Good Intentions

The boys I babysit are always sneaking toys in their pockets to play with at my house, despite their mother telling them not to. I'm sure most of them make it to school as well. These are usually Spider Man, Star Wars or Indiana Jones action figures, or legos or green army men. All very "boy." So when I was asked to paint this piece, I immediately thought of these boys.

The story goes that a little girl was sharing with her class at school that her grandmother had just died. She became overcome with emotion and had to sit at her desk, in tears. A little boy in the class got up and sat down by her. He reached into his pocket and gave her the toy he had smuggled into the classroom that day to make her feel better. It doesn't matter that it was a "boy" toy, that she wouldn't have cared about. It was special to him.

The day of the photo shoot, I just asked the boys, "What do you have in your pockets?" The oldest boy reached in and produced a little green army man. Perfect!

Thanks so much to Kira, Aidan, and their Kindergarten teacher for letting us photograph the classroom, and to my daughter for hiding in the background with her cast on.

Christmas Cards from Grandma

I had the privilege of photographing Elijah, one of my daughter's friends from Kindergarten, for this piece. He is such a happy soul! He was willing to help out, and couldn't stop smiling the entire time. I told him that I'd be painting a picture of him for TV, and he said, "Make sure you paint my skin brown!" I assured him I would. That was actually pretty tricky, since I'm so used to painting pinkish beige tones, and I'm afraid his skin got a little overworked, but I appreciated the challenge to paint brown skin, and hope to be able to do it a lot in the future.

Heimlich

What an unusual Thanksgiving painting! The story goes that this man stood up choking in an office lunch room, but nobody stepped forward to help him for a while. Then some man he didn't know came up from behind and performed a successful Heimlich maneuver and saved his life, for which he was very grateful. See how thanksgiving comes into play? Thanks so much to Matt and all his friends at Ancestry.com for helping me out! I'm thankful for your help!

Armistice Day

This is a painting of the end of fighting in WWI in France, on November 11, at 11 a.m., Armistice Day. They say the fighting intensified, then right at 11:00, it was like everything hit a wall, then was silent. A man ran out into no-man's-land to plant an American flag in a shell hole, and a soldier played music on a German trumpet. I had to research to get the helmets and uniforms from the right war.

By Hawking's Chair!

I felt it an honor and a privilege to paint Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant astronomers and mathematicians of our time. I was disheartened to learn that he was an atheist, but glad to know that he relies heavily on family. This was one of the first paintings I've done where the end product is almost exactly how I imagined it in my head!

Good Sports

The awesome young women in my ward modeled for this shot.  It's about how winners can be rude and isolated, or they can be friendly and encouraging to the losers.

Lewis and Clark

This illustrates the Corps of Discovery (the Lewis and Clark expedition) in 1805 when Captain Clark carved into a tree in Oregon in December 1805 to prove that they had been there.  Thank you to Summer and Bryant for being so willing to model for me on a time crunch, and to Anya and Kent for providing such excellent costumes.  I'll need to do a larger painting of Sacagawea some day with some other photos I took, just to do the costume justice!

Let it Go

This is a story about a man who kept a list of all the people he was angry with.  Years later, he realizes and regrets his mistake.  I loved the quote, "Holding a grudge is like taking poison and then waiting for the other person to die."

Mike and his father were so wonderful to pose for me--thank you so much!  They are in the theater business, so they were great models.

Bragging Rights

My sister and her friends volunteered to pose for me, and she and I squeezed some of our children into the shot.  I needed a scene at a ballpark, and my sis is always attending ball games for her children.  She's amazing.  Thanks for helping out!

Lincoln on a Train from Springfield

It was a gloomy day when Abraham Lincoln departed the station in Springfield, Illinois, headed for the nation's capital to become the 16th president.  Hundreds were gathered there, as he gave a memorable speech.

Panguitch Quilt Walk

The first group of pioneers came to Panguitch on March 16, 1864, from Parowan under the leadership of Jens Nielson. They followed the route over the rugged Bear Valley, a part of the Spanish Trail. Crops were planted, but the season was short and they did not mature. The winter of 1864 was extremely cold and the snow was deep. The closest supplies were either in Gunnison, 115 miles to the North, or Parowan, 40 miles to the west over the difficult Bear Valley Road.

Seven men, Alexander Matheson, William Talbot, Thomas Richards, Jesse Lowder, John Butler, Thomas Adair, and John Paul Smith left Panguitch to go to Parowan to get flour and food for the starving colony. They had two yoke of oxen and a light wagon which they had to abandon at the head of Bear Valley because of the deep snow; they then proceeded on foot. The only progress that could be made over this frozen, crusted snow, was to lay a quilt down, walk to the end of it, relay it and walk again. In that way they reached Parowan.

Alexander Matheson recorded in his journal,"We decided that if we had faith as big as a mustard seed, we could make if and bring flour to our starving families. So we began the quilt-laying in prayerful earnestness. The return trip was harder with the weight of the flour, but we finally made it to our wagon and oxen and on home with thankfulness to the Lord of His goodness. The whole settlement welcomed us, because we had been gone longer than expected. There had been prayers, tears, and fears which turned to rejoicing and cheers."

--The Panguitch Quilt Walk Marker

Steel Worker

Lloyd Newell's father worked in a steel mill for 40 years because he loved his family and wanted to provide for them. They were the thought that kept him going at work.Thank you Bryan for being my model--again--and doing this with such short notice!

No Swimming

Kenny, a fictional fourth-grader in Christopher Paul Curtis’s book The Watsons Go to Birmingham, learned this lesson well. On a hot summer day in Alabama, Kenny could not resist the temptation to go swimming, despite the No Swimming sign and warnings about a whirlpool. But Kenny could see no danger, so he decided to swim anyway. At first, he was only going to step in the water, but when he caught sight of a turtle, he decided to swim toward it. Before he knew it, he was caught in the vicious whirlpool.

Reflecting on his near-death experience, the boy said: “There’s one good thing about getting in trouble: It seems like you do it in steps. . . . It also seems like the worse the trouble is that you get into, the more steps it takes to get there. Sort of like you’re getting a bunch of little warnings on the way; sort of like if you really wanted to you could turn around.”

Thanks to Trilea's neighbor Mo for letting my son Braeden and I use their backyard pool. And thanks to my husband, who made sure I understood the physics of how a whirlpool really works.

Mother's Day

Here is an experienced mom comforting a younger mom who is stressed over raising her two little boys. “When children know they are loved, it covers a host of parenting mistakes.”

Thanks to Summer and her mom and kids for helping me on such very short notice!

Musical Sheepherder

I loved this story. This solitary sheepherder in the mountains of Wyoming had few possessions, including an old, out-of-tune violin, and a battery-controlled radio whose batteries were almost dead. He wrote to the director of the Philharmonic Orchestra, asking him to start his next radio-broadcasted concert by playing an "A" really loud, so he could tune his violin before the batteries ran out.

I mentioned this project to my new neighbor, who seemed to know a lot about modern-day sheepherders. As it turns out, her husband's family have been sheepherders for years! Travas was willing to model for me, so I felt like I got as close as I could come to the genuine article.

Tuesdays With Morrie

Mitch Albom visited Morrie Schwartz every Tuesday for years. Even though he was old and dying, Morrie always had a great attitude about life.

Magic Paintbrush

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to illustrate another Chinese fable for the Spoken Word. Chinese designs and colors are fascinating to work with. This time it was "Ma Liang and the Magic Paintbrush." I used my son Jacob as a model, even though he in no way looks Chinese.

Ma Liang was an orphaned boy who loved to draw with anything he could find, including sticks on the beach.

One day, an apparition from the ocean gave him a gift--a magic paintbrush that would paint creatures that came to life! But he was only to use this power for good, or it would turn disastrous. And to Liang's credit, he did use the gift for good, and tried to keep it from evil hands.

Slow Dance

This was a series of three extra-wide paintings illustrating a poem by David L. Weatherford. We panned across each one slowly, trying to hit each point as they were read in the poem. Thank you to the Emigs for willingly modeling for me, and doing such a great job!

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round,
Or listened to rain slapping the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight,
Or gazed at the sun fading into the night?
You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
Time is short, the music won’t last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask “How are you?” do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed,
With the next hundred chores running through your head?
You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
Time is short, the music won’t last.

Ever told your child, we’ll do it tomorrow,
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a friendship die,
’Cause you never had time to call and say hi?
You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
Time is short, the music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere,
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It’s like an unopened gift thrown away.

Shopping Madness

I didn't realize I had stopped posting these paintings for the past six months! So sorry! Life got a bit crazy, and we had a new baby girl.

These are a drawing and a painting of the same scene--a mother trying to buy Christmas gifts with screaming children and crying baby, fighting against other shoppers--just picture Black Friday. In the painting I was able to add in the other shoppers fighting over a pony.

Many thanks to Jerusha and her family for modeling for me so willingly. Some didn't even have to act, they were just naturally fussy! Thanks also to Meg and Laura for acting like bitter rivals when they are the best of friends!