Shoshone River-North Fork

Shoshone River-North Fork

36 x 48 $15,000

Paintings Commissioned and uncommissioned

Early Morning Ride

When you have 20 miles to go it’s a good idea to get an early start. It is a warm day and the sun is not very high as the rider leads his pack string homeward.

Brigham's Dream; They Are All Good In Their Places

I was immensely pleased the Elder Jorge T. Becerra used my painting of Brigham’s Dream to illustrate a great principle during his talk at General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A fine man commissioned me to paint this scene. During my research I found Brigham Young’s description in the Journal of Discourses 18:245-246.

Shortly after settling in the Salt Lake Valley and many people wanting to go to California for gold Brigham expressed much concern, thought, reflection and prayer about what he should do about the people after all the trouble and effort they had made coming so far.  

About that time Brigham had a dream. He had a few sheep north of the city and he wanted to get some goats to go with the flock.   In the dream he had gone north of the city of Salt Lake to check on his sheep and he meets brother Joseph Smith first LDS Prophet who had died a few years before. Joseph was on a wagon and behind the wagon Brigham saw and heard a great flock of sheep and there were some goats among them. He noticed many different kinds of sheep and goats. Some with large white beautiful fleeces looking so lovely and pure. Others of moderate size also pure and white. Sheep and goats of all sizes and kinds and colors, some clean and some dirty and inferior.

Joseph stopped the wagon and the sheep kept rushing along until there was an immense herd. Brigham looked Joseph in the eye, and laughed, just as he had many times when Joseph was alive. “Joseph, you have got the darnedest flock of sheep I ever saw in my life; what are you going to do with them, what on earth are they for?”

Joseph looked cunningly out of his eyes, just as he used to at times and said, “They are all good in their places!” 

When Brigham woke up the next morning  he said, “If they want to go to California, let them go , and we will do all we can to save them; I have no more fault to find, the sheep and the goats will run together. As Joseph says, “They are all good in their places.”

A Mistake! I laugh, I cry,

In a fifty year art career a person is bound to make a mistake (just one though, HA!) And you see two wonderful paintings here. I used my wife and children as models and painted the daylight scene in the mid 80s. My father, Harold I. Hopkinson and I painted, critiqued and consulted together for many years. As I would be working on a painting and suggesting to him I was going to do this or that or add or subtract he told me more than once, “Leave it alone. Go do another painting.” Meaning I had pretty much finished that painting and to quit trying to overthink it.

After having the painting of pioneers breaking camp on a beautiful morning I had the “brainstorm” that I would improve the painting by making it a night scene. So I did it. The night scene is a nice painting but where is the nice painting of the morning scene. UNDERNEATH THE NIGHT SCENE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!

So the night scene is in my own collection and we will never see the morning scene again. Lesson learned.

Two in One. A sorrowful tale.

Winter's Move

The painting “Winter’s Move” is showing in the Mountain Oyster Club Art Show. Go to (www.mountainoysterclub.com) to show the pieces in the 2020 art show. It is held in Tucson, Arizona. Usually the Mountain Oyster Club has opening weekend events. This year they are offering mini previews throughout the month of November. An added plus this year is that those interested in seeing the work can view the paintings and bronzes on line even before the show has been hung.

I’m honored to be a member of this art show for nearly 40 years. My painting “Winter’s Move” is an oil painting measuring 20x24 and sells for $3900.

FAREWELL MY SON

Back in 1976 I met Florence Real Bird at the Custer Battlefield during a movie shoot. Shortly thereafter I painted this portrait named “Farewell My Son” evoking the feeling (within me at least) that her sorrow was shaded with the hope that he would return. Then in 1991 my 19 year old son was an infantryman in Iraq in the war they called Desert Storm.  Pam and I spent many sleepless nights while that war raged, hoping that our son would survive and return. God granted us that prayer. 

Florence Real Bird’s portrait hung above the TV set that kept us glued to the CNN coverage. Glen Travis Hopkinson was a machine gunner on top of a humvee.  We found out later That as he and his fellow soldiers waited on the border of Saudi Arabia for the order to attack and enter Iraq the sergeants and leaders told them the average life of a machine gunner in Vietnam was a few seconds. Travis went into battle thinking that might be his fate.  

EUNICE MCRAE FAR WEST MISSOURI 1838

“Gentlemen, you have had your fun…”

In 1832 many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints began moving into northern Missouri which at this time was the western frontier of America.  Mormons (as they were known) were non-slaveholding northerners and difficulties quickly escalated between the newcomers and those already there. The troubles turned into a virtual war with even the Governor issuing an order to exterminate the Mormons.

On October 30, 1838  a  mob attacked the Mormon settlement at Haun's Mill.  2,000 men arrived at Far West and surrounded the town of Far West.

Eunice McRea’s husband Alexander was arrested and taken with other church leaders to Liberty jail 50 miles from Far West. Members of the mob were going house to house ransacking the homes looking for things of value claiming they were looking for counterfeit money and dies for making it. 

Four men came to Eunice’ home.  She had two little children and gave the men access to all parts of the house and they searched every part, cupboards and dresser drawers without success.  Then they tore a hole in the floor and two of them got down and began to dig and throw dirt out.  When they found nothing they turned to the door.  Eunice McRae stood there with a pistol in her hand.  She said, "Gentlemen, you have had your fun, now put all that dirt back in the hole you took it from, and put the floor down as it was, and clean the floor.  The first man who attempts to leave before it is completed will get killed."  They quickly complied. They could see that she meant it.. 

San Diego Temple-Heavenly Mists

Over a year ago I rented a car in Arizona and drove over to San Diego to paint, sketch and gather material for a painting of the beautiful temple in San Diego of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is a magnificent building and yet choosing an angle the showed its beauty was a challenge. So I painted several angles over the next couple of days and observed sun and shadows at different hours of the day. Of course I had to drive west and visit the beach that is not far away. I would have painted a Pacific Ocean scene as well but people had built houses everywhere I would have wanted to paint. Anyway, it’s a beautiful place and I guess that’s why everybody in the world lives there (well, maybe not everybody, but quite a few).

San Diego Temple-Heavenly Mist

This is a high quality reproduction on canvas and is often referred to as “giclee (pronounced G-Clay).  It will ship rolled and ready for your local framer to stretch or mount and frame. It is available as a 24 x30 Signed and Numbered Edition Limited to 150.

Brigham's Dream: They're all good in their places

Later in his life Brigham Young, then Prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) told of a dream he had shortly after the Church people had begun settling in the Salt Lake Valley in Utah. People were saying “let’s go to California and get some gold” because the California gold rush had started and many people wanted to get in on it. Brigham expressed much concern, thought, reflection and prayer about what he should do about the people after all the trouble and effort they had made coming so far.

About that time Brigham had a dream. He had a few sheep north of the city and he wanted to get some goats to go with the flock. In the dream he had gone north of the city of Salt Lake to check on his sheep and he meets brother Joseph Smith first LDS Prophet who had died a few years before. Joseph was on a wagon and behind the wagon Brigham saw and heard a great flock of sheep and there were some goats among them. He noticed many different kinds of sheep and goats. Some with large white beautiful fleeces looking so lovely and pure. Others of moderate size also pure and white. Sheep and goats of all sizes and kinds and colors, some clean and some dirty and inferior.

Joseph stopped the wagon and the sheep kept rushing along until there was an immense herd. Brigham looked Joseph in the eye, and laughed, just as he had many times when Joseph was alive. “Joseph, you have got the darnedest flock of sheep I ever saw in my life; what are you going to do with them, what on earth are they for?”

Joseph looked cunningly out of his eyes, just as he used to at times and said, “They are all good in their places!”

When Brigham woke up the next morning he said, “If they want to go to California, let them go , and we will do all we can to save them; I have no more fault to find, the sheep and the goats will run together. As Joseph says, “They are all good in their places.” Journal of Discourses 18:245-246

Brigham’s Dream

A few months ago a client came into the studio and asked me to paint a picture he had been thinking about for some time and was looking for an artist to do it. While he was in my studio I took a 24x36 canvas and made a quick charcoal sketch to show what I was thinking. I’ll tell the story in another post. Here is the first sketch:

Across the Wide Missouri

A big river crossing

Oh Shenandoah, the song with the phrase “Across the Wide Missouri” has always resonated with me and I love it every time I hear it.  It evokes in me thoughts of those brave and strong people who came out west.  I admire their grit and courage so much and I would like everyone to know the kind of people they were.  They had qualities of faith in God and endurance that we should emulate in our day.  

I’ve been working on this 24 x 48 painting “Across the Wide Missouri” for quite some time. I was excited to get it started and got it to a point, then set it on the shelf to percolate.  I am not sure how many times I would repeat that, each time moving it toward completion. Sometimes it just takes a while to make sure it is right.

Draper temple; Heaven's Covenant

I think most artists are grateful for the gifts that they are given. Usually from a young age a bit of talent is recognized along with a drive and a desire and confidence to express oneself.  A lot of times when I go out to paint I look hard for a subject that moves me enough to put that scene on canvas, and sometimes I bring it back into the studio and it begins to work.  Once in a while I am given a gift, a scene in front of me that almost paints itself. This is what happened when I was commissioned to paint a picture of the Draper Temple: 

“I had photographed the Draper Temple a year before and felt that I had enough info for the painting. Pam and I were staying in Provo getting ready to travel back to Wyoming. It was very early in the morning and I wastrying to get back to sleep and Pam said, "Maybe you should get up now and go  photograph the Draper temple ." 

I said , "I don't want to."

Five minutes passed and sleep wasn't coming so I said,"OK, let's get up and go!" 

The sun was just rising on our way and there was quite a bit of cloud activity so I wasn't sure what we would get when we got there. 

As I was shooting the temple from different angles the sun came over the hill and peeked through the clouds and there it was, about 1/4 of a rainbow , very soft and subtle but very visible. The bottom rested on a corner of the temple and the top disappeared just before it reached Moroni.

Wow!  We looked at each other.  There are no coincidences.

I'm calling it "Draper Temple, Heaven's Covenant". I'm reminded of the Lord's promised sign to Noah.” -Glen S. Hopkinson

ONE LAST LOOK AT FAIR NAUVOO

I am introducing a new limited edition canvas reproduction called "One Last Look at Fair Nauvoo" representing Joseph and Hyrum Smith's final and fateful ride toward Carthage, Illinois where short days later they were assassinated, leaving the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) living in Nauvoo, Illinois, bereft and mourning their prophet/leader and his faithful brother.  Nauvoo had grown from a tiny settlement called "Commerce" in 1839 to the second largest city in Illinois in 1844 with between 18,000 and 20,000 people.  Within two years, under the direction of the Twelve Apostles with Brigham Young being the presiding member of the "Twelve", the Mormons left Nauvoo, travelled across Iowa and finally making it to the mountains in Utah in 1847.

One Last Look at Fair Nauvoo

an 18 x 32 limited edition signed and numbered reproduction on canvas (giclee)

Purchase an 18 x 32 limited edition reproduction on canvas here

Painting at the Great Wall of China-2007

Back in 2007 Pam and I accompanied by our daughter Heather and her husband Brian Nielsen and with  some friends took a two week tour of China.  One of the highlights was visiting the Great Wall of China.  While there I took out a small traveling paint box and painted a couple of small oil sketches.  The Chinese folks were very friendly and don't particularly believe in the concept of "personal space" (probably because there are a billion of them there), and they gathered around to watch the magic.  It is not a great painting which is what a great wall deserves, but then it is only a wall, after all...(well, maybe a little more than that). 

Masters of the Absarokas

A while ago, I was driving up Wapiti Valley, a beautiful stretch of meadows and dramatic rocks in the middle of the Absaroka Mountain range, in between Yellowstone Park and Cody, Wyoming.  Clouds were hovering over Jim Mountain and the lighting was dramatic. I pulled over, set up my easel, paints, canvas and started doing the kind of image capture that I like best: Plein air, or painting on location.   I noted the surroundings seemed untouched by modern life, and started imagining myself as an Indian scout, perhaps a Ute, watching as some Crow braves and their families crossed through territory that was claimed and fought over by Crows, Utes, the Cheyenne and other Shoshone tribes (the paint work is quick in plein air painting, but the mind still wanders!). As I painted, I noticed a crowd of tourists had gathered near me, watching me paint, and out of their hushed voices I picked up on a few speaking Korean.  I just couldn’t resist, and I turned and began speaking Korean to the young men.  They started yelling in excitement, and couldn’t believe that, in the wild, wild west, they found a cowboy that painted AND spoke Korean!  We had a fun photo shoot then, entertaining each other and the remaining tourists with our posing antics.  Back in the studio, as I went through my archives to research before painting in the Indian travois and figures, I smiled at the unexpected friendship and entertainment that added to the fun of that painting session.  I still think of it every time I see this piece!  It is currently on display at the Hopkinson Gallery in downtown Provo, Utah.  Masters of the Absarokas, Oil on canvas, Original, 22x28, price $5000.

 

In The Studio

Finishing the Painting "Pusch Ridge-Santa Catalina Mountains in Tucson.

Far Away In The West

Coming to a river wide and deep from the melting snow and only days away from their destination the settlers have to cross.  Plowing and planting have to be done and in this beautiful 30 x 40 painting I've depicted one of those myriad crossings that took place.  The industry and never give up attitude that our grandparents and great grandparents exhibited fills me with awe.  The Absaroka Range near my home is the star of this painting.

Flat Tire

I came across a photo of a painting I did 41 years ago and it delighted me. A friend in Salt Lake City, David Bennion, owns this painting. The tires in those days were always needing repairs, it was just part of the trip. I like the painting and the idea and maybe it's a subject matter I should revisit.  An old Model T and a bunch of rocks  with sunlight and shadow.  Who wouldn't want to paint that!

 Side note: Is the wife  thinking, "I hope this lunkhead gets this thing fixed because I don't want to walk back to town"? Or the girlfriend: "A flat tire? Last time he ran out of gas! I've heard that line before!"