The Wall Comes Down! Bjorn Leaves on a Mission

Preparation Sketch of the Bauerfeinds taking son Bjorn to leave on his Mission.

As Communism disintigrated in the Soviet Block nations, the wall began to come down and East Germany and West Germany began the efforts of reuniting (two Koreas please take a page out of that notebook!).  Bjorn Bauerfeind's parents drove him past the open gates, (the guards no longer armed with machine guns) to the airport to fly to the United States to begin serving the mission for his Church in Oregon.  The sketch above is another version of Bjorn and his parents driving past the gate guards and the jubilant people celebrating the coming down of the wall. This is the sketch that will develop into a finished painting.

I'll have more about how I came to know Bjorn soon.

A Mormon Missionary from Communist East Germany!

A rough sketch of Bjorn Bauerfeind leaving East Germany to serve as a Missionary.

Several months ago I received an email from Bjorn Bauerfeind, a young business man who lives in Leipzig, Germany.  He was aware that I have painted many Historical Paintings, representing the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He explained that he would like me to paint some scenes of the history of the Church in East Germany.

Before the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 The DPR or Democratic Peoples Republic of Germany was known as East Germany by those of us in the West and Bjorn's home of Leipzig is located there.   When World War Two ended in 1945, Germany was devastated.  They had lost millions of people, soldiers and civilians.  Primarily a result of Hitler and the Nazi leadership in Germany being  determined to fight to the death.  After the fighting ceased, the nation of Germany was divided.  The Allies, consisting of the Americans, British and French, instituted a more open and free  government in West Germany and the Russians created a harsh communist government in East Germany.  Over the years, fences went up, guards were posted and eventually the wall went up, all to keep people from fleeing the confines of East Germany.  Many people were imprisoned, or shot and killed trying to leave.   

Wherever Communism governs, there is a determined effort to abolish religion.  Church people of all religions were the victims of Official persecution and bigotry.  Opportunities in work and education were revoked by those who practiced their faith.  Church meetings were always under surveillance by Government spies.  

So how did the young Mormon, named Bjorn Baurfiend, come to serve an L.D.S. Mission in Oregon in the United States?  To be continued....

Wyoming-Our New Home

Moving my studio to Byron, Wyoming is complete (pretty much) and I've used winter wagon train scenes to represent that long move (we started in June) because we could have come by wagon train in the same amount of time and we drove two trucks in the winter time.  Mind you, if we had come by wagon train we would have far less of our stuff with us.

The Move

This painting represents our move from Arizona to Wyoming. It would show us coming into snowy Wyoming even though I traded the speckled oxen for an Xterra and a Budget Truck.  I lost my sheep but I still have plenty of "sheep dip" (that means stuff if you don't catch the inuendo).

Although we are moving from the beautiful semi-arid (no snow) Tucson, Arizona to semi-arid (quite a bit of snow) Byron, Wyoming, this picture represents how I feel the slow and tiring effort a move is.

You Can Lead a Horse to Water, But...

A cowboy up the South Fork of the Shoshone River near Cody, Wyoming posed on his pinto along with his two pack horses. When he brought the horses up to the river, his horse drank his fill and the other two just stood there. So it really is true that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.