My latest painting “Receding Night”

“Receding Night” was inspired by a morning I spent photographing a grove of bristlecone pine trees in Great Basin National Park. My family and I spent a great weekend exploring the park and had plans to summit Wheeler peak. The day before the Wheeler Peak hike we hiked to a Grove of bristlecone pine trees nestled in the mountain just under the peak. We spent that afternoon taking the trees in and at the time I was thinking how amazing it would be to photograph the trees during sunrise in the morning light.

                So I convinced my family to wake up at 2 am and hike to the grove of trees before sunrise the day after we did Wheeler peak. I was camping with my two kids, my older brother and his four kids, and my younger brother. As you would imagine it took some convincing, everyone wanted to have a lazy day in camp and not get up at 2 am. To my surprise though everyone got up with me and hiked in the dark to the grove.

 We made great time and got to the grove several hours before sunrise. After experiencing the grove in starlight, everyone but my son Henry and I hiked back to the car and headed back to camp for some much needed rest. Henry and I nestled in and spent the next hour watching the light change amongst the trees. As the sun came up and the first light hit the tops of the trees, I knew I had to do a painting of the receding night. I’ll never forget the morning I spent waiting for the sun to rise, on top of a mountain, amongst an ancient grove of bristlecone pine trees.

Below are some photos I took of the progression of painting Receding Night.

Prints of “Receding Night” are now available to order. The original painting is available and is on display at Gallery 35 in St George, UT.