The Founding Fathers & Wilford Woordruff

A work in progress... 
 A Miraculous Request


The founding fathers, early United States Presidents and other eminent men appeared to Wilford Woodruff in the St. George Temple in 1877.

I personally believe this to be one of the most important paintings I have done or will ever do (I've certainly done more work and research on this painting than any other...). I hope it will have a good effect.

The Story Behind "Brother's Keeper"

Copyright Bedard 

“Brother’s Keeper" 1856

Artist: Michael Bedard

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 four-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.

Giclee Prints on Canvas:

Image size	price
16 x 26	$208
14 x 24	$165
8 x 13	$52
5 x 7	$18

The Story Behind "Ascending Rocky Ridge"

Bedard copyrighted

"Ascending Rocky Ridge"

Artist: Michael Bedard

The day we ascended Rocky Ridge “I’ll never forget as long as I live. It was a bitter cold morning in October as we broke camp. . . Father and Rueben were on the burial detail. Mother, who was helping to pull the heaviest cart, had stayed behind until they could finish their sad work. After a short service we, with my cart, ran ahead to catch the rest of the company, and Mother and Rueben started to follow. Father collapsed and fell in the snow. He tried two or three times to get up with Mother’s help, then finally he asked her to go on and when he felt rested, he would come on later, Mother knew in her heart that he had given out, but perhaps, she said in a few minutes with some rest he could come on. She took the cart and hurried to follow us.”  Later the next day their father was among the deceased.

- William James, Willie Handcart Company

"The Coldest Hour of the Twenty Four" 

Artist: Michael Bedard

“Truly an act of courage and love not to ever be forgotten;  

Brother David P. Kimball, George W. Grant, and C. Allen Huntington, during ‘the coldest hour of the twenty-four,’ carried many of the ill-fated Martin Company across the Sweetwater River at Devil's Gate to Martin’s Cove.” 

- Patience Loader, Martin Handcart Company