off the little 7x12 palette board, some wonderful colors and shapes began to emerge and a winter sunset was born. I added the man, his wife and child on a horse and then the brush took over until I had this nice little painting!
I have several other little palettes that I'm letting "mature" and we'll see what happens with them.
By the way, if you don't have a freezer handy you can keep your paint from drying up by submersing your oil paints in water until you want to use them the next day or so. If too much time passes with either saving method just throw the paint away and start over. Up here in Wyoming with the weather being dry and very cold, or dry and cold or dry and not too warm, the paints will stay fresh during a painting session. However, down in Arizona many of my darker colors would begin to dry before too many hours. One famous artist I know would leave his paints out and the next day would peel the drying "skin" back and continue to use the paint. I don't recommend that.