Happy New Year!!!

If you've been a subscriber to my posts on this blog, you need to know that it has all been moved to my website www.mikesimpsonart.com. It is there that you can find everything you have had here and more, all in one place. If you wish to continue following my blog, please go to www.mikesimpsonart.com where you can subscribe to the new site. Thanks so much. I look forward to seeing you there. This will be my last post on this site. Mike out. Happy New Year!

The Handy Pocket Desk

I’ve got one and you may too. Especially if you’re a gent and in the habit of wearing shirts with breast pockets. For me it all started when I was probably in my mid twenties. I was cowboying at the time and I noticed some of my older riding mates carried a notebook and pen or more likely a stub of a pencil in one of their breast shirt pockets, typically the one on the left if they were right handed, and often a can of PA in their right shirt pocket. In case you are wondering, PA is short for Prince Albert which is a smoking tobacco.

The typical notebook that was in fashion at the time had a brightly colored flip cover and was spiral bound with ruled pages. They were, and still are, widely available. The spiral was particularly handy because one could tuck a pen in there or a short, yellow, number two pencil. A pencil was the instrument of choice for many reasons but mainly because during the winter it wouldn't freeze up when removed from the shirt pocket. I noticed these older hands would often jot things down in their notebooks and there were any number of sheaves of loose paper stuffed in them. In order to keep it all held together, it was common to use a wide thick rubber band. 

My curiosity finally got the better of me and one day I asked the foreman, who I highly admired and aspired to be like, what all he kept in his notebook. He looked down at his pocket and removed the tattered little bundle. Holding it out in his grizzled hand he looked up at me and said that it was his “pocket desk”. He went on to explain that it was really a handy place to keep receipts, jot down unfamiliar brands, tally numbers, business cards for saddle makers and any other important information he needed to remember like the phone number for the vet and his wife’s birthday or their anniversary. Right then and there I decided next time I went to town I would pick one up.

Today I favor the Moleskin Pocket Notebook. My current one is rather tattered and I really should consider getting a new one but this one still has a few blank pages in it and I'm not ready to transfer the important notes I have collected in it. As an artist today, I no longer use mine to record brands and the vet’s number but more for sketching out an idea when nothing else is handy, a fellow artist’s website address, prescription refill numbers, or something I need to remember to do and of course, receipts. It does require a bit of housekeeping from time to time however, as just the other day I found a missing gas receipt from our Harley ride to Idaho last summer. That made the bookkeeper happy. 

Of course for those who almost live in their pickup trucks there's the handy dash desk . We'll take a look at that next time. Thanks for tuning in and do stop by if you get a chance. 

Arches National Park, Utah

Spent a great weekend in Arches National Park in Uah. The weather was beautiful with highs around 70 degrees and lows in the low 40's. Skies were a cobalt blue above and Edward Abbey red rock country below. Fantastic.

It has become  an annual tradition to go to Arches the last weekend of October. So far we haven't been let down with the weather, good times and a few good paintings. Over the years we have managed to take in most of the popular arches that are accessible without a back country permit. Although we didn't go to any arches this trip, the general red rock terrain was fantastic.

Several nice paintings will come from this. I tried to do a little plein air painting but found it difficult for some reason, probably because I was trying to do the painting with a new set of gouache colors which I have never used before. My limted experience with this new medium was evident and I gave up in disgust. I feel the medium is promising and I look forward to using it but I need to experiment with it some before I just step up to the challenge of plein air painting. I should have reverted to my trusty experience with watercolor but I had lost the enthusiasm. 

  

We had some exceptional Dutch Oven cooked meals. I think the biscuits and gravy with thick cut bacon and scrambled eggs were my favorite. Or it could have been the cinnamon rolls, eggs and bacon too. Or maybe the enchiladas  or the apple pecan pie. I don't know. It was all good. We'll be back. Looking forward to next year and some experience with my gouache paints.

Sunday Afternoon

Had the day off and thought we should go for a drive and find a painting to do. Turns out I had one to do right off of our front deck. These bird feeders have been begging to be painted for some time and to day was the day. I used a beautiful walnut painting box from Open Box M that I keep stored in a wonderful leather bag I got courstesy of my sisiter Mary. Quality stuff here and a fine afternoon.

It was a good day.

Red Fish Lake

If you look back a couple of posts you'll find where I went with my wife and another couple on an absolutely wonderful motorcycle ride up into the Sawtooth Recreational Area in Idaho this summer. As is always the case I'm on the lookout for material that will make a nice painting. Such was the case when we ventured down the road to checkout the Red Fish Lake Lodge. On the way we came across a turnout on the dirt road with this magnificent view. It had been raining off and on in the area for a couple of days but this particular morning everything was as still as could be. The mirror reflection of this portion of the Sawtooth Mountains in the water was so soothing and calming. We could have stayed there all day. Unfortunately our time was limited. We had places to go, people to see and things to do. Fortunately I think I captured the feeling quite nicely in this 16 x 32 oil painting I just finished. The painting is available from my gallery/studio, unframed for $500. If you are interested, contact me. Thanks for stopping by.

Old Hippies

Many of us come from an era in societies history when "hippies" were the new outrage. Ah yes, the 60's. Well some haven't outgrown the genre. I just finished this piece for a client who still believes in Love, Peace and Happiness...Make Love, Not War...Flower Children, etc.

Prints and note cards are available from the world headquarters of Simpson Gallery here in Montrose, Colorado. Contact me if you are interested. Peace!

An Old Smoking Stand

Been looking for an old smoking stand like I remember my grandpa had for his cigars back in the day. The one he actually had was similar to this one but the ash tray part had a glass tray with a rubber Firestone tire around it...or it may have been a Goodyear.  Don't remember which exactly. For some reason I thought it was a Firestone tire. I've found some small versions with Goodyear tires around them but not the Firestone.

ANYWAY...this is the closest I've been able to come up with. This one I got yesterday in Abilene, KS in an antique store. Supposedly it came out of an old hotel there. Thought it was pretty cool so I tried it out on the bench out front and bought it. Now I Just have to figure out how to bungy it onto the Harley so I can get it home. Thought maybe Kathy could just hold it but she threatened to whack me with it on the helmet so I guess that won't work. I'll figure something out.

We're headed home in the AM. If you tried the video link in the previous post and it didn't work, it should now.

Later. Thanks for stopping by.