Painting the DC Temple

"For Time and Eternity", 
watercolor, 19"x13"

"For Time and Eternity, in Sepia"
Sepia was Liz's idea and I think it turned
out beautifully in a giclee.

Living in Potomac, Maryland, gave me the opportunity to have the DC Temple just 15 minutes away (traffic permitting) in Kensington.  I painted on location and from photographs I took. The temple is a particularly challenging subject because the shape is hexagonal, rather than rectangular.  It also challenges because of the various heights of the spires and the way the light bounces between them to make back glows.  I've made over 60 studies of the temple in pencil, watercolor, and oil.  Included within my blog are many of my favorite images.

"September Evening", 24"x36", watercolor, in the private collection of Geoff and Susanne Huguely.  I now have the honor that a full-size giclee of this image was selected in 2016 to hang in the Barlow Building,  which functions as the home of the BYU/Washington (DC) Seminar.

"Serenity at Sunset", watercolor, 19"x13"
in the private collection of Mac Christensen, of Salt Lake City, UT.
This was painted during a blizzard.

"DC Temple in the Blizzard of '96"
Watercolor, 19"x13"
In the collection of Ralph and Carole Hardy.
This is one of my favorite Temple paintings.
It was made with gusto, like the blizzard outside my window. 

The paintings that have the reflecting pool in the above position were based on a photograph of my son, Eric and his bride Liz, as they posed at the far end of the pool.  I have done paintings on location at the Temple, but I feel a little conspicuous in my art clothes and gear painting in such a peaceful and beautiful setting, therefore most of my work are from photos.  

Spring Dogwoods at the DC Temple

Sometimes a work of art just flows.  This is one of those times.  I started with a canvas toned red.  I dashed in some guiding lines to structure the painting.  In contrast to many of my works, painting this felt like a dance.  I finished it in four hours--a record for me.  I got to a moment of satisfaction and I put the brushes down.  

"Spring Dogwoods at the DC Temple"

1995, Oil on canvas, 22"x28".

In the private collection of Robert and Marilyn Brinton

(All of the above photos of the painting stages were

taken in different lighting, which makes

the color of the paintings appear different.)

Morning Mist

It's fun to play with the DC Temple image.  This represents morning mist through which the temple spires rise.  The media is cut tissue paper. 

Chevy Chase Ward, Maryland

This 8x10" oil painting was painted on location.  The Chevy Chase building served many long-time members in the Mormon community in the DC area.

The b&w above is just a fun variation I made using Photoshop.

The Blizzard of '96

One of my best paintings of the DC Temple is a watercolor depicting the temple in a snowstorm.   It was painted during the Blizzard of 1996, thus the name.  Carol Harding bought the original for Ralph as a birthday gift.