The Winding Mountain Path

by Godfrey J. Ellis – acrylic 1994

In early 1993, Merry and I pulled out my old missionary journal from 1972 to 1973 and read it.  We caught fire and felt inspired to get back to France somehow.  We called Joel Fournier, the stake president in Paris, and asked if he knew of a Church youth who might want to come to the US for a summer experience.  He did not, but he contacted the non-member LeChevallier family and they were excited to send their 17-year-old French son, Brice.  He arrived in the summer of 1973 and we tried to show him a wonderful time.  The next year, 1994, the LeChevallier family invited us to come over to spend some time with them.  I painted this mountain scene as a gift for the family.  It was greatly appreciated.  I like to now say that I “have paintings hanging in three countries:  Canada, USA, and now France.”  Ha ha! In fact, it’s now four countries because our neighbor has a painting hanging in Puerto Rico (ok, ok, it is actually a territory of the United States).

Below is a photo of Dominique LeChevallier holding the painting in her apartment in Paris. The other two paintings they have are “Mont Saint-Michel” and “Floating on the Marne-au-Reine” – also in this website.