A Note on Provo Temple Site, 1968

PROVO TEMPLE SITE, 1968 . . . . because they kept asking me for an example of Mormon art. I waited for a day and a half out there, looking for the temple through an empty picture frame without ever touching my large white canvas. Silly, sitting among sego lilies, waiting for angels to come and pose. Faithless and impatient, I gave up and tried to paint what I saw and failed—light descending from heaven, cleaving the mountain, hallowing, redeeming grass, baptizing unto newness of leaf, working atonement, eternal marriage, achieving godhood, with all the winged beings hymning in the wild wheat.