RSSByrd Bartholomew Mount Nebo 2
Wow! It has been months since I posted anything new. Like almost everyone, I have been busy. I have been helping my students complete their portfolios, visiting Cozumel, getting my yard in order and the list could go on. 
I thought I would restart my blog by posting another painting by my father, Byrd Bartholomew. This painting has an interesting story. The composition is a view from south of Mount Nebo with one of Byrd’s trademark twisted junipers. He painted it in the early sixties and donated it to our local church. I remember seeing it every Sunday when I was a kid and feeling proud that my father’s painting was hanging in our church building. Sometime in the early seventies church leaders decided to remove original art from all the buildings in our area. The painting would have been sent to the garbage dump or perhaps the local thrift store (Deseret Industries for those of you from Utah). One of my mother’s good friends was the local woman’s church group leader (ward Relief Society president). She saw the painting and retrieved it from the discard pile and attempted to return it to Byrd. Byrd knew that she really loved the painting and promptly told her that it was now hers to keep forever. I understand that it is still a treasured work of art in their home even though the original rescuer and her husband have passed away Their children and grandchildren still love and enjoy the painting.
My dad only sold a very few of the works of art he made. He made hundreds of oil paintings, sculptures, drawings and watercolors. He gave them away freely with only one stipulation that when the recipient grew tired of the art work they should return it. I only know of one living recipient who actually returned a painting.
My wife and I are some of the people lucky enough to have purchased a painting from your dad, of Upper Calf Creek Falls. For 20 years it has hung on our various living room walls, where is still is! We treasure it.