Twas the Night Before Christmas

I was so excited to have the opportunity to paint these! The first piece is about Clement Clarke Moore, going out on his sleigh on Christmas Eve to bring home one more turkey for his wife, who was cooking up turkey dinners for those in need. As he rode, the jingle bells on his horses inspired him to write a fun little poem for his children, called "A Visit from St. Nicholas."

I found a great photo with backlighting to use for these beautiful horses, and I combined the background with different elements. I think these are the best horses, trees, and snow that I've painted, and I am really pleased with the atomspheric perspective with the faint house and trees in the background.

It's interesting, when I receive these commissions to paint historical events, that I learn much more about it through the research. I learned that they had six children at the time he read this to them. His five-year-old girl (whom I have portrayed in red in his lap) asked him to read it again after he was done. Sadly, she died when she was twelve.

I needed to find a family who fit the profile the best so I could take their picture for this painting. Moore was 42, his wife was 29, and his six children were between the ages of nine and zero. My friend Amy Brown's family fit this almost perfectly, but there were only five children, so I used Brooke as a twin for Mandy. (Mandy's in yellow, Brooke's in pinkish-purple.) They were so sweet to model for me! I joked with their son that he'd have to be in ringlets, since that was the style in the 1820s. I decided to be nice and only give him longish hair.

Noel Regney

This first painting is of Noel Regney. He was a French soldier during World War II who was forced to join the German army. He was able to join the French underground, but the horrors of the war haunted him for years to come.
After the war, he moved to the United States where he met Gloria Shayne playing the piano in a hotel lobby in Manhattan. Although they hardly even spoken the same language, they were married a month later! They later wrote the words and music to "Do You Hear What I Hear" together. Aren't Noel and Gloria perfect names for a couple of Christmas carol writers?
This was especially meaningful because it aired on Music and the Spoken Word on December 7th, Pearl Harbor Day.

Straw in the Manger

My wonderful neighbors and friends, the Hernandez family, posed for me, despite their busy schedule. They are a beautiful family from Mexico who are teaching their children well and bringing them up with blessings the parents never had as children. I am so impressed with them and all they do, and so grateful they could take time out of their busy schedule to model for me.

Being Grateful

My dear friend Kellie sent me a cheerful shot of her and her daughter the day I was asked to illustrate a story about how being grateful for our blessings makes us happy. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use her in the painting, so I asked her to take a second picture of herself writing her blessings in her journal. She got me the photos that same day! Kellie is such a sweetheart, and her daughter is adorable! Hopefully I did them justice in these paintings.

Ray Charles and Ma Beck

This is my first real attempt at painting the beautiful skin and facial features of black people. I don't think I have perfected it yet, but I think I made a fair attempt. (Sorry, no pun intended.)
Incidentally, living in Utah, I don't have many culturally diverse neighbors and friends--almost everyone I know is caucasian. If you are or if you know anyone who would like to model for me, especially those of non-caucasian descent, please leave a comment!

Warren Buffett

Handmade Gifts

My friend Brooke was sweet enough to pose for me on this. Isn't she beautiful? The context of this painting was a young newlywed woman who receives a beautiful, handmade, crocheted blanket from an elderly friend as a wedding gift. It goes on to extoll the virtues of handmade gifts, with which I wholeheartedly agree.

The neat thing about it was how I got to go visit two elderly ladies in my ward in order to find a model. The first had just lost her husband, and even though she didn't want her hands photographed, I did get to talk to her for about an hour about her husband and things past and sacred. The second woman is she whose hands I painted--Josephine. She crocheted a beautiful dress for Brooke before she was born.

The blanket I used was actually given to me by an elderly friend, Daisy Peters, when I was married. She has since died, so I wasn't able to use her as a model, but Josephine was kind enough to repair some loose yarn pieces where the blanket was coming undone. So, I not only got to visit several sweet sisters, and paint a nice painting, but I also have my blanket fixed, so I can use it again and remember my friend Daisy.

Lucy Maud Montgomery

Maud lived in the beautiful Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. I loved the crocheted sweater vest I found her in from an old photo. I want one just like it!
Although her Anne of Green Gables books, and other books about young women, are famous the world over, at the time she wrote them, she had to face rejection. She is proof positive that persistence pays off.

And So We Endure

These are a little different than most of my paintings, because, well, they're not paintings at all. I was asked to do three sketches this time, and they overlapped them onto color photographs. Michelangelo here (as modeled by our good friend Kent, but with much more hair) was set in front of the spacious ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
This is Samuel Whittemore. He joined the Revolutionary War when he was 80 years old and fought against the invading British army, and he lived through it and became a captain! He was the oldest revolutionary soldier. Brian's dad, who just turned 81, was the perfect choice for my model, especially since I saw him one Sunday at his granddaughter's mission farewell to take his picture. The next week his image was on TV, and we were at his grandson's mission farewell and the whole family got to see him as a revolutionary soldier!
Although I didn't use any of my friends or family as a model for Marie Curie, she was still exciting to draw. Her husband died suddenly in a chemistry experiment gone bad, but she stuck with the research they had done together and was awarded the Nobel Prize.

The Emperor's New Clothes

Thanks especially to the Allreds and their extended family for posing as all the onlooker townspeople, and to the actors at Valley Center Playhouse for posing as the emperor, the pole-bearers, and the tailors. You're awesome!The first painting, The Tailors, is a throwback to my first real "style" I came up with in college. I really admired Mercer Mayer and Maurice Sendak's illustrations, so I practiced drawing like them for a while, and it sort of evolved into my own style.The second painting, The Parade, sort of merges my old style with my newer, softer style.
Somehow I managed to paint these while sick with a 24-hour flu bug.

Did You Hear The Bird Sing?

Our good friend Sylvia helped me out with these pictures. When I received this assignment, my husband immediately thought of her to pose for it.
Her cute son Adam was a great actor as well!

I was delighted to find a prolific photo documentary of these Chicago monk parrots on the internet.

My Father's World

Maltbie Babcock, a talented priest in New York in the 1890s, would often take breaks from his job during the day to walk, hike, or run through the wilderness. He felt he could be closest to God when he was surrounded by his beautiful creations. I often feel that way too. Babcock wrote the hymn, "This is My Father's World."

Keep Going

This could be a painting of Agnes Caldwell, a nine-year-old pioneer girl who trekked across hundreds of miles to reach Zion. Or, it could be a portrait of anyone who has wanted to give up, but has kept going, and met their challenges head on and won.

The Song of the Land

I just picked this up today from the American Fork Steel Days art show, where it received 1st place in the professional drawing division. Hooray!

Walt Whitman wrote "Leaves of Grass" over a century ago, yet he really had a grasp of the unity that we'd need to feel as a people today. He praised the laboring people of the land using the metaphor of music. He wrote of the sweeping strains and pulsating rhythms of a mighty nation at work and at play. “I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,” Whitman proclaimed. He acknowledged mechanics, carpenters, masons, shoemakers, woodcutters, mothers, “each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, . . . singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.”


--"I Hear America Singing" from Leaves of Grass.

The Star Spangled Banner

The Dawn's Early Light

If you're a fan of Francis Scott Key (as I am), I hope you like this one. I enjoyed trying to create the colors of the morning, but still having remnants of the battle at Fort McHenry that happened that night.

Try Again Tomorrow

Did They Pay You, Father?
Amos Bronson Alcott, father of Louisa May Alcott, came home one winter night from a job. The family really needed the money to carry them through. They greeted their tired father, then May finally asked if they had paid him.











I Call That Doing Very Well
Bronson pulled out a single dollar bill and apologized, saying he'd do better next time. His wife threw her arms around him and said, "I call that doing very well."

I was excited to do this series, having seen "Little Women," which is based so closely upon Louisa's life. I have always wanted to paint a warm interior with a cold exterior, something I am still working at perfecting.

Willingness to Wait

Betsy's Flower Patch

My beautiful neighbor Betsy posed for this one. It's about a girl who wants to plant a grand and wonderful flower patch, but plants the seedlings too densely, so they all die. She realizes she needed to be willing to wait for the good things in life, and not try to force them all at once.

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace

A progression of the life of John Newton, from slave ship captain, to priest, to abolitionist.

Music of the Heart

Good Ol' Folk Music

This is an old-time portrait of my husband and his old buddies as field hands, taking a break from haying to have a good time singing and making up folk tunes.

The Queen Mum

Portrait of a Queen
I learned a lot about Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother during this piece. Here she is before her Buckingham Palace in about 1940. A few years later, her palace was bombed during the war, but she refused to leave for Canada, choosing instead to help those suffering in her country. She was an amazing woman.

The Queen Mum Visits the Red Cross

This is what the Queen Mother spent a lot of her time during the war, visiting bombed out cities and wounded soldiers.

A Lifetime of Learning

A Lifetime of Learning

I am grateful to Tom, an old friend of my parents, and the father of one of my husband's best friends, for posing for this picture of continued love learning throughout your life. This was my first attempt at painting cabinetry in watercolor. I almost felt like a carpenter, building the drawers and shelves with water and pigment. It was quite fun.

The Joys of Creation

Not Very Talented (The Classroom)

This story is about an eight-year-old girl who is told by her teacher in art class, "You're not very talented, are you?" These words embarrassed her and severely damaged her confidence.

The Studio

It took the girl over five decades to finally realize that artists don't paint to be praised of the world; they create because they love it, because they want it to exist.

Open Our Hearts

The Plumber

This is a story about a learned professor who sort of thinks he knows everything. And yet, after a long day at work, he comes home to a problem with his pipes. He watches the plumber and realizes that, despite all his knowledge, he doesn't know anything about plumbing. A reminder to open our hearts and not let petty competition and pride get in the way of relationships.

Chain of Goodwill

Rear View

The story goes that a young man waited at a fast food drive thru for his order, and the man behind him became impatient and started throwing a fit. My neighbor Scott, a very nice person, played angry for me, while my friend's brother Braden got to be the guy being yelled at. Painting cars was quite a challenge for me. I do better at organic things, that don't have straight lines or machined parts.

Drive Thru

Instead of retaliating, Braden ends up paying for Scott's meal. My neighbor Chad let us pose in front of his Taco Time drive thru, and his employee Francine was her friendly self in this picture.

Chain of Goodwill

When Scott learns what Braden did, his whole attitude changes, and he pays for the next vehicle, who pays for the one behind them, and the chain goes on all day. Thanks to my friend Chevy for taking some extra photos for this picture.