By Al R. Young The Hearth article in this year's Christmas issue of The Storybook Home Journal featured hand-painted candles inspired by Dickens' novella, The Battle of Life and The Pickwick Papers. We simply couldn't resist the idea of personalizing candles to brighten Christmas and the coming year (besides, they made marvelous Christmas gifts!). The article provides detailed visual and verbal instructions for creating candles embellished with mistletoe, sweetbrier, and delicate Christmas greenery... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Christmas, Hand crafts, Holidays

By Nancy Young
Total palate recall may be less than perfect, but this cherry sauce—served up with baked ham at many a memorable holiday meal during my childhood—comes close. Though my mother has long since lost the original recipe, here's a happy (and quickly whipped up!) approximation that satisfied even my discriminating siblings at this year's family Christmas party. Serve it warm with anything from ham and pork roast to ice cream or French toast.

In keeping with our Dickens Christmas, we've christened it after two of Dickens' most delightful characters, the Cheeryble brothers, from Nicholas Nickleby... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Christmas, Holidays, Recipes by Nancy Young

By Al R. Young The The Complete Dickens Christmas issue of The Storybook Home Journal is now available from Al Young Studios.  This issue features these regular sections:Decorating - A Surprising Transformation (3 pages)Hearth - Blazing Out Upon The Night (2 pages)Kitchen - The Repast Was Set Forth (4 pages)Music - A Christmas Carol (2 pages)Garden - Keep My Memory Green (2 pages)Workshops - A Tray Of Knives And Forks (2 pages)Bookshelf - Round The Christmas Fire (2 pages)Attic - Living Richly Without Being Rich (1 page)Garret - The Cottage (4 pages)The Complete Dickens Christmas is the 67th issue of the Journal, published bi-monthly since November 2000... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 11 No. 1, 2010, News, The Storybook Home Journal issues

By Al R. Young December 7th, Al, Ashton, and Elspeth lectured at the Museum of Church History and Art, providing docents with a behind-the-scenes discussion of pieces currently on display in the Christmas exhibit. While they were there, they snapped some pictures of the exhibit in the center gallery.... Read more »

Tags: At The Going Down Of The Sun, Unto The City Of David, According To Thy Word, 2010, Exhibits, News

By Al R. Young According To Thy Word, by Elspeth Young, was featured in an article entitled Fear Not in the December 2010 issue of the Liahona magazine, published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The painting is part of Al Young Studios' Women of the Bible Fine Art Collection.... Read more »

Tags: According To Thy Word, 3rd-party Publications, 2010, News

By Al R. Young According To Thy Word, by Elspeth Young, was featured in an article entitled Fear Not in the December 2010 issue of the Ensign Magazine, published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The painting is part of Al Young Studios' Women of the Bible Fine Art Collection.... Read more »

Tags: According To Thy Word, 3rd-party Publications, 2010, News

By Al R. Young The annual Christmas exhibit at the Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City includes three paintings by artists at Al Young Studios.

The exhibit, in the Museum's main gallery, is now open to the public (free of charge) and runs through February 2011. Museum hours--Monday through Friday--are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Visit this page of the Museum's web site for its holiday schedule. For information about location and parking, visit this page... Read more »

Tags: At The Going Down Of The Sun, Unto The City Of David, According To Thy Word, 2010, Exhibits, News

By Al R. Young
High-resolution digital copies are available from the Studios for use as illustrations.  Use the serial number—appearing below the thumbnail—in requesting permission from the Studios (see links at the bottom of this page for detail).


The correct form of attribution when publishing an image is specified in the license agreement issued to the publisher by Al Young Studios.Guidelines for requests to copy or publish artworks created by the Artists of Al Young Studios

Guidelines for commissioning Al Young Studios to create illustrations
Return to this portfolio
Browse all portfolios
Browse Newsroom articles about Illustration
The original image is available for sale, please contact us for details... Read more »

Tags: Unto The City Of David, 2010, People and Stories of the Bible

By Nancy Young
Even though the flowering quince (Chaenomeles japonica) that thrives near our espaliered apple trees isn't a true quince (Cydonia oblonga), it still proffers up a small basketful of tart fruit every autumn—made all the better for a touch of frost. Since we don't use any pesticides on them, we simply cut them up and toss them into the steam juicer.
The resulting juice is neither abundant nor delicious (think in terms of a dissolved aspirin tablet); but when mixed with some cane sugar to taste, (no pectin is necessary, since these quinces are practically pure pectin!) and placed in a preheated 350 degree oven, until it becomes very syrupy—it make an exquisite jelly... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Recipes by Nancy Young

By Al R. Young The 2011 Calendar: Women of the New Testament, published by Deseret Book, featured 13 original oil paintings from Al Young Studios, ten by Elspeth Young and three by Al R. Young.  Twelve of the paintings are part of Al Young Studios' Women of the Bible Fine Art Collection.  One painting is part of The Messiah Collection.

Commentaries (in the calendar) accompanying each painting provide a reference passage from the Bible, a summary of the character featured in the painting, and an artist's commentary concerning the painting itself... Read more »

Tags: I Shall Be Whole, One By One, The Windows Of Heaven, Living Water, The Substance Of Hope, Forsaking All, Blessed Is She That Believed, As It Began To Dawn, According To Thy Word, She Worketh Willingly With Her Hands, And Martha Served, She...

By Al R. Young The Austen in Autumn issue of The Storybook Home Journal is now available from Al Young Studios.  This issue features these regular sections:Decorating - This Nest Of Comforts (3 pages)Hearth - In The Perfect Happiness Of The Union (7 pages)Kitchen - That Season Of Taste And Tenderness (3 pages)Music - A Most Excellent Ball (4 pages)Garden - Garden Walls Covered With Fruit Trees (2 pages)Workshops - Neatly Painted Chairs (2 pages)Attic - Living Richly Without Being Rich (1 page)Austen in Autumn is the 66th issue of the Journal, published bi-monthly since November 2000... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 10 No. 6, 2010, News, The Storybook Home Journal issues

By Al R. Young In Life Lessons from Fathers of Faith compiled by Gary Toyn and Michael Winder (published by Covenant Communications), "For the Sake of That Beloved Book" (pages 254-257) features a summary of the story from My Father's Captivity.  The companion DVD produced with the book also includes a filmed interview with Al R. Young.... Read more »

Tags: 3rd-party Publications, 2010, News

By Al R. Young
High-resolution digital copies are available from the Studios for use as illustrations.  Use the serial number—appearing below the thumbnail—in requesting permission from the Studios (see links at the bottom of this page for detail).


The correct form of attribution when publishing an image is specified in the license agreement issued to the publisher by Al Young Studios.Guidelines for requests to copy or publish artworks created by the Artists of Al Young Studios

Guidelines for commissioning Al Young Studios to create illustrations
Return to this portfolio
Browse all portfolios
Browse Newsroom articles about Illustration
The original image is available for sale, please contact us for details... Read more »

Tags: At The Going Down Of The Sun, 2010, Book of Mormon characters

By Al R. Young At The Going Down Of The Sun is the newest oil painting to be added to the line of original artworks from Al Young Studios.

Click here to see a larger image of the new painting, read the artist's commentary, and look at the selection of prints--if any are available.... Read more »

Tags: At The Going Down Of The Sun, 2010, Al R. Young, Heroes of the Book of Mormon Art Collection, Legacy, News, Oil paintings and prints, The Messiah Art Collection

By Nancy Young
If searching for a slightly indolent way to celebrate Labor Day, two rather forgotten favorite films come instantly to mind--The Devil and Miss Jones, a 1941 romp about attempts to unionize an NYC department store, and The Solid Gold Cadillac, a 1956 Columbia Pictures remake of a Broadway play, rendered eerily topical by Wall Street shenanigans of the 21st century. Both would be remarkable just for featuring two of the finest comediennes of the twentieth century,Jean Arthur and Judy Holliday, respectively; but also spotlight other insufficiently heralded performers... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Forgotten Films, Recommended viewing

By Al R. Young The Captains Courageous issue of The Storybook Home Journal is now available from Al Young Studios.  This issue features these regular sections:Decorating - For the Return of the Beloved (5 pages)Hearth - On Stormy Days (2 pages)Kitchen - Come T' Supper (4 pages)Music - A Rattling Catchy Tune (1 page)Garden - Full of Nasturtiums (2 pages)Workshops - Play Checkers Till the Cows Come Home (2 pages)Bookshelf - Rudyard Kipling (2 pages)Attic - Living Richly Without Being Rich (1 page)Garret - Gossip And Disappointment (3 pages)Captains Courageous is the 65th issue of the Journal, published bi-monthly since November 2000... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 10 No. 5, 2010, News, The Storybook Home Journal issues

By Al R. Young Readers of The Storybook Home Journal will be familiar with The Veranda, a place for readers to share inspiring thoughts, images, and interests within the pages of the Journal. We'd like to expand our "Veranda" to include the Newsroom as well, and are beginning with a little more about British subscriber, Rowena Edlin-White. You may have already noticed our new sidebars, right and left, including a section for links to a few blogs of Storybook Home readers and subscribers of which we were already aware... Read more »

Tags: 2010, The Veranda

By Al R. Young And My Soul Hungered, by Al R. Young, was featured in an article entitled "Teaching Children from the Scriptures" in the August 2010 issue of the Ensign Magazine, published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The painting is part of Al Young Studios' Heroes of the Book of Mormon Fine Art Collection.... Read more »

Tags: And My Soul Hungered, 3rd-party Publications, 2010, News

By Al R. Young The August 2010 issue of the Liahona magazine, published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, featured And My Soul Hungered, by Al R. Young, in an article entitled "Teaching Children from the Scriptures."  The painting is part of Al Young Studios' Heroes of the Book of Mormon Fine Art Collection.... Read more »

Tags: And My Soul Hungered, 3rd-party Publications, 2010, News

By Al R. Young
We are in the throes of our work on the next issue of the Journal featuring Kipling's Captains Courageous. Among our endeavors to "step inside the story," we're making an end table into an intricate checker board in honor of Uncle Salters and Penn, researching the antique art of scrimshaw, savoring new fish dinners, studying about nasturtiums, enjoying the life of Kipling, and decorating with summer memories. Here's a little peek at the cover for the issue, right.

And, below is another inspiring quote about making a home:

"A house is what we design and decorate to suit an image of ourselves, and a home is what we establish by actually living there... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Beauty and home, Home quotes

By Al R. Young Our linden tree is in rich, fragrant bloom once again--a scent straight out of heaven. We photographed its blossoms this morning, photograph above, and are reminded of the linden blossom herbal drink blend we included in The Attic article in Vol 4 No 5 of The Storybook Home Journal, which featured James Ramsey Ullman's classic (and a family favorite), Banner in the Sky.
Linden blossom tea reputedly aids cardiovascular health, soothes nerves, calms fevers, and washes toxins from the body--but harvesting it for tea (even if you never drink it) is undoubtedly therapeutic, if only to spend an hour in Eden... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Flowers and garden

By Al R. Young
High-resolution digital copies are available from the Studios for use as illustrations.  Use the serial number—appearing below the thumbnail—in requesting permission from the Studios (see links at the bottom of this page for detail).


The correct form of attribution when publishing an image is specified in the license agreement issued to the publisher by Al Young Studios.Guidelines for requests to copy or publish artworks created by the Artists of Al Young Studios

Guidelines for commissioning Al Young Studios to create illustrations
Return to this portfolio
Browse all portfolios
Browse Newsroom articles about Illustration
The original image is available for sale, please contact us for details... Read more »

Tags: The Miracle Of Forgiveness, 2010, People and Stories of the Bible

By Al R. Young The Miracle Of Forgiveness is the newest oil painting to be added to the line of original artworks from Al Young Studios.

Click here to see a larger image of the new painting, read the artist's commentary, and look at the selection of prints--if any are available.... Read more »

Tags: The Miracle Of Forgiveness, 2010, Al R. Young, Legacy, News, Oil paintings and prints, The Messiah Art Collection, Women of the Bible Art Collection

By Nancy Young
Zaletti are addictive little Venetian cookies that happily feel both indulgent and wholesome due to their buttery, wholegrain base and raisin-rich sweetness. While I love them in their cookie persona, I don't always have time to roll and cut--so I came up with a zaletti cake that I could prepare quickly to get the flavor I love with a modest outlay of time. They can be cut into squares large or small, or, if I want to upscale them a bit, I can cut them with a biscuit cutter, as shown, since there's always some willing victim circling the kitchen ready to devour any oddly-shaped scraps... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Recipes by Nancy Young

By Nancy Young Dads take a lot of bad raps. As far back as my childhood--and that's pretty far--"Father Knows Best" meant that Jane Wyman as Mother actually knew best and Father, played by Robert Young, bumbled his way--albeit it with some grace--through a half hour of Betty-Bud-and-Kathy antics each week. Dads were always beaten at board games by their grade-school-age children in commercials, and everyone from Ricky Ricardo to Fred Flintstone had no clue when their wives were expecting, and went into panic attacks when those wives went into labor... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Holidays, Recipes by Nancy Young

By Al R. Young The Deephaven issue of The Storybook Home Journal is now available from Al Young Studios.  This issue features these regular sections:Decorating - Housekeepers In Earnest (2 pages)Hearth - So Kept In Remembrance (1 page)Kitchen - An Unreasonably Good Supper (3 pages)Music - Her Oldest Songs (1 page)Garden - What Love And Care (3 pages)Workshops - Laid In A Pattern (2 pages)Glass - The Top Of The Fashion (1 page)Attic - Living Richly Without Being Rich (1 page)Garret - The House On Wattle Street (3 pages)Deephaven is the 64th issue of the Journal, published bi-monthly since November 2000... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 10 No. 4, 2010, News, The Storybook Home Journal issues

By Al R. Young
High-resolution digital copies are available from the Studios for use as illustrations.  Use the serial number—appearing below the thumbnail—in requesting permission from the Studios (see links at the bottom of this page for detail).


The correct form of attribution when publishing an image is specified in the license agreement issued to the publisher by Al Young Studios.Guidelines for requests to copy or publish artworks created by the Artists of Al Young Studios

Guidelines for commissioning Al Young Studios to create illustrations
Return to this portfolio
Browse all portfolios
Browse Newsroom articles about Illustration
The original image is available for sale, please contact us for details... Read more »

Tags: The Windows Of Heaven, 2010, People and Stories of the Bible

By Al R. Young The Windows Of Heaven is the newest oil painting to be added to the line of original artworks from Al Young Studios.

Click here to see a larger image of the new painting, read the artist's commentary, and look at the selection of prints--if any are available.... Read more »

Tags: The Windows Of Heaven, 2010, Al R. Young, Legacy, News, Oil paintings and prints, The Messiah Art Collection, Women of the Bible Art Collection

By Al R. Young
High-resolution digital copies are available from the Studios for use as illustrations.  Use the serial number—appearing below the thumbnail—in requesting permission from the Studios (see links at the bottom of this page for detail).


The correct form of attribution when publishing an image is specified in the license agreement issued to the publisher by Al Young Studios.Guidelines for requests to copy or publish artworks created by the Artists of Al Young Studios

Guidelines for commissioning Al Young Studios to create illustrations
Return to this portfolio
Browse all portfolios
Browse Newsroom articles about Illustration
The original image is available for sale, please contact us for details... Read more »

Tags: Many Sorrows, 2010, People and Stories of the Bible

By Al R. Young Many Sorrows is the newest oil painting to be added to the line of original artworks from Al Young Studios.

Click here to see a larger image of the new painting, read the artist's commentary, and look at the selection of prints--if any are available.... Read more »

Tags: Many Sorrows, 2010, Elspeth C. Young, Legacy, News, Oil paintings and prints, Women of the Bible Art Collection

By Al R. Young We've all seen it--and it may have been in our own gardens--that long row of perfect, apricot-hued shrub roses lining a fence, except one of them is a very discordant red. Or maybe it's a pampered group of tea roses in the midst of a cutting garden, except instead of harboring future long-stemmed bouquets, one of the group is actually a fountaining, red social climber grabbing for space.
The interloper didn't crash the party, and he wasn't mislabeled at the nursery--he worked his way up from the very bottom, and now he's definitely on top... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Beauty and home, Flowers and garden

By Al R. Young
High-resolution digital copies are available from the Studios for use as illustrations.  Use the serial number—appearing below the thumbnail—in requesting permission from the Studios (see links at the bottom of this page for detail).


The correct form of attribution when publishing an image is specified in the license agreement issued to the publisher by Al Young Studios.Guidelines for requests to copy or publish artworks created by the Artists of Al Young Studios

Guidelines for commissioning Al Young Studios to create illustrations
Return to this portfolio
Browse all portfolios
Browse Newsroom articles about Illustration
The original image is available for sale, please contact us for details... Read more »

Tags: Upon Awakening, 2010, People and Stories of the Bible

By Al R. Young Upon Awakening is the newest oil painting to be added to the line of original artworks from Al Young Studios.

Click here to see a larger image of the new painting, read the artist's commentary, and look at the selection of prints--if any are available.... Read more »

Tags: Upon Awakening, 2010, Elspeth C. Young, Legacy, News, Oil paintings and prints, The Messiah Art Collection, Women of the Bible Art Collection

By Al R. Young
The Deephaven issue of The Storybook Home Journal shipped yesterday. Nineteenth century poet and inveterate gardener, Celia Thaxter, is part of The Garden article; unfortunately, we couldn't include more than a smattering of her wisdom as regards growing beautiful blooms, banishing nasty pests, and dealing with dodder and other beastly weeds. Anyone can find it all, however, in her delightful classic, An Island Garden.

Weeds are definitely in abundance here after our long, cold, sodden spring; so I adopt my Nana's long standing tradition of never returning from the out-of-doors, without stopping to do some weeding along the way... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Beauty and home, Flowers and garden

By Al R. Young As we continue work on the next Journal issue featuring Sarah Orne Jewett's Deephaven, we discovered some little snatches of musical trivia that invited a bit of research. There will only be room for Elspeth's new piano sheet music arrangement of the British folk tune, The Turtledove, within the Journal's pages. (See image, below, for a sneak peek of measures 5 through 7.) We thought we'd include a little bit of the musical trivia we unearthed about quotes from Deephaven here in the Newsroom, for any interested readers... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Music

By Nancy Young
"First and foremost" every Mother's Day weekend, our family "remembers Mama." A must watch film to kindle every best feeling about a day that can sometimes dwindle into a perfunctory and harried Hallmark holiday, I Remember Mama is a thoroughly delightful remake of John Van Druten's long running Broadway play of the same name. In the midst of World War II, the play was performed to packed audiences aching for a return to prewar family life.
Van Druten had adapted Kathryn Forbe's book, Mama's Bank Account, which also had been an overnight sensation when it was first published in 1943... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Forgotten Films, Holidays, Mothers Day, Recommended viewing

By Elspeth C. Young
At the Studio, we're always looking for another place to store a brush or two. In January, we posted ideas for creating handmade built-in brush holders for Studio convenience. This month, we'll be featuring ideas for free-standing brush holders, perfect for taking to a favorite plein-air painting spot, or grabbing for a day's painting at the easel.

Today, we're including some ideas for "re-purposed" containers, ideal for storing brushes, palette knives, and other studio paraphernalia without the extra cost of holders made expressly for the purpose by art supply vendors... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Tools supplies and operations

By Nancy Young


6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons olive or canola oil
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons unrefined or refined sugar
grated rind of one large lime
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
juice of one large lime
2 teaspoons baking powder
a fat pinch of salt (optional)
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup poppy seeds
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and pan spray muffin or popover tin(s). In the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, honey, lime rind, and vanilla... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Holidays, Mothers Day, Recipes by Nancy Young

By Al R. Young Mary and Elisabeth: Noble Daughters of God, published by Covenant Communications, featured According To Thy Word, by Elspeth Young.  The painting is part of Al Young Studios' Women of the Bible Fine Art Collection.... Read more »

Tags: According To Thy Word, 3rd-party Publications, 2010, News

By Al R. Young
High-resolution digital copies are available from the Studios for use as illustrations.  Use the serial number—appearing below the thumbnail—in requesting permission from the Studios (see links at the bottom of this page for detail).


The correct form of attribution when publishing an image is specified in the license agreement issued to the publisher by Al Young Studios.Guidelines for requests to copy or publish artworks created by the Artists of Al Young Studios

Guidelines for commissioning Al Young Studios to create illustrations
Return to this portfolio
Browse all portfolios
Browse Newsroom articles about Illustration
The original image is available for sale, please contact us for details... Read more »

Tags: I Will Send Their Words Forth, 2010, Book of Mormon characters

By Al R. Young I Will Send Their Words Forth is the newest oil painting to be added to the line of original artworks from Al Young Studios.

Click here to see a larger image of the new painting, read the artist's commentary, and look at the selection of prints--if any are available.... Read more »

Tags: I Will Send Their Words Forth, 2010, Elspeth C. Young, Heroes of the Book of Mormon Art Collection, Legacy, News, Oil paintings and prints

By Al R. Young Krista, a dear friend and Storybook Home reader, brought us this glorious touch of Spring from her carefully tended garden. They added the perfect touch to the kitchen mantle and, in turn, we wanted to share their beauty with our readers. These "Pink Impression" tulips put us into the same frame of mind expressed by Monet: "I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers."
(Painting, right, by Claude Monet.)... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Beauty and home, Floral arrangements, Flowers and garden

By Nancy Young
We've been working on the recipes for our next Journal issue, featuring Sarah Orne Jewett's enchanting novel, Deephaven. "Deephaven Clam Chowder" was the last recipe to create and test--in fact, we finished it today. The "Kitchen" article is entitled "An Unreasonably Good Supper" and features ingredients that can be foraged and scavenged from the coastline and forest. (Or simply picked up at the supermarket.) The pencil drawing, right, is by Al R. Young.... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Recipes by Nancy Young

By Al R. Young The The House of the Seven Gables issue of The Storybook Home Journal is now available from Al Young Studios.  This issue features these regular sections:Decorating - The Gift Of Practical Arrangement (2 pages)Hearth - With A Gold Thread In The Web (4 pages)Kitchen - Whether A Rabbit Or A Hippopotamus (3 pages)Music - Phoebe's Song (2 pages)Garden - Alice's Posies (2 pages)Workshops - The Ancestral Chair (2 pages)Bookshelf - Sure And Certain Hope (3 pages)Glass - Washing Day (2 pages)Attic - Living Richly Without Being Rich (1 page)Garret - The Sketch Lines Of Our Intentions (4 pages)The House of the Seven Gables is the 63rd issue of the Journal, published bi-monthly since November 2000... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 10 No. 3, 2010, News, The Storybook Home Journal issues

By Al R. Young "The art of living, the art of dreaming one's house, is a right that still has to be fought for. To build one's house is to build a dream, an environment made to one's measure, and to express one's deep personality, a part of us that is normally invisible."

Quote from Jean-Claude Delorme's Architect's Dream Houses
Painting, above, by Claude Holsøe (Danish painter 1863-1935).... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Beauty and home, Home quotes

By Al R. Young A bit of brightness from Sophia Hawthorne that we didn't have a chance to include in The House of the Seven Gables issue of The Storybook Home Journal (just sent out,) was a portion of a letter Sophia wrote while husband, Nathaniel,was at commencement exercises at Bowdoin College in Maine.
At the time children Una, Julian, and Rose were ages 9,6, and 15 months, respectively. The children were attempting to come up with ideas to cheer home upon his return:

Concord, Mass. 1852
August 30th, Monday... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Beauty and home, Hand crafts, Home quotes

By Al R. Young Elspeth is working on a painting of Pilate's wife. Within the composition, the wife of Pilate will be depicted writing the hasty warning she "sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him" (Matthew 27:19).

In Roman times, it was typical to write messages on wax tablets using a stylus. In preparation for the painting, we have built and decorated a wax tablet of our own, pictured here. We inscribed the wax with a Latin translation of her words (translation courtesy of T... Read more »

Tags: Upon Awakening, 2010, Costume and props, Tools supplies and operations

By Nancy Young
March, the traditional month of kite-flying, lambs, and lions, seems an appropriate time to explore both the love and fear of flying, as well as one of aviation's greatest lions, and a fictional lamb that roared. (And Surprise! Neither of this month's movies was directed by John Ford.)

While many people are probably familiar with Jimmy Stewart's portrayal of Charles Lindberg in The Spirit of St. Louis, far fewer will have seen his very delightful depiction of fictional scientist, Theodore Honey, in Henry Koster's No Highway in the Sky... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Forgotten Films, Recommended viewing

By Nancy Young
We're enjoying working on the edible parts of the next issue of The Storybook Home Journal, which will feature Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables. We're decorating cakes and cookies in the shape of eggs, chicks, and rabbits, celebrating the Pyncheon cent shop and "Chanticleer the rooster and his two wives."... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Easter, Holidays, Recipes by Nancy Young

By Nancy Young
Recently, Rowena Edlin-White (editor of The Quill) gave us a kindly mention in her newsletter all about one of our very favorite authors, Kate Douglas Wiggin, and we'd very much like to return the favor. You can subscribe to The Quill by writing the following address (£7 US, £5 UK, £6 Europe). Please make check or money order (GB pounds only) payable to "The Spinster's Almanack."

Rowena Edlin-White
Willow House
11 Frederick Ave, Carlton
Nottingham NG4 1HP
England, UK
ro@edlin-white... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Recommended reading

By Nancy Young This isn't an inexpensive bread to make (it's around $1.50-2.00 per loaf) unless you are the proud possessor of your own fig trees: however, making it at home is much less costly than buying it at some chic, intimate Parisian bakery, and that's even before you've paid for the flight to France. We like it with pears, or cream cheese, or any cheese, or very dark chocolate.

Mission Fig Bread by Nancy Young

Ingredients:

3 cups warm water (105-115 degrees)
1 tablespoon dried yeast
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
3 or more cups white flour
About 10 ounces black mission figs, stems removed and sliced

Topping (optional)
1-2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt


Pour the warm water into the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer, sprinkle in the yeast, and allow it to proof for about for five minutes or so... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Recipes by Nancy Young

By Al R. Young Giver of Life: Lessons from Eve, published by Deseret Book, featured The Joy Of Our Redemption, by Al R. Young, on the cover.  The painting is part of Al Young Studios' Women of the Bible Fine Art Collection.... Read more »

Tags: The Joy Of Our Redemption, 3rd-party Publications, 2010, News

By Al R. Young In the Strength of the Lord: Talks from the 2009 BYU Women's Conference, published by Deseret Book, featured Treasure The Word, by Elspeth Young, on the dust jacket.  The painting is part of Al Young Studios' Women of the Bible Fine Art Collection.... Read more »

Tags: Treasure The Word, 3rd-party Publications, 2010, News

By Al R. Young From time-to-time we'll share some of our favorite quotes about the joy of making home. Here's the first and one of our very favorites from art and architectural sage, John Ruskin. We found it in a nineteenth century housekeeping book several years ago:
This is the true nature of home—it is a place of peace; the shelter, not only from all injury, but from all terror, doubt and division. Insofar as it is not this, it is not home. So far as the anxieties of the outer life penetrate into it, and the inconsistently-minded, unknown, unloved, or hostile society of the outer world is allowed by either husband or wife to cross the threshold, it ceases to be home; it is then only a part of that outer world which you have roofed over, and lighted fire in... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Beauty and home, Home quotes

By Al R. Young Elspeth hand-painted about 60 tiles for the Workshops project in our most current issue of the Journal: Vol 10 No 2 Mama's Bank Account. They match the tiles she painted for an earlier volume of the Journal: Vol 4 No 6 The Betrothed (I Promessi Sposi). Here are some tips for painting some faux tiles of your own to accent any wall in the home.

Elspeth used semi-gloss white latex interior paint to coat each tile two times. (Use a soft, natural bristle brush rather than a synthetic one in order to minimize brush-strokes... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Hand crafts

By Nancy Young
If you're a little older (like me) you might still remember celebrating Abraham Lincoln's February 12th birthday by making Lincoln silhouettes atop Valentine hearts, and George Washington's birthday on the 22nd by hearing school teachers dramatically utter the phrase, "I cannot tell a lie, Sir..." Nowadays Abraham and George have to share a single February day of recognition, and no one's even in school to celebrate it. There are a few ways to recapture a bit of the grandeur of the two presidential giants, however... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Forgotten Films, Recommended viewing

By Al R. Young
The Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City opened an Easter exhibit this month featuring four paintings from Al Young Studios. The exhibit, located in one of the galleries on the main floor, runs until May of this year.

The museum is located at 45 North West Temple Street. Parking and other information are available on the Museum pages at the Church's web site.

Both of Elspeth's paintings featured in the exhibit come from the Women of the Bible Series: As It Began to Dawn, her painting of Mary Magdalene preparing to visit the tomb, and Blessed Is She That Believed, her painting of Mary at Pentecost... Read more »

Tags: And I Will Not Deny The Christ, I Shall Be Whole, Blessed Is She That Believed, As It Began To Dawn, 2010, Exhibits, News, Women of the Bible Art Collection

By Al R. Young
High-resolution digital copies are available from the Studios for use as illustrations.  Use the serial number—appearing below the thumbnail—in requesting permission from the Studios (see links at the bottom of this page for detail).


The correct form of attribution when publishing an image is specified in the license agreement issued to the publisher by Al Young Studios.Guidelines for requests to copy or publish artworks created by the Artists of Al Young Studios

Guidelines for commissioning Al Young Studios to create illustrations
Return to this portfolio
Browse all portfolios
Browse Newsroom articles about Illustration
The original image is available for sale, please contact us for details... Read more »

Tags: She Is Come Aforehand, 2010, People and Stories of the Bible

By Al R. Young She Is Come Aforehand is the newest oil painting to be added to the line of original artworks from Al Young Studios.

Click here to see a larger image of the new painting, read the artist's commentary, and look at the selection of prints--if any are available.... Read more »

Tags: She Is Come Aforehand, 2010, Elspeth C. Young, Legacy, News, Oil paintings and prints, The Messiah Art Collection, Women of the Bible Art Collection

By Al R. Young The Mama’s Bank Account issue of The Storybook Home Journal is now available from Al Young Studios.  This issue features these regular sections:Decorating - The Familiar Background Was There (1 page)Hearth - I Set My Heart Upon It (1 page)Kitchen - Warm And Comfortable (2 pages)Music - Her Polish Lullabies (2 pages)Garden - Gif Dem More Oranges! (1 page)Workshops - Putting Up The Shelves (2 pages)Bookshelf - Kathryn Forbes (5 pages)Glass - It Was Your Grandmother's (1 page)Attic - What About These Dishes? (1 page)Garret - Solway Keep (4 pages)Mama’s Bank Account is the 62nd issue of the Journal, published bi-monthly since November 2000... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 10 No. 2, 2010, News, The Storybook Home Journal issues

By Al R. Young
High-resolution digital copies are available from the Studios for use as illustrations.  Use the serial number—appearing below the thumbnail—in requesting permission from the Studios (see links at the bottom of this page for detail).


The correct form of attribution when publishing an image is specified in the license agreement issued to the publisher by Al Young Studios.Guidelines for requests to copy or publish artworks created by the Artists of Al Young Studios

Guidelines for commissioning Al Young Studios to create illustrations
Return to this portfolio
Browse all portfolios
Browse Newsroom articles about Illustration
The original image is available for sale, please contact us for details... Read more »

Tags: One By One, 2010, Book of Mormon characters

By Al R. Young One By One is the newest oil painting to be added to the line of original artworks from Al Young Studios.

Click here to see a larger image of the new painting, read the artist's commentary, and look at the selection of prints--if any are available.... Read more »

Tags: One By One, 2010, Al R. Young, Heroes of the Book of Mormon Art Collection, Legacy, News, Oil paintings and prints, The Messiah Art Collection

By Al R. Young Both Al and Elspeth favor M. Graham Walnut Alkyd Medium for use as a drying agent. It's fast drying (one to two days in our dry desert climate) without causing the oil paints to lose their capability to be worked using wet-in-wet techniques, neither does it strip the texture of the paint down to an acrylic-like consistency as some drying agents seem to do.

Our favorite supplier for the medium is Merri Artist in Oregon because they carry the gallon container (to say nothing of their excellent customer service)... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Tools supplies and operations

By Nancy Young For snowy Saturdays (like today!) we like the leisurely pace of a good read and the scents of buttery brioches baking in the oven. We emphasized regional French brioche baking and whimsical brioche shapes in The Count of Monte Cristo issue of The Storybook Home Journal; but this less-traditional, easily assembled version is also ideal for slowed-down, snowed-in weekend brunches and lunches.

Whole Wheat Weekend Brioche by Nancy Young

1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
1 tablespoon yeast
1/2 cup favorite sugar (optional)
9 tablespoons butter
4 large eggs, lightly beaten (reserve 1 tablespoon for glazing loaves)
1 scant tablespoon salt
4-6 cups whole wheat flour
A little cream (optional)

In the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer, stir together the water, yeast and sugar, if using, and allow to proof--about five minutes... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Brioche a tete, Recipes by Nancy Young

By Nancy Young
Each month, we'll feature a couple of Friday-night flicks, particularly—though not exclusively—appropriate to the month. We'll also provide a quick "Parental Precautions" list of any caveats that might send sensitive wee ones cowering under the covers, asking awkward questions, or picking up uninvited vocabulary.

(Quick reviews of these films are part of books and media we recommend on the Al Young Studios web site. Rio Grande Stagecoach)

The eternal summer of the desert is at its most attractive in January when those of us in northerly climes need six layers of clothes to stay comfortable while shoveling the walks…again... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Forgotten Films, Recommended viewing

By Al R. Young
We've been reordering the pantry over the last few days--always some work, but always a joy. Over the years, we've featured some aspects of the pantry in several issues of The Storybook Home Journal. First, in Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, next in Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs, and, most recently, in Charles Dickens' Bleak House. Each time it's been an exhilarating experience to rediscover that organizing with beauty in mind is just as efficient--and a thousand times more satisfying than placing everything in a series of plastic bins and closing the closet door... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Beauty and home, Home quotes

By Nancy Young
If I've got more leftover oatmeal than I need for After Breakfast Bread, I make Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake at the same time. They're both easy to make, and use a lot of shared ingredients. I make the bread dough first, and while the dough's on its first rise, I make the cake batter and bake the cake. The bread is usually ready to shape by then, and there's only about a half- hour wait before the bread can be baked, and the oven is well preheated.

This cake is unusually quick to make, and has all the health benefits of wholegrains and all the delights of chocolate... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Recipes by Nancy Young

By Ashton R. Young
Preparing for the upcoming Easter exhibit involves framing two of the four paintings to be included in the show.  Since 1995, Al Young Studios has not only maintained its own frame shop, but has developed a unique approach to meeting its custom framing needs, particularly in terms of museum-quality frames.

Framing can be one of the great riddles that must be solved in the ongoing work of any studio.  Not only is cost an important factor, but getting the desired result from even the best of framers can be a very difficult challenge... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Framing

By Al R. Young January in Utah can mean light skiffs of snow, blizzards or seemingly endless temperature inversions with foggy, smoggy days. Every summer when the flax blossoms are scattered through the wildflower garden, we cut and put them into arrangements, like this one tucked inside our entryway fireplace—but we also let them stand in place to dry and drop some seed. Even if they get a bit disreputable looking amongst the fresh-blowing blooms of July, it ensures us new flax for ensuing Junes, and also gives us fat bunches of dried flax to brighten winter days indoors... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Floral arrangements

By Al R. Young Every January we look forward to finding the first primroses of the year at a local nursery, garden center or even just at the grocery store. Our very favorites are the double-flowering variety, pictured here.
When our primroses lose their bloom, we tuck them back on a quiet windowsill and around the end of February or beginning of March, we plant them outside--sometimes we get a second bloom, and sometimes we wait a year for their cheery show. They don't usually last for more than a couple of years in our mountain climate, but we treasure each blossom when they do... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Flowers and garden

By Al R. Young Final preparations are being made for the presentation of four paintings, from Al Young Studios, scheduled to appear in an upcoming Easter fine art exhibition. Details of the exhibit will be announced by the sponsor; however, the four paintings to be included from the Studios are Blessed Is She That Believed and As It Began To Dawn, both by Elspeth Young, and I Shall Be Whole and And I Will Not Deny The Christ - Moroni, two paintings by Al Young.

The two paintings by Elspeth, as well as Al's painting entitled I Shall Be Whole, are part of the Studio's ongoing Women in Scripture project... Read more »

Tags: And I Will Not Deny The Christ, I Shall Be Whole, Blessed Is She That Believed, As It Began To Dawn, 2010, Exhibits, News

By Nancy Young Most days for more than 30 years, I've baked everyday loaves for our family. I've studied bread, read bread, proofed, poolished [sic], pounded, punched down, and produced bread of every shape and description I could dream of. Perfect bread is like a perfect garden--ever elusive. The last loaves may have been better--the next loaves may be ideal; and the present loaves are almost gone already (despite any flaws.)

I'll try to document what I've learned here--not because of some exquisite expertise--but because I've never come across another bread-baking addict without learning something from them, and perhaps some of my own discoveries may be new to someone else... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Recipes by Nancy Young

By Al R. Young Twenty years ago, while on a walk in the mountains, we found the aspen branch that has served ever since as a mahl (or painter's) stick.  The stick enables the artist to improvise a hand-rest almost anywhere over the surface of a painting so that while holding one end of the stick and resting the other end on the painting, the easel, or somewhere else, the artist can hold and use a brush or another tool with the other hand.


Typically, the protective leather pouch at one end of the implement completely covers the end of the stick to protect the surface of the painting when the stick is placed against it... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Tools supplies and operations

By Al R. Young
This is one of the oldest brush holders in the studio, and is among the longest-lived pieces of equipment that has not undergone a make-over.  As I mention in connection with the wood-block brush holder, I have moved to a somewhat different design in terms of brush holders.... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Inspiration and creativity, Tools supplies and operations

By Al R. Young For the upcoming Winter issue of The Storybook Home Journal, which will feature Kathryn Forbe's beloved classic, Mama's Bank Account, Elspeth has been painting a wooden heart in the style of traditional Norwegian rosemaling. The finished heart and step-by-step folk painting instructions will be featured in the Journal's "Hearth" article.... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Hand crafts

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Eight Cousins, and its sequel Rose in Bloom, by Louisa May Alcott tell the sweet story of Rose Campbell, an orphaned heiress who lives with her two maiden Aunts, Peace and Plenty, and her guardian Uncle Alec. The eight cousins refer to herself and the seven boy cousins who all live within a happy — and sometimes not-so-happy — distance from one another.
Eight Cousins commences at Rose's first coming to live at "Aunt Hill", and chronicles the ensuing year of her growth from a somewhat indulged and self-centered thirteen-year-old to an active and thoughtful young woman... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 7 No. 1, 2010, Book reviews

By Nancy Young

In Louisa May Alcott's An Old-Fashioned Girl, countrified Polly Milton comes to visit the rich and elegant Shaw family in the city. Fanny, Tom, and Maud Shaw are all indulged, selfish children oblivious to a world beyond fashion and frippery. Mrs. Shaw is equally vain, but Mr. Shaw, the hard-working provider of their excesses, is sensible and considerate. He and his mother, who resides with them, are the only members of the family who seem to recognize the value of Polly's unaffected, trustworthy goodness... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 7 No. 1, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

In A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the world of Sara Crewe is all tenderness and love. Alone in the center of her father's affections, she has the comfort of his companionship and all that wealth can do to insulate her from every form of coldness in the world. Her story is the story of character, of sterling quality within that responds to abrasion with luster, and keeps its shape whether tarnished or bright.
In this well-loved story, the unsuspecting Captain Crewe leaves his daughter in the icy care of Miss Minchin's London boarding school for young ladies... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 7 No. 2, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett is the lovable story of an innocent, tender-hearted boy who goes from virtual poverty to the riches of English aristocracy without losing his innocence or his kindness. It is perhaps the least read of Frances Hodgson Burnett's famous triumvirate of children's stories, and yet it readily deserves as much attention as its sisters -- A Little Princess and The Secret Garden.
Burnett's world leans toward the feminine and is somewhat affected, but this is a splendid read-aloud book because those few cloying aspects (such as the many references to his lovelocks) can be quietly omitted by a quick-witted mother –- leaving the book warm and pertinent This is a truly feel-good tale of a young loving widow who trusts her young loving son to his curmudgeonly grandfather's keeping because she believes her Cedric (based on Burnett's own son) will do good with his wealth and position... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 6 No. 3, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Published in 1910 and generally considered Frances Hodgson Burnett's best work, The Secret Garden is well known and loved throughout the world. This story of a girl's awakening to strength, goodness, and love through tending a garden--kept secret to everyone else--deserve high ranking on anyone's must-read list.
Burnett makes Nature vibrant and magical, and even makes weeding an act akin to Divinity. While the story is often thought of as a girl's book, its richness of detail and its accuracy and richness of characterization make it a book for everyone... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 3 No. 3, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Death Comes for the Archbishop is Willa Cather's sensitive, semihistorical novel recounting the life of Father Jean LaTour, the Catholic Bishop charged with the vast western diocese of New Mexico. Told with reverence for the West itself, as well as genuine veneration for the New World and its original inhabitants alike, Cather's tale glows like a desert sunset.
It's a teen and older read, not so much for its two or three earthy sentences, but more because young children may simply find much of it dull... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

In What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge, Dr. Carr, Katy's father, wishes Katy and Clover to have some of the freedom and educational opportunities of other young women; so in the second Katy installment they are hustled off to an Eastern boarding school. The girls, now well into their teens, try to be model students, but there are many delightful temptations for "black marks" -- generally concocted by their mischievous friend, Rosamund Redding (Rose Red), the most popular girl at "Hillsover... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 10 No. 1, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

The final Katy saga--What Katy Did Next by Susan Coolidge--did not appear until 13 years after the publication of What Katy Did at School, even though only three years elapse in the story.
Katy is off to Europe as a companion to warm, though delicate, Mrs. Ashe and her little daughter, Amy. What Coolidge did for boarding schools in What Katy Did at School, she does for Victorian European tours in What Katy Did Next... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 5 No. 2, Vol. 10 No. 1, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Even though Susan Coolidge was an American author, she is better known in England. Periodically, however, her series of Katy books comes back into print in the U.S. The first in the series, What Katy Did, is especially nice for any child confined or bedridden.
The story is a bit ambling in its beginning, but grows into a very tender, delightful story of patience, quiet heroism, and fun. Katy Carr, the eldest of the vast, motherless Carr brood, begins the story as a good-hearted, though somewhat reckless girl of twelve... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 10 No. 1, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

In one of the rare instances of a book based on the movie, this little story is as enchanting as the 1947 film on which it is based. Whether or not you've seen the movie before you read the book, the enchantment of Valentine Davies' Miracle on 34th Street is much the same.
Is Kris Kringle, the ageless and white-bearded star of this story, the one and only Santa Claus or is he just another nice old man with whiskers? The cast of characters in this story line up on both sides of this pivotal question... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe is a highly religious book that explores self-discovery and self-mastery. Crusoe's innovative approaches to settling the island and his journey toward God are poetically captured in Elizabethan prose.... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Somehow, I can't quite get through Christmas without a quick reading of Hans Brinker by Mary Mapes Dodge. This tale of the patient and loving Brinker children, long-suffering Dame Brinker, generous Hilda Van Gleck, good-hearted Peter Van Holp, and scowling Dr. Boekman, set against the bright, frozen world of 19th century Holland, is the kind of spark that ignites all the true flames of Christmas cheer.
The story is familiar to most of us. Hans and Gretel Brinker's father was seriously injured ten years before the action of the story commences... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 4 No. 1, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

No summer reading list would be complete without Alexandre Dumas' epic tale, The Count of Monte Cristo. It is high adventure at its best. After terrible injustice and odreal, the former Edmond Dantès comes into an immense fortune buried on the Mediterranean island of Monte Cristo. His subsequent quest for justice leads the reader through a thrilling and dynamic tale.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is featured in Vol 6 No 6 of The Storybook Home Journal... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 6 No. 6, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs is spellbinding notwithstanding the fact that it is the gentlest of novels. Its plot is hardly discernible, and yet it is almost as difficult to put down as a whodunit.
Jewett captures with enrapturing detail the book's warm and humane characters in a first-person narrative that relates the story of small town, coastal Maine with its beauty, grace, and eccentricities intact. As we see through the narrator's keen eye and feel with her sensitive soul, we make steadfast friends and encounter quiet people of remarkable strength... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 4 No. 3, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

For action on the home front, few books match the wit and fun of Erich Kastner's, Emil and the Detectives. Published between World Wars, this witty tale of young boys tracking a thief won Kastner immediate and lasting fame in Germany, and eventual international fame as well.
Emil Tischbein is off on a small-scale adventure to visit relatives in Berlin. In the train, however, the money he is carrying to give his grandmother is stolen while he sleeps... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 9 No. 5, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

While many scholars rightly feel that learning German is worth the time if only to read Goethe in the original, we go a step farther with the justification: Learning German would be worthwhile simply to be able to read Kastner in the original.
His crafty wit sparkles in his native tongue. Fortunately, however, Lisa and Lottie (Das Doppelte Lottchen) translates well and very enjoyably.
Set in postwar Austria and Germany, it tells the story of twin girls, Lisa Palfy and Lottie Horn, separated as toddlers by their divorcing parents... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Anyone familiar with Maud Hart Lovelace's recently reprinted Betsy-Tacy books is aware of how delightful it is to visit her fictional Deep Valley, Minnesota any time of the year. Particularly good for summer reading, however, is Carney's House Party.
Carney Sibley, a Deep Valley regular, gets top billing in a book relating the story of her engagement. Opening at the end of her Junior year at Vassar, and closing at the beginning of her Senior year, this is a sweetheart of a summer vacation story that is as well-ordered, winning, and bright as Carney herself... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 9 No. 4, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Inasmuch as Emily of Deep Valley, by Maud Hart Lovelace, begins at Memorial Day (Decoration Day as it was then), we like to take it on in late spring.
Of the three Maud Hart Lovelace books that include, but do not feature Betsy Ray (of the Betsy-Tacy series), Emily of Deep Valley probably stands best as an independent read. While members of "the crowd" periodically appear as comfortably familiar landmarks within Emily's world, this is definitely Emily's book... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 4 No. 4, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy books are like perpetual summer. They are innocent, tender, and delightful. Difficulties arise, but never overpower the residents of Deep Valley, Minnesota. Particularly not the Ray family, one of childhood literature's few intact and fully functional families.
Based loosely on Maud Hart Lovelace's own childhood in Mankato, Minnesota, the series follows Betsy Ray (Maud), Tacy Kelly, and, later, Tib Mueller, from kindergarten through marriage, and grows delightfully with both the characters and the reader... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 1 No. 6, Vol. 4 No. 4, Vol. 5 No. 1, Vol. 9 No. 4, Vol. 11 No. 2, Vol. 12 No. 6, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Alessandro Manzoni's The Betrothed (I Promessi Sposi), considered by many the greatest of all Italian novels, is almost wholly unfamiliar to most American readers. While the great French novel, Les Miserables, is more frequently read -- though rarely fully pronounced these days – Alessandro Manzoni's masterpiece has at least as much spectacle, sweeping vistas, plot twists, and complex characters and is, to my mind, more satisfying... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 4 No. 6, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

This commentary refers to Mercer Meyer's retelling of the old Norwegian tale, East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Specific reference to Meyer's work is made here because of the beauty of his illustrations and the lyrical elegance of the text. The story has been around a long time, but Meyer's retelling renews it just as anything is made new and more enduring by beauty.
As with all folk tales, this story involves symbolism if only because such tales serve to convey wisdom from one generation to another... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

A. A. Milne made more than one foray into the world of adult fiction, but of course, he is ever associated with children's literature because of the international and enduring success of Winnie-the-Pooh. This particular attempt at an adult market is, I believe, the most readily available of his non-Pooh books.
It hails from the "golden age" of mystery writing, and while it is no Agatha Christie or Dorothy L. Sayers, it is a fun escape into both the whodunit and howdunit genres... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

In The Railway Children by E. Nesbit, an idyllic home life is shattered before the story hardly starts. An unspeakable dread befalls a family's loving father when he is spirited away from home and children in a cloak of secrecy. Adaptable, as children almost always are, they find delight in impoverished circumstances imposed on the family by the father's absence.
Living in an English country cottage not far from a railway station, the children befriend everyone with whom they come in contact in the little community... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 2 No. 3, Vol. 8 No. 3, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

The Borrowers by Mary Norton is a book for the child in everyone who wishes for magic in the midst of everyday life. We include it in our late-winter reading list if only to imbue the indoors with more than usual magic.
Borrowers are miniature people who live by borrowing what they need and want from the world of us giants. They live by snitching and by ingenuity.
The concept almost demands a moment of silence in respect for the genius able to formulate so delightful an explanation for something as mundane as the disappearance of socks in the laundry or the host of household things we spend a lifetime losing and replacing... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

In Just David by Eleanor H. Porter, David is no ordinary boy. Orphaned and wandering, he falls asleep in the barn of a farm to which his travel takes him. The farmer and his wife, bereft of their own son, take David in and raise him. The adjustment on both sides supplies much of the tension in the narrative, and a good bit of humor. David's talents and disposition also set him apart from his new-found home and from the community as a whole... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 11 No. 5, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

I am a bit defensive about Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter. Perhaps it is the beautiful, antique cloth-bound volume my father proudly brought home to me when I was a little girl. Perhaps it is the pressed and faded four-leaf clover that I found tucked inside, or the tissue-thin page-protectors over the black-and-white illustrations. (I wish I had been more defensive of the actual book because these latter features no longer exist.) Perhaps it is because through that copy I began an appreciation of things that were aged, gentle and lengthy, rather than colorful, slick, and new... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 7 No. 3, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Six Star Ranch by Eleanor H. Porter is deservedly less renowned than Eleanor Porter's earlier work, Pollyanna; however, it still makes a pleasing summer romp. Five New Hampshire girls follow their Texan friend, Genevieve Hartley, home for the summer to "Six Star Ranch," where Genevieve can breathe free air and kick up her heels before returning to New Hampshire to finish her schooling and behave herself beautifully.
Because the book is out of print, look for it at the library or Internet sellers... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Strictly speaking, A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter, is not a sequel to Freckles; however, any faithful Gene Stratton Porter fan will tell you to read Freckles before you embark on A Girl of the Limberlost. Shared characters and places make them more enjoyable when read in sequence. There is the delicious sense of revisiting old friends when the Bird Woman, Freckles, and the Angel reappear. We must admit, however, that we prefer A Girl of the Limberlost to Freckles, and, in fact, to any of the author's other works... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 1 No. 3, Vol. 7 No. 4, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

A humid climate would not be our first choice of habitat. We like the look of the landscape in such climates, but definitely prefer arid air. Above all, we abhor snakes. Consequently, swamps are not our idea of dream locales for either recreation or residence. That being said, we find Gene Stratton Porter's ability to spin a yarn one of the finest we've ever encountered. She is a writer among writers, who very nearly convinces us that a swamp teaming with lethal wildlife is a paradise on earth... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 7 No. 4, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Gene Stratton Porter's Laddie is a beautifully written and heart-warming tale of rural America. With characteristic skill, Porter puts the reader into the setting and feelings of the characters. Suspense is more than sufficient, and there is ample humor.
However, more than any of the books by Porter that we've listed, Laddie's plot toward the end takes what seems a perilous turn from which the recovery of the characters seems doubtful. We list the book because there may be enough enjoyment "along the way" to enable a reader to overlook the far-fetched ending... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 7 No. 4, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Al R. Young

Jane Porter's The Scottish Chiefs is the gripping tale of the Scottish hero, William Wallace. It is a story of valor, faith, and integrity, whose heroes measure up to the stature of N. C. Wyeth's illustrations.
Of course, if you're deeply dependant upon conventionally happy endings, you may want to find out what happened to Wallace and the cause to which he gave his life, before you embark on Porter's telling of the tale. Even so, the book and the characters are, like life, larger than life, and the heroism to which the story introduces youth has a way of lingering into manhood... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Howard Pyle's magical tale, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights was written in 1903. It is a compelling, artful, and poetic telling of the Arthurian Legend. Arthur's courage and good will, Merlin's wit and sagacity, and the valor of the knights of the Round Table are captured in this beautifully written (and illustrated) work.
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle is featured in Vol 5 No 5 of The Storybook Home Journal... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 5 No. 5, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Arthur Ransome's 1930s Swallows and Amazons series is really less a group of novels, and more a multi-volumed set of instructions on how to properly conduct summer (and occasionally winter) vacations.
These British get-inside-a-kid's-head books span both genders, and, although sometimes bogged-down in tedious detail, are full of innocent childhood independence, adventure, and wit. Think of them as a cerebral, and lengthy, Boxcar Children series... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 7 No. 5, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

The folklore of Switzerland is riddled with tales and ballads of Swiss natives, parted from their homeland, who die from no less a cause than pure home-sickness. Out of this fictional fray and straight into the heart comes Johanna Spyri's Heidi, to convince us not only that these tales are true, but to explain why.
The charm of alpine meadows and sunsets, of sleeping in a loft of hay, of the curative powers of goat's milk and black bread all come alive in this wonderful book... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 2 No. 5, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling is another book of high adventure, as well as a story of the difference between adulthood and manhood. This tale of an indulged young man, forced by circumstances to learn the true worth of others as well as the nobility of hard work, is a rather quick read for families, or children over the age of 12.
Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling is featured in Vol 10 No 5 of The Storybook Home Journal... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 10 No. 5, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped begins with David Balfour's departure from the small home of his late father. The story is not yet two pages old before the reader finds himself standing with Master Davie on the road, in the cool of the early morning, listening to the ominous words of Mr. Campbell, minister of Essendean.
David is to make his way to the House of Shaws, known throughout the countryside as a dark and dreadful place. To David's surprise, he finds he is not merely David Balfour, but David Balfour of Shaws... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 8 No. 4, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Al R. Young

What can be said in a book review of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson beyond, "Read it!" If possible, read it to a child. Find out what it's like to be tethered to a child's can't-put-it-down attitude toward a gripping tale. Whatever there may be of lesson and moral in the story, the book should at least be read with the kind of swashbuckling popcorn mentality appropriate to a Saturday matinee. It's a romp. If there's a clock in the room, unplug it or turn its face to the wall... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 1 No. 4, Vol. 8 No. 4, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild is a wonderful book about unknown possibilities. Just as children struggle to discover their own identity, and to be content with the discovery, so the characters in Ballet Shoes embark on their journey through life with precious little of self awareness and only Heaven's gifts and a loving home to help them make a place for themselves.
Gum, the endearing term for Great Uncle Matthew, is an impulsive and eccentric scientist... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 4 No. 2, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

In Movie Shoes (earlier entitled The Painted Garden) by Noel Streatfeild, the Winter family is invited by their fussy Aunt Cora to spend the winter with her in California. Mr. Winter's world has been shattered since a car accident, which, though not his fault, resulted in the death of a child. The family, including Peaseblossom, their faithful housekeeper, head to America as the last hope for his health.
The children's hopes are dashed by the trip, however, because pretty 12-year-old Rachel had just secured a dancing engagement in a play... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Al R. Young

My experience with the stories of J. R. R. Tolkien began when I happened upon a copy of The Hobbit in the school library. I devoured its story of the finding of the ring, then read the epic trilogy, and went on in the hope that Smith of Wooten Major and Farmer Giles of Ham would somehow be seamless extensions of the story. I read The Silmarillion as soon as it was published, and have continued with only modest voracity to pursue the genius and artistry of Tolkien's work through a few of the many volumes published by his son... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope is the last in a 6-volume series set in Barchester. It brings together the throng of clerics whose stories have been woven in and out of the Barchester series. By all means, read each volume in the set if possible; however, this gripping installment stands well enough on its own for readers who do not have time for several thousand pages of Trollope's England.
As with other stories by Anthony Trollope, the suspense in the plot emerges harmlessly enough out of some seemingly trivial occurrence... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 3 No. 4, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Al R. Young

The Three Clerks by Anthony Trollope is part of our family's "required reading" list. In it, Anthony Trollope masterfully spins a tale in which the choices of three young men, made at the headwaters of their lives, unfold into consequences that place them poles apart in after years.
This is vintage Trollope: Sumptuous characterization and mounting suspense with the inexorable weaving of consequences into the weft of everyday life.... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Every boy should read Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman. In fact, every father should read it, too, and have the privilege of reading it to his son.
Rudi Matt's father was the finest mountaineer in the Alps, but while Rudi was still an infant, his father died attempting to save the life of a man who had hired him to be his guide. Fearing the same fate for her only son, Rudi's mother refuses him his destiny, and so Rudi washes dishes in the village hotel... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 4 No. 5, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

In Jean Webster's Daddy-Long-Legs, Jerusha Abbot is an orphan with a "wicked" pen and penetrating insight. Lately of the John Grier Home for orphans – of which too little good cannot be said – Miss Abbott embarks upon a course of college study funded by an anonymous benefactor. This epistolary story contains her charming letters to her unknown Daddy-Long-Legs, named by Miss Abbott because only once at the orphanage did she see his shadow drawn out in the headlights of the car toward which he walked... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 2 No. 6, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

When Patty Went to College by Jean Webster is a lovable, laugh-aloud book full of energy and wit. Largely anecdotal, it is the sequal to Just Patty, and tells the story of Patty Wyatt's senior year at a women's college. Patty is quick, irrepressible, and ultimately good-hearted; and the romps that she and her friends have make for delightful reading.
Each chapter is its own tale, and can be read as such, or you can read it sequentially and follow the plot through the episodic events of the school year... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 8 No. 6, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Kate Douglas Wiggins' Mother Carey's Chickens may not be as widely read as some of Wiggin's other favorites, such as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and The Bird's Christmas Carol, but Mother Carey's Chickens is arguably her most delightful book.
Wiggin draws on concepts in Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies (published in 1863), in which old beasts are turned to new, and in which stormy petrels (i.e., chickens) rescue good birds and show them the way home... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 1 No. 2, Vol. 8 No. 1, Vol. 12 No. 5, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Just as Kate Douglas Wiggin's life was full of compassion and creativity, so is the life of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. This charming and delightful novel introduces the reader to seven-year-old Rebecca Rowena Randall and follows her journey through childhood and adolescene.
At the outset, Rebecca goes to help her Aunt Miranda at the Brick House, even though Rebecca's older sister was actually the sister Miranda wanted. Despite the circumstances, even cold-hearted and efficient Aunt Miranda begins to see that Rebecca, though more prone to daydreaming and reading than cooking and cleaning, is just as wonderful... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 3 No. 5, Vol. 8 No. 1, Vol. 12 No. 5, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

The Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin is a tender, sentimental Christmas story about the Bird family. They are a wealthy, but caring family, who would seem to have all that could be wished. Their daughter, Carol, however, is an invalid. The family secures for her all the best care and they lavish upon her truly thoughtful attentions, but she is dying. The story recounts her final Christmas wish to give a poor family, in the neighborhood, a sense of Christmas magic... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 8 No. 1, 2010, Book reviews, Christmas

By Al R. Young Reviewed by Nancy Young

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott's chronicles of the four March sisters, is sometimes joined into one large tome, or divided into the two original books: Little Women and Good Wives. The wonderful sense of period and the magic of simple pleasures is woven into the story of a family impoverished as a result of their father's absence during the Civil War. The joys they find in a loving and creative family life, as well as the individual growth each experiences through small trials and large, comprises one of the major pieces of American juvenile literature... Read more »

Tags: Vol. 1 No. 1, Vol. 7 No. 1, 2010, Book reviews

By Al R. Young Most features of the studio are custom made by Al to fit the techniques and work habits of each artist at Al Young Studios. Each holder shown here has stood up to the trial-and-error test of years of professional painting. Brush holders are as individualized as the artists who use them. We hope these ideas help in the search for solutions that fit your needs.

The brush holder pictured above is mounted on the wall next to the 50 in. x 55 in. easel on the studio's east wall. The natural-wood portion of the brush holder is actually portable, and sets in a painted wooden compartment... Read more »

Tags: 2010, Tools supplies and operations

By Al R. Young The 2010 Calendar: Women of the Old Testament, published by Deseret Book, featured 13 original oil paintings by Elspeth Young.  All of the paintings are part of Al Young Studios' Women of the Bible Fine Art Collection.

Commentaries (in the calendar) accompanying each painting provide a reference passage from the Bible, a summary of the character featured in the painting, and an artist's commentary concerning the painting itself.  The calendar also features a biographical sketch about the artist and a list of research sources that figured in the artist's work... Read more »

Tags: The Protector, By The River's Brink, What Is To Be Done For Thee, Charity Never Faileth, A Lamp Unto My Feet, Is Anything Too Hard For The Lord, Treasure The Word, The Daughters Of Zelophehad, The Struggle Within, For Such A Time As This,