"Singing Blue"

Singing Blue

Artist: Michael Bedard Art Copyrighted © 

I love doing watercolor, and Singing Blue is one of my favorite watercolor pieces. The original is sold, but Giclee canvas prints are available on my web store Bedardfineart.com in a number of sizes.

Eastern Bluebirds: Medium-sized bird, growing up to seven inches long. Males are easy to recognize, with a bright blue back, head, and wings, and a rust-colored throat and breast. They have a white belly. Females are similar, but have much more dull colors.

Eastern Bluebirds live in open woods, clearings, fields, gardens, stream beds, and roadsides.

These birds are cavity-dwellers, so they nest in natural tree cavities, old woodpecker holes, and bird boxes. Nests are built with grasses and weed stems.

Bluebirds mate in early spring and lay four to six pale blue eggs. The eggs are incubated for about 12 days. Baby birds are fed by their parents and will leave the nest in two or three weeks.

"The Bluebird"   
By John Burroughs

A wistful note from out the sky, “Pure, pure, pure,” in plaintive tone,

As if the wand’rer were alone, And hardly knew to sing or cry.

But now a flash of eager wing, Flitting, twinkling by the wall,

And pleading sweet and am’rous call,– Ah, now I know his heart doth sing!

O bluebird, welcome back again, Thy azure coat and ruddy vest

Are hues that April loveth best,– Warm skies above the furrowed plain.

The farm boy hears thy tender voice, And visions come of crystal days,

With sugar-camps in maple ways, And scenes that make his heart rejoice.

The lucid smoke drifts on the breeze, The steaming pans are mantling white,

And thy blue wing’s a joyous sight, Among the brown and leafless trees.

Now loosened currents glance and run, And buckets shine on sturdy boles,

The forest folk peep from their holes, And work is play from sun to sun.

The Downy beats his sounding limb,The nuthatch pipes his nasal call,

And robin perched on treetop tall Heavenward lifts his evening hymn.

Now go and bring thy homesick bride, Persuade her here is just the place

To build a home and found a race In Downy’s cell, my lodge beside.

Bedard Fine Art Gallery  Museum Giclee Canvas Print   Print requires NO GLASS with frame

 29 West 200 North, Saint George, Utah  84770    www.bedardfineart.com    Michael@bedardfineart.com 

      

"Presidential Candidate"

Presidential Candidate 

 Joseph Smith Jr.

 Artist: Michael Bedard Art Copyrighted ©

      “In the United States the people are the government; and their united voice is the only sovereign that should rule; the only power that should be obeyed; and the only gentlemen that should be honored; at home and abroad; on the land and the sea. Wherefore, were I president of the United States, by the voice of a virtuous people, I would honor the old paths of the venerated fathers of freedom; I would walk in the tracks of the illustrious patriots. who carried the ark of the government upon their shoulders with an eye single to the glory of the people and when that people petitioned to abolish slavery in the slave states, I would use all honorable means to have their prayers granted; and give liberty to the captive; by paying the southern gentleman a reasonable equivalent for his property, that the whole nation might be free indeed! 

      "God, who once cleansed the violence of the earth with flood; whose Son laid down his life for the salvation of all his father gave him out of the world; and who has promised that he will come and purify the world again with fire in the last days, should be supplicated by me for the good of all people.”  With the highest esteem, I am a friend of virtue and the people.  JOSEPH SMITH. Nauvoo, Illinois, February 7, 1844.

JOSEPH SMITH’S PRESIDENTIAL PLATFORM, “GENERAL SMITH’S VIEWS OF THE POWERS AND POLICY OF 

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES  NAUVOO, ILLINOIS  1844

Bedard Fine Art Gallery  Museum Giclee Canvas Print   Print requires NO GLASS with frame

 29 West 200 North, Saint George, Utah  84770    www.bedardfineart.com      Michael@bedardfineart.com 

"A Free Nation Under God"

A Free Nation Under God
Artist: Michael Bedard Art Copyrighted ©

  

      A Free Nation Under God is an inspired and solemn declaration that God is the origin of freedom. Providential light emanates from on high and extends throughout the painting to remind America that freedom is a gift from God who reigns eternally.

      This artistic rendering specifically reaffirms that America’s freedom was and is the work of Providence.  With a predominantly Judeo-Christian legacy, the founders knew that freedom was a gift from God.  Thus America’s destiny, as a free nation, has always been guided by that knowledge.
      The majestic bald eagle depicted in this painting is an iconic American symbol of 

freedom.  The Ten Commandments, The Declaration of Independence, and the US Constitution, gripped in the talons of the eagle reaffirm that a free nation is dependent upon God and holding fast to these sacred documents. Providence has blessed America with freedom and will continue to do so, as long as its citizens are guided by the Light and fly with the eagle.

Bedard Fine Art Gallery   Museum Giclee Canvas Print  Print requires NO GLASS with frame

 29 West 200 North, Saint George, Utah  84770   www.bedardfineart.com    Michael@bedardfineart.com 

"IN GOD WE TRUST"

Artist  Michael Bedard Art copyrighted ©

 Washington: “It is the duty of nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” --- “The propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a 

nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has 

ordained.” 

      Abraham Lincoln:  “All the good the Savior gave to the world was

communicated in this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter are to be found portrayed in it.”

--- “Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way,  all our present difficulty.”

     

     Ronald Reagan: “I believe with all my heart that standing up for America means standing up for the God who has so blessed our land.”--- “The First Amendment was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny.”--- “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

Cotton Mission of 1861

Journey to Saint George 

Cotton Mission  1861  Utah's Dixie

This painting captures Utah’s stark barren landscape in a beautiful array of bright colors. However, the early pioneer saints who came to start new settlements in 1861 possessed  different feelings I am sure. Their minds were on trying to grow crops and build homes in this very hot, wild country. 

The prophet Brigham Young called the pioneer saints to settle in Saint George and outlying areas to grow cotton. He knew the saints in Utah would soon be in short supply of cotton because the Civil War broke out on April 12, 1861 between the North and the South. Many of these families who came on the cotton  mission of 1861 still live in the beautiful towns they built out of the dust of Utah’s Dixie.

"Snow Canyon"

Snow Canyon  Saint George, Utah  2012  Bedardfineart.com


This landscape view is about nine in the morning on the left shortly after entering the Snow Canyon Park.
You can purchase Giclee prints starting at $30.00 for a 8 x 10 and up to 30 x 40 for $480.
 Saint George is a beautiful place to paint.