I was asked to paint a picture of the Salt Lake Temple for an auction that the youth group at my church is going to have this week to raise money for summer camp. In fact, you can see a picture of the cute girl who asked me to do it here. How could I say no to that face, right?
Here is how it turned out.
 |
| "Temple through the Trees" 16" x 20" acrylic on canvas |
I chose this particular view of the back side of the Salt Lake Temple for it's simplicity because it didn't have as many windows as the front and the famous Angel Moroni isn't visible, so I wouldn't have to paint that either, thinking that would make it easier since I was doing this on a short timeline; however, I was quickly reminded that simplicity doesn't necessarily have as much to do with details like windows, and that something as "simple" as angles and perspective can quickly complicate a simple painting. For as plain as the finished project seems, getting the lines for all of those spires going the right direction and with the right perspective was a huge pain! In the end, I had to settle for close enough as there is no way that all of them are going the completely right direction and in several places the perspective is totally off. I can pretty confidently say that there is not one straight line in this entire painting, and there are no right angles either, but the overall effect works so I'm happy with the finished project. My favorite part of it ended up being the flag (it was my favorite part of the original photograph too, which was really why I took the picture from this angle in the first place a few years ago). The biggest compliment I got about it however, came from my 10 year old nephew who said "I wish we could keep it." I thought is was sweet that he liked it enough that he didn't want me to give it away.
In addition to this being my first ever painting of a building (unless you count the Superman mural, which I don't because the buildings there are just blocks of color, with no perspective, and they are not the main subject of the painting), this painting marks another first for me. This is the first painting I've ever done that received revisions based on advice I received from a professional artist about the specific piece I was working on (as opposed to just advice in general).
I had the privilege yesterday of meeting Anne Marie Oborn, who is a well known local artist and has painted many religious pieces including this one which is rather famous in the LDS community:
It was a very serendipitous meeting and we began talking about religious art as she was showing me some of her temple paintings. I couldn't resist telling her that I had just completed my first temple painting and showed her a picture of it on my phone. She visited with me for about an hour and gave me some pointers about color, particularly in the trees and took me into her studio to show me her palate and how she likes to mix colors. She gave me a handwritten "shopping list" of her favorite paints to use and mix and told me to go experiment. I haven't bought any new paints yet, but I did follow her advice (as best as I could) about the trees on my temple painting and made some adjustments to the color before declaring it finished. It was such a thrill for me to get to visit with her in her home and talk to her about art and have her give me advice. It isn't at all what I was expecting when I knocked on her door to pick up an art donation she was making to the non-profit that I work for, but it was a fun afternoon that I'm not likely to soon forget.
