Last autumn my husband and I were enjoying a beautiful day in the warm sun and noticed a whole bunch of bumblebees dancing around on some flowers. Of course we had our cameras with us and this is one that he photographed. I decided yesterday to draw it and this is a close up of the finished piece.

I think that often we overlook some of the most beautiful of Heavenly Father’s creations simply because they are small. There’s so much to see on this great big planet that sometimes we forget to look down. A whole world of beauty exists just outside our normal range of vision.

I live in the mountains of Utah and one of the amazing things about winters here is that bald eagles come. Today my husband and I saw 7 eagles just sitting in a tree along the side of the road. We pulled over of course and he got some amazing photos. I’m even going to use one to do a painting.

There is something so majestic about bald eagles. They are so stoic and regall. You can see in their eyes that they know exactly who they are and that no one can touch them. They’re not afraid but it’s interesting because they won’t let you get too close. They seem to be very particular about who they will let into their world. Other eagles, elk, deer, but not people. They’re more skittish around humans than golden eagles are or even most hawks. I wonder why this is. I think their just more private. They want to be left alone. I can relate to that.

Here’s one that I finished just before Christmas. It’s a prismacolor. I haven’t thought of title yet. I have to figure out what her story is first. If any of you readers out there have any ideas, I’m open to suggestions.

Here is a photo of my latest painting. I did it in oil. My first oil painting in years! I actually loved it. I didn’t have to stop to sharpen pencils and it was so nice to paint right over mistakes. I think I’m gonna do another one in oil. It’s messy but not too bad and I use turpenoid instead of turpentine so theres not much of a smell. It’s nice!

I just drove down an absolutely beautiful highway at 2:00 in the morning. It’s been rainy all day and as I was driving home these massive clouds were just rolling across the road. The moon was shining through them and every now and then I could see glimpses of clear sparkling stars shimmering in the sky. It was breathtaking. Because the moon was so bright I could see the mountains through which the road passes and great masses of clouds were just resting all over them. The clouds almost looked like they were tired and decided to take a break from the efforts of hovering in the sky.

I think sometimes that the reason nature is so fascinating is that it’s beauty is transitory. It shares with us these moments of stunning asthetic perfection and then in almost the blink of an eye it changes and we are left only with the memory and the sensation that we are part of something amazing.

Well I finished another one today. Actually, I should mention that I’ve been working on this one for quite awhile. I started weeks ago and didn’t like how it was coming out at all so I totally redid the background today and now I love it. The forest seemed like the perfect setting for this young man.

I’ve been doing a lot of paintings lately of people who are searching for something. I’ve also noticed that I always seem to do a solitary figure in my paintings. I wonder what it is about that theme that fascinates me. A friend once suggested to me that an artist puts something of herself into every painting she does. Maybe that’s what I’m doing. Anyway, here is my painting. I’m going to call it Vision Quest.

Here is my finished painting.  I’m going to call it Searching for the Sun. I’ve included some close up pictures so you can see the details better. (more…)