Spinning Peace Symbols

I love Montana. For 18 years, I have painted her beauty on large and small paintings in the studio and on location. She is a land of varied landscapes in every direction. None of her cities are so large that you can’t easily and quickly see nature spread out before you. Her resources are wild, untapped and plentiful.

The invitation to paint for the “ Montana Landscapes - The Eye of the Beholder Show” at the Holter Museum, in Helena, Montana, gave me the opportunity to paint a landscape that I have had in my heart for several years. I chose to paint the beautiful and powerful wind of Montana represented by the giant windmills along highway 191. Standing there, being among the young modern giants that gather the wind, was a thrill beyond measure. I was enthralled by the choreography of those turning blades as their graceful arms gathered the wind and turned easily. It became a wind ballet.

Is this not the ultimate form of peaceful resource? Reflecting upon the horrible oil disaster destroying the environment and wildlife in the Gulf, the lives lost over the oil wars in the Middle East, and our beloved earth choking under the fumes of our homes, cars, and machinery, I realized that our wind is truly the one way to bring more peace in the world. Each state, each country owns it’s own wind. You can’t go to war to control another country’s wind power. It won’t “run out”. It is eternally available to all countries.

My hope is that this painting will enlighten the eyes and the heart of each person that gazes upon it. That gentle breeze is peace. The roaring blast of air is prosperity. Even the arms capturing the wind are shaped like the international “Peace Symbol” made so popular in the 60’s.

The Wind Ballet
22 x 28 at the Holter Museum