The information below is the artist's explanation for his painting. Arnold Friberg gave this interview some time ago. I will share them when we're close to the story or when I can't think of anything else to post...ha!

THE LIAHONA (#62041) (1 Nephi 16)"That took place in one of the little arroyos. Lehi had traveled down along the borders of the Red Sea and there are these little wadis, they are what we call arroyos in the West. So that is what I pictured. Here we have an example of the difference between words and pictures. We read in the Book of Mormon about the Liahona, and that it was found in front of Lehi's tent one morning, and there is little anyone can say about it, except that it was round, it was made of brass, it had pointers inside to tell them which way to go, and it worked by faith, i.e. if their faith failed, then it didn't work. It was of curious workmanship, but that is all we know. How large was the Liahona? How did they see the pointers? Did he open the lid? Was it made of open work? What did they do with it when they weren't using it? Did they roll around on tlie deck of the ship? Or was there a bag to keep it in? Was there a stand to stand it in? We are not told that. Now we come to Mr. Pictures. That's me. I can't duck. There is no tube of paint over there that says, 'Don't know.' I have to come to grips with it. You have to decide it is going to be this big. Now I don't know any more than he does, but I have to paint something. I decided on a handy little size that they could hold in their hand, and I made a little tripod stand for it to set in. One lady said, 'Oh, I thought the Liahona was about two feet across.' Maybe it was. I can't throw up a cloud of smoke and say, 'Folks, nobody knows so I am not going to paint it. Someone will say, 'How do you know Nephi wore that color robe?' I don't. 'Then how dare you paint it.' Well, how do you know he wore anything? Nephi didn't bother to say, 'Oh, I remember the day well. I was wearing the brown outfit.' All you can do is research the period as close as you can and make something that makes sense. You just make something that somehow fulfills our idea of what it looked like. I tried to show how everyone is gathered around to see this instrument that has been found. I show the tents that are the tents of that period, the camels and desert life. Lehi was a wealthy man, he wouldn't be dressed like some poor Bedouin. He'd have rich clothing on. This is the way you tell the story in pictures. By the selection of the clothing you try to show the character of the person. These are the sons Laman and Lemuel (the one with arms on hips and the one with crossed arms). I thought of this (only head showing by camel cargo) as being Zoram loading the camels. And Ishmael with the whitebeard. And then the younger son (hand on knee) than Nephi (Jacob). The camel is a magnificent animal, a splendid animal. Everyone makes fun of them, the old gag that a camel was invented by a committee trying to put a horse together. I think that camels are majestic animals."