Brother's Keeper Michael Bedard's Favorite pioneer story!

BROTHER’S KEEPER 1856                                                                                                                              2007   Oil on panel       22 x 34 in.    

Michael & Tancy Eyre  private collection

      James Kirkwood, an eleven-year-old convert from Scotland, struggled across the frozen prairie with his widowed

mother, and brothers. While his mother attended her crippled son and the handcart, James was responsible for his six-year-old brother, Joseph. A snowstorm with icy winds strung out the caravan of beleaguered saints. James carried Joseph through rivers of ice, mud, and snow. Ascending the last miles up Rocky Ridge with little Joseph on his back, James arrived late at Rock Creek camp. Here, James Kirkwood succumbed to the extreme exposure of the day and breathed his last for the love of his little brother. He was buried in a common grave with thirteen others who perished that night. Little Joseph eventually made it into the Salt Lake Valley and went on to become a beloved Mormon Bishop of a large and grateful Salt Lake ward.   

   

Now available in both Giclee canvas or Archival paper prints at my website store  www.bedardfineart.com

"Brother's Keeper 1856"
 Original painting

Close up of original oil painting

Michael Bedard’s new project underway: - SIX NATIONS CHIEFS - A REMNANT of THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL

Six Nations A Remnant of The House of Israel
Photo sketch prep for final original painting 36 in. by 8 0in.

Photographic sketch I am working from to do
Six Nations -A Remnant of The House of Israel(Group portrait depiction 85 Chiefs )
which is currently in progress.both the sketch and the original painting are works in progress. I go back and forth  on the sketch and the painting at the same time.

On August 29, 1877 in the Saint George Temple, under the direction of President Wilford Woodruff, vicarious temple work was done for 85 chiefs from the Six Nations.

The goal of this painting is to encourage Native American Indians, and others, to seek out and value their heritage, and to share it with future generations.

Each portrait will be as accurate as my research, abilities and prayer will grant. I firmly believe that the more accurate I am the

 stronger the spirit of the painting will be, and the more good it will accomplish.

Title: Six Nations - A Remnant of The House of Israel

Print size: 15 x 30  Number in Edition: 385, signed by artist

Limited Edition giclee canvas print: $225.00 Unframed.  $425 Framed or Canvas Wrap.

Key map and write up on the promises to Native American Indians
This key map is free with pre purchase of the 15 x 30 limited Ed. Canvas Print (valued at $ 29.95)

Saint George Temple Partial Dedication

 by President Willford woodruff (standing on the steps of the

 Saint George Temple baptimal fount )

At 12:30 on the 1st of January, 1877, Wilford Woodruff stood upon the upper step of the font and called the attention of the people to whom he spoke as follows: “We are this day blessed with the privilege which very few since the days of Adam have enjoyed. We assemble in a temple built by the commandment of the Lord for the salvation of the human family. We have met to dedicate certain 

portions of this building. 

I realize

 that this assembly is too large and too crowded to bow upon their knees, but all are asked to bow their heads and hearts unto God. All who are here are Saints, or should be, for none others ought to be in this holy temple. ...O God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, remember, we pray thee, the covenants which thou hast made with all the house of Israel: remember them in their abidings in these last days. We pray that in this Temple of our Lord thou will make bare Thine arm in the preservation and salvation of the small remnants of the Lamanites that are left in the land. Deliver them, we pray Thee, from the hands of the Gentiles who are bringing about their threatened annihilation from off the earth. Inspire their hearts with thy Spirit, that they may recive the Gospel of the Son of God, that they may be prepared to build up Zion, and to fulfill the covenants and promises made to them by their forefathers who inherited this land... 

Wilford Woodruff: History of His Life and Labors as recorded in his daily Journals Prepared for publication by Matthias F. Cowley  Pages 491-3

Pioneer temple workers who performed and recorded the Temple work for the above First Nations Chiefs on August 29, 1877

Henry William Bigler,  Lorenzo Brown, David Henry Cannon , Henry Eyring, Commodore Perry Liston, Robert Wood Mathie, John Monroe Moody, Anson Perry Winsor, Moses Franklin Farnsworth ,Adolphus Rennie Whitehea, Joseph Harmon

Do you like Fire? O House On Fire Ruin

House on Fire Ruin

The Ancient Ones built these between 200 and 1300 A.D.. These small graineries have out lasted by far our two by four homes. I love things done with skill and care. If you are up in my part of the woods you can see this beautiful piece in progress. it will be done in a few days. Its going for $2500 framed. you can pre purchase it on line at bedardfineart.com go to the landscape section in my web store.

SALE SPECIAL OCT 1-31 2015 WEBSTORE WWW.BEDARDFINEART.COM

WWW.bedardfineart.com

JESUS THE CHRIST BY TALMAGE 100 YEARS AGO!!

JESUS THE CHRIST

LDS literature- the  classic "Jesus the Christ" by Elder James E. Talmage.  I have A LEATHER BOUND  edition  I received on my twenty second birthday in 1977 its is a wonderful testimony of the life of Christ. I have read it several times and am going to give it another read. I think no book can give justice to This Man among men. Talmage however did very well in my personal opinion . I am not a writer though I love to read. I think I can write a little with a paint brush, so thats what I do. I read than I recreate  what I read in paint. My painting Jesus The Christ is inspired by talmage's book and George Frederic Handel's Messiah. I over the years hope to paint as much of the Life of Christ as I can. I can think of no greater subject.

The Nauvoo Temple Restored

The Nauvoo Temple Restored by Michael Bedard ©

The Nauvoo Temple is a beautiful sight in the winter season. Quiet and light, it  is clear and soft on the eyes. This Winter landscape is seen from about 200 feet west looking east towards the temple. This is the same time of year many of the early saints received there final blessings and endowments, before the great exodus west. 

Painting completed in Jan 2002 in Nauvoo, Illinois. prints now available at At the Store under Temples categories: www.bedardfineart.com

Presidential Candidate of Joseph Smith Jr. June 27,1884 Annivery

Presidential Candidate 

 Joseph Smith Jr. 

  “We should be ‘anxiously engaged’ in good causes and leave the world a better place for having lived in it .” 

Joseph Smith Presidential Candidate 1844
Artist Michael Bedard



I used this same flag first in the painting below  of the Laying of the Nauvoo Temple.

Joseph Smith martyred on June 27, 1844, at the Carthage Jail, ending his brief presidential campaign. Although he did not gain redress for the wrongs suffered by the Saints in Missouri, his campaign had brought much favorable public attention to the Church. Many years later, President Ezra Taft Benson said, Joseph Smith’s presidential campaign had sought to make the United States a better place, not only for the Latter-day Saints, but for all Americans. http://josephsmithsr.com/

also if you would like to purchase a print of this go to my web sight store/Patriotic 

www.bedardfineart.com

Nauvoo Temple Corner Stone Ceremony 1841   

artist Michael Bedard

 The sixth of April , 1841, was a memorable day in the history of Nauvoo. That day the corner stones of the great  temple which God had commanded his people to build were laid. Early that morning the sisters presented to Joseph  Smith and the Nauvoo Legion a silk flag with 27 stars representing each state in the union at that time. This flag was saluted with canon fire and than accompanied the Nauvoo legion as it made its solemn sacred march up mauholland street  to the laying ceremony. 

General Joseph Smith 

Where an answer to prayer began !

Joseph's Home in Palmire New York
taken 2007 last day of April

This some of my family: starting left; Lis,John, Abe and my sweetheart of thirty years Pamela. We are missing Sarah, Alma, Ben, and Adam in this picture.

So this is where it all began! Wow I could not believe I was here, the sacred grove where every prayer on the lips of many christian and non christian alive today was answered .They were pray to find out the purpose of life? This question has been asked in many way sizes and color but really it boils down to the essence of; the purpose, origin and nature of man. When Joseph went into the grove he went into find out which if any of the current sect of religions were true. But he came out with much more.

The First Vision Of the Restoration  Early spring of 1820 

     The personal appearance of Jesus Christ and God the Father to Joseph Smith in the early spring of 1820 marks the most glorious event since the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

“After I had retired into the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God.

 I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me and had such astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. 

     But exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction, not to an imaginary ruin but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world who had such a marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being. Just at this moment of great alarm I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

      It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound.  When the light rested upon me I saw two personages (whose brightness and glory defy all description) standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me calling me by name and said (pointing to the other) ‘This is my beloved Son, Hear him. 

I desired to paint  “ The First Vision of the Restoration “, in such a way that others might know Joseph’s experience in every detail as if they had been there. I shot the background  to be used for this painting in Manchester New York. April, 2007 on Joseph Smith’s Sr. Farm where it took place.

     When Joseph went into the woods  that early spring to find out what sect of faith he should join he not only received an answer to this question, but for me a revelation of even greater import was revealed. God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ were separate, distinct, Tangible beings whom he  communicated  in a personal way face to face. Joseph Smith Jr.’s experience in 1820 revealed God as in times past desires to guide his children as they humbly seek him for answers. 

Michael Bedard

Thank goodness his noble parents did not say You need to be WHAT WE ARE!  and do what we say, but instead they encouraged him to search and find out for himself. Free will!!! Something the Founding Fathers of this country new and cherished. We Hold These Truths to be "SELF EVIDENT THAT ALL MEN ARE EQUAL ...TO PURSUE HAPPINESS...". 

Heart of Zion ~ Artist Michael Bedard

Heart of Zion Artist Michael Bedard

This beautiful painting comes from Zion's park near Weeping Rock. It seemed to me when I saw this her cliff, I could see the very heart of zion beating figuratively of course! I love it. It was an easy painting to do. However it still took thirty days from start to finish

Heart of Zion
Framed
 Original oil on Canvas
24 x 36 inches
price  $4,950.00

Limited & Open Ed. Giclee canvas Prints are also available at my web store.

purchase at WWW.bedardfineart.com or call 801-803-3415

Joseph Smith Sr. & Lucy Mack Smith Noble Parents

Joseph Smith Sr. & Lucy Mack Smith
Noble  Parents

Their are not to many good portraits the sweet couple who gave so much to the world. This painting is a way to honer them and  remember them.  

I painted these Noble Parents while living in Nauvoo Illinois.

I used some very good friends of mine use would give the shirt of their back to someone in need.

As always I believe what you are on the inside shows up on the outside when doing portraits. So I picked the Andersons who live in Nauvoo.  

Noble Parents 

Joseph Smith Sr. 

                     These nobel parents, Joseph smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith  raised the young boy Joseph Smith. Jr. , who become the instraument in the Lord’s hand to retore the, “ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints”. 

      Joseph Smith Jr. wrote concerning his father: “He was a great and a good man. The envy of knaves and fools was heaped upon him. . . . He was of noble stature and possessed a high, and holy, and exalted, and virtuous mind. . . . I love my father and his memory; and the memory of his noble deeds rests with ponderous weight upon my mind, and many of his kind and parental words to me are written on the tablet of my heart.”

      In a revelation given through Joseph Smith four months after the death of his father, the Lord refers to “my aged servant Joseph Smith, Sen., who sitteth with Abraham at his right hand, and blessed and holy is he, for he is mine” (D&C 124:19).

 Lucy Mack Smith

      After six years of marriage, Lucy Mack became very ill, was diagnosed with “confirmed consumption,” Lucy did not feel prepared for death ...  She spent the night pleading with the Lord to spare her life so she could bring up her children  and “be a comfort” to her husband. She vowed that, if her life was spared, she would serve God with all her heart, whereupon she heard a voice advising her, “Seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. Let your heart be comforted; ye believe in God, believe also in me.” From that point on, Lucy began a long search for a religion that would teach her the way of salvation. 

Jacobs Ladder

Jacob's Ladder

Jacob's Ladder

I would love to do the full version of this some day when I get a commission I will. Their are a few points on this I would like to share. The ladder is a humble ladder held together with the threads of Abrahams Faith, passion for priesthood blessing of the ancient prophets.

The Lord desires all of his children. equal blessings of eternal marriage and family as I mentioned below. The second is the rungs start out a little crooked but straighten as we learn to obey His will and not our own. and the third is the ladder gets more narrow not because we are narrow minded who  follow Christ  but because we have more light and are less prone to wander into darkness and misery.

Dawn in Snow Canyon by Michael Bedard

Dawn In Snow Canyon 

This view is on your way as you go to Johnson's Arch. A simple painting with a delicate touch both in color and edges. A combination of palette and brush work. This little peace went to the Levitt family

Michael Bedard

The Promises of Abraham Saint George Temple 2015

The Promises of Abraham  Saint George Temple

Artist  Michael Bedard ©

 Genesis 15:1,2,5 & 6

 1 After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying,

    Fear not, Abram: I am thy  shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

 2 And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless... ?

 5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars,

    if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

 6 And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Artist’s Thoughts

      On the left of this painting, I depict the Lord’s great promise to Abraham of a posterity as 

numerous as the stars in the sky.  The Saint George temple at night, is a beautiful white, reminding us to be pure in thought, always honest and of pure intent.

     Those who enter the temple make sacred covenants to keep the Lords commandments. In return, 

they are promised that the Lord will bless them with eternal marriage and family relationships. 

Michael Bedard working on Commissioned Painting
Promises of Abraham 

This painting was completed about Christmas time 2015. Limited and open edition prints will in the store and webstore starting Monday.  I had such fun working on This Painting I think it makes a great companion to " A Miraculous Request to Pres. Wilford Woodruff 1877" I completed in 2011.

A Miraculous Request to  Pres.Wilford Woodruff