At Christmas time in 1975, Judy Swanson, one of his former art students and a graphic illustrator, gave Arnold a copy of the book whose cover she had just designed. It was Diary of an Old Soul by George MacDonald, a collection of 365 sonnet prayers, newly republished by Augsburg-Fortress Press. Arnold started making rough pencil sketches in the margins of the book and then on December 31, set up his watercolors and began to paint. All through the late winter and early spring he painted, until the earth thawed; then he asked me to dig a new bed in the garden that he’d be able to see from the kitchen windows. He painted the flowers and plants their friends kept sending, he painted memories and he painted illustrations of the sonnets from Diary of an Old Soul. An introspective, quiet time it also seemed very rich as he reviewed his life and the various decisions he’d made. Some things I was too young to fully understand but I was grateful for the times we shared.
The watercolors helped our conversations—we’d start out talking about the drawings and images, then we’d move to the ideas, and from there we’d talk about God, faith, meaning, and Jesus. Once I challenged him to tell me about a time when he’d really experienced Jesus in his life. He thought for a while and then took me to a sunny afternoon in Montana: an outing along the river banks with young women from his parish. Several cowboys rode up and started hassling, even threatening the women. They seemed to enjoy scaring the women and kept revving things up. And then Arnold placed himself between them and the women and told them to go. He shook his head as he described this to me, he wasn’t so big and tough that they could have been scared by him. He told me Jesus had given him the courage to speak up and had convinced the cowboys to leave. Through faith he had accomplished something he could not have done on his own.
Arnold died on June 1, 1976. The funeral reception was held in the Art Gallery in Flaten Hall, with the full collection of watercolors on display. A year or so later Evelyn had one printed up so she could share it with friends and family. It was tremendously popular and she printed four more. For Founders Day 2001 where Arnold was honored, we printed four more designs as greeting cards. Over time all the watercolor illustrations will be available to you.
If you would like to order either the full size prints or greeting cards, please send an email to pr
 December 31 |
 January 1 |
 January 2 |
 January 3 |
 January 6 |
 January 9 |
 January 4 |
 January 7 |
 January 10 |
 January 5 |
 January 8 |
 January 12 |
 January 15 |
 January 18 |
 January 21 |
 January 24 |
 January 27 |
 January 30 |
 February 2 |
 February 5 |
 February 8 |
 January 13 |
 January 16 |
 January 19 |
 January 22 |
 January 25 |
 January 28 |
 January 31 |
 February 3 |
 February 6 |
 February 9 |
 January 14 |
 January 17 |
 January 20 |
 January 23 |
 January 26 |
 January 29 |
 February 1 |
 February 4 |
 February 7 |
