Well, I managed to finish a couple of paintings early this week. On to the next one!

Well, I'm a little behind on my weekly paintings. This one was supposed to be done last week, but I just couldn't seem to feel like I was done with it. I'm not sure that I ever will feel done with it, so here it is.

I've been wanting to paint this for years. The original looks much better than the photo of it, I think. One of these days, I'll figure out how to take accurate photos of my work. Until then, you'll have to just be surprised when you see them in person. I've named this one "The River Valley, 1 Nephi 2:9-10". It reminds me of when Lehi and his family and friends have been traveling through the wilderness for years and come upon this beautiful valley with a river running through it. He tells his oldest son, Laman, who has real struggles with his testimony, that he wishes that he'd be like the river "running into the fountain of all righteousness". He then tells his other rebellious son that he wishes that he'd be like the valley, "firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord!"  This peaceful scene makes me think of the peace that you can have when you're doing what's right. Your life may never be perfect or without trials, but you can have the peace that only God can give you through doing the things that He would have you do.

Well, this was a new one. When I was in high school, my mom told me that I should become an architect. I told her straight up that there was no friggin' way I'd ever do that since I hate straight lines. Seriously, this isn't a painting that I'd ever choose to do, but a nice lady that used to live in the neighborhood behind us really wanted me to paint a picture of her old house...so I did. I'd say never again but, realistically, I can be bought. It just won't be cheap. ;)

Double Portrait

This is a painting that I was commissioned to do through a recommendation from a friend of mine. This young man lost his grandpa not too long ago and realized that he didn't have any photos with just him and his grandpa. It's a common thing...more common than you'd imagine. I think that we, as humans, see those around us as permanent fixtures in our lives. We somehow believe that they'll always be there and we miss out on the opportunity to have those photos taken. That's where artists come in, I guess. I don't think that it's as good as having that real-life photo with the one you love, but we try to make up for it the best that we can.

 I was commissioned by a friend that I worked with at Hobby Lobby to do this old barn that had been in her family forever. It had been torn down, but they had a photo of it and she wanted me to paint this for her mom for Christmas. The challenge was that it was a nice, green, summer photo and she wanted it to be in the fall. It was fun though and I didn't hate my tree, so that's a first.

This was another commission for a friend online. I had painted her other grandchild, and she hired me to paint this one as a gift for her husband. I got to choose the photo out of a bunch of them, so that was a nice change of pace. I enjoyed the lighting and the expression on this one and though it took me longer to finish than I'd hoped, I felt pretty good about the end product.