Christmas Time In Kalispell

While talking about the history of her ancestral home, the Petersen Ranch, in Pleasant Valley, west of Kalispell, where Terry Siderius and her husband still live and farm, we looked through old yellowed family photographs from the mid-1920s. This scene of her mom, Betty Petersen, and her uncles, Woodie, Rodney, and Donald touched our hearts. We both knew this photo would become a painting, but it raised many questions.

From their snow-covered snow pants and sleds, we knew the children were having great fun sledding when their dad came out with his box camera to take the photograph. It seems th...