"I don't think of myself as an artist. I'm a fellow that likes art and likes
memories. I think it's fair they called this a journal, a visual journal, and so
the art is really a, kind of like at the end of the day I'll write a, something that
I want to remember the feeling of and that's what the, the paintings are the
same way. Almost all of them generated by wanting to preserve a memory or create a
memory. The actual painting time, it can be as little as 20 minutes but you, you
have to then go do something else between the drying, between the washes.
I'm embarrassed because my assistants who are here are nice enough to have
cataloged them. I would have told you a "few," they tell me it's more than
1000. Yeah, and that means of, that's the ones I didn't throw away so they're, but
they've, about 1000, yeah." "There are three journals in the exhibition to give
an example of the importance of record-keeping in his work but then of
the works that we chose I sat down with President Eyring and went through each
and every one and there were some that just seemed very obviously about
memories--it was his wife labeled that way--but what was so fascinating to me is
you know, images of Paris, he would say, "Oh, this is about Kathy." Or images of
Scotland, "This is about a memory with Kathy." So, those memories emerged largely
through interview and through conversation." "I can't resist occasionally
trying to capture a memory, particularly a feeling of a memory, and I, so I'm
driven to it, I often feel a little guilty when I stop to even do it so it's,
it's a balance that I, it just comes. It's the difference between a
balance between the things I, I know the Lord wants me to do and then some
memories that I want to preserve. It's just trying to do only things that matter and
then also being sure that you make a record of things that really matter
that might later on be valuable and that's
almost all this is that kind of thing."