“My Mountain View”

Oil on Canvas

2026

My Mountain View. When I was a kid I always wanted to see the mountains every day. I loved winter in Michigan but I always wanted to go to the mountains. Michigan can be so cold and grey and leaves you feeling claustrophobic. I moved to Utah to go to college and I never left because I love those damn mountains so much. Every day you are surrounded by them, and even when there are clouds you can usually watch them as they move on through and reveal a beautiful sunny day. Recently I have been getting back into journaling and every day I write down 10 things I am grateful for. One day I was struggling to think and then I looked from my desk out the window at the mountains and wrote “7) My Mountain view”. I love how the mountains look from far away. They take on beautiful blue and purple hues. From my porch I get to see this view every day and I love how the trees frame it. I was looking at this one day and thought to myself wow the mountains sort of look like a heart through the trees. So I am really trying to push that idea in this painting, along with the “blood drops” in the bottom right. I really like how I did the trees as well. Trees can be really hard to paint because the canopy isn't a solid mass like a ball, they’re translucent in ways and “solid” in others. And I feel like I did a good job of achieving this effect. I felt really good while I was painting this one, it was really fun and man, I really love the mountains.