1993j_Family_Reunion_Turner.txt Division 2. Body. Section A: Family. Section B: Learning. Section C: Gospel. Owner: Robert Llewellyn Nelson Chapter VI. Living View: 135 degrees Type: Group Portrait Location: Webster's Flat up Cedar Canyon Perspective: 1 Season: Summer Family: Family Reunion Scales: 1 Time: Dusk Concept: Vail Interval: Eternal Life The family reunion was the first painting completed after the portrait. It was followed by the 360 degree view of the music room and then the landscapes. The 2 x 1 format was recognized as precisely what the human eye sees, and the painting on the right of the veil was added to give these two paintings combined the same physical format as the others. Consequently its format is symbolic on that level of being an outward perception. The artist always likes to work with two perceptions of what we see: one external and one internal. To the artist, reality is more than the shell. The painting is taken from photographs of an actual Nelson Family Reunion at Webster's Flat, up Cedar Canyon and just before the Zion Canyon / Kolob Plateau overview. In addition to members of the Nelson family, a series of photographs allowed Hafens, Sharps, and Llewellyns, representing most of Marti's and my immediate families to join the painting. Many of the people have never been together. A sketch identifies the names of all of the participants. There is a lot of activity: children running, poking the fire, youth watching and taking pictures, and uncles and aunts talking. The ghosts are ancestors that have left this life. Uncle Bud Nelson, the ghost against the divider on the right hand side of the painting, ran sheep on Webster's Flat. Grandma and Grandpa Nelson (Emma, Roice Bengt, and Beverly Krueger) and his parents (Bengt, Jr. and Sara Catherine Hunter) are ghosts in the front left foreground. Grandpa Hafen (Paul Adolph) is the ghost by the campfire, and Grandma Hafen (Helen Forsha) is working her way to the benches. Emmit Sharp is the ghost in back of the campfire, and Marti's Mom and stepfather (Robbye Chloe and Guy Jackson) are on the right side of the campfire. The painting is Rob's and shows him up in a tree overlooking the festivities. I am playing the guitar. One of the songs tied to this chapter (I Once Saw a Family) mentions how "evening goes and the fire burns down low, with coals that look like children asleep." The guitar case is on the other side of the veil, where there is a spiritual family reunion. The case is open, representing the open tomb. The additional section allowed inclusion of the sunburst and a faint hint of the jet trail against the sunset, both of which were not in the original painting. There were eight paintings before the spiritual reunion addition, and this addition makes number nine. Nine seems more appropriate than eight, even if it is not a prime number, if for no other reason than because Beethoven and many of the other major composers wrote 9 symphonies. Years after I wrote these words, I discovered a spatial language in the Book of Mormon based on sets of 9 concepts. And with 4 stepchildren, the number of paintings becomes 13, which is a prime number. Together the paintings form a statement of synergism and the power of man and God working together. Two minds working together are better than one, and an entire family working together is one of the most powerful forces on earth. After all, everyone is smarter than anyone. The people in the now and the people in the past give a tremendous feeling of peace in this painting.