Aaron Bell

I was raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. I spent my youth camping and hiking in the Uintah Mountains. In my twenties and thirties I lived along the beaches of Southern California. I chased girls, surfed and didn\'t save any money. Although surrounded by the beauty of the coast, I always missed the mountains and pine trees. When I left California I spent a couple of years living in Southern Utah and the Grand Canyon area.. From there I moved to Boise, Idaho where I have spent the past fifteen years. I am a Land Surveyor by profession which has allowed me to spend much of my time working in the Mountains and Deserts of the Pacific North West. Five years ago I bought six pine tree covered acres in the Clear Creek national forest near Idaho City. I have spent that time designing and building a couple of small cabins. I used lodge pole pines from the area of Red Fish Lake in the Sawtooth Mountains to build the cabins and furniture. About four years ago my eight year old Akita ChoNan was diagnosed with bone cancer. I was told he had six weeks to live. I took him down the north side of our property where it is cool and shady. Together as we sat among the pine trees, I came to terms with the inevitable loss of my best friend. The beauty of this mountain helped me realize that his death was a part of life’s cycle and that all things must pass. Through all the seasons I have sat in these woods and become a part of this spiritual and harmonious place. Here I have found a serenity that I had never known. For quite some time I have felt an intense desire to try to capture the beauty of this place on canvas. I don’t sketch first or paint from a photograph. I sit down and just start painting. The end product is what exists only in my mind’s eye. If someone looks at one of my paintings and gets even a fraction of pleasure from what they see, then I have accomplished something amazing and very personal. Because then I truly am sharing the beauty I see in this world. M. Aaron Bell 3/2012