July 7, 2009, Tuesday KIRTLAND, OH (THOMPSON)
Today we went to a place called “Historic Kirtland.” The Mormon Church has a Visitor’s Center there and offered us a tour, and we said we would love one! We started in a gathering room outside a small theater. When we walked into this room I was immediately captivated by an oil painting that has to be the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. It was by Walter Rane. We also saw some other work of his here; they have a whole Book of Mormon gallery by him, but nothing like this one. It is a painting of the building of the Kirtland Temple with the temple about ¾ of the way done. It's about 4 x 5 feet. The perspective is absolutely perfect. The contrast of the blue sky and the brown building is exquisite. The people around the building are perfect. The folds of their clothes, their faces, are perfect. Oh my but I love this painting almost as much as the statue of David in Florence, Italy! This picture doesn't do it justice! We next went into a little theater and watched a time period film about Kirtland in the 1800’s with a whole group of RLDS members.