“The mountains are calling and I must go” is a famous quote by Naturalist John Muir.
Paintings of mountains, either as a focal point or in the background, is not new to landscape art. All of the great masters, such as Thomas Moran, Frederic Church, Paul Cezanne, Vincent Van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, John Singer Sargent, Katsushika Hakusa and Albert Bierstadt painted them. In fact Bierstadt had a mountain named after him in Colorado. Mount Bierstadt (14,065 feet) is a mountain summit in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains about 43 miles west by south of the city of Denver. In 1863 Bierstadt made it to the summit and was the first to record its data. Initially Bierstadt had named the mountain Mount Rosalie after a woman named Rosalie Osborne Ludlow, who would later become his wife. But in 1914 the mountain was renamed Mount Bierstadt in honor of the western landscape painter.
Over the course of Peter’s career he did many paintings of mountains. In 2010 Peter did two paintings, a study and a larger version, of Nagunt Mesa and Timber Top. In the study you can see the rich deep red color of the Navajo Sandstone offset by the lush green foreground foliage. The dark foreboding clouds add to the drama. Nagunt Mesa is a 7,785 foot mountain summit located in the Kolob Canyon area of Zion National Park in Utah. The Paiute word nagunt means bighorn sheep. Located just 1.3 miles to the south of Nagunt Mesa is Timber Top Mountain. Timber Top is the second highest peak (8,055 feet) in the park. The Timber Top Overlook Trail, which is only a 30 minute, 1 mile round trip walk, leads to a spectacular 360 degree view of Kolob Canyon.
Approximately 57 miles to the NE of Nagunt Mesa is Brian Head Peak. Peter did two paintings of Brian Head. Aside from the icy snow Peter chose to use the clouds, which could shroud and obscure the mountain peak at any time, as a source of mood and interest. Brian Head Peak is 11,307 feet tall and lies on the west side of the Markagunt Plateau which is located in the Dixie National Forest in Utah. Brian Head was originally known as Monument Peak and Bear Flats. No one is really sure how Brian Head got its name but there are a few theories. One is that it was named after 3 time Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan. Another theory is that John Wesley Powell named it after an official in the Geographic Survey Office whose name was Bryan. What we do know is that the mountain was a point of reference by early surveyors and expedition leaders. The name Brian means high or noble. It is related to the Celtic root brixs meaning hill or high or the old Irish word briig which means might or power.