Headed Home

All good things must come to an end. I left Bakersfield this AM and got as far as Beaver, UT. Good progress considering the time I left and a good place to call it quits for the night. Windy, snow, getting dark with conditions deteriorating rapidly. Got a room and am comfortably writing this with assistance from an adult beverage. Long drive but it went quickly as my mind was filled with what I experienced over the last several days. Lots of good information and ideas. Looking forward to getting home and putting some of it to use.

Hollywood California

Visited son Jim in Hollywood. He's got a great office in a great old classic building right across from the famous Egyptian theater. This photo is looking down the hall.

Another photo of where we had lunch at Musso and Frank's in Hollywood. You should look it up. Pure classic.

Lastly a link to a video I took out on Hollywood Blvd.
http://youtu.be/Zkm04bKnA_o

Downtown Southern California

Video Recap of today's events.
http://youtu.be/W83bB8lgMeg

Here's a shot of a dream view from the living room of a client who bought a painting. That's overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Thanks Julie.

Baker Video

http://youtu.be/sxA41gsYVBU

Here's a link to the video I was trying to post last night.

On the Road

I was going to try to post a video with this blog but am having trouble attaching it. Instead I'll show you a still photo of I-70 cutting through the San Rafael Swell in Utah.

Made it to Baker, CA an hour or so past Las Vegas, NV. Staying in the Wills Fargo motel. Reminds me of a motel I stayed at in Taos, NM one time. I'm having to post this on my phone as there is no WiFi. I' ll try to figure out the video. More tomorrow.

Torrey, UT

Here we are I'm In Torrey, Ut. It was a beautiful ride here and we managed to stay dry. In fact it was rather warm to hot in places. Things change on short notice however. As you can see, we stand to get our 40% chance of rain. We've been watching this storm from our campsite. A fantastic lightening show going on. We may have to retreat to the bar across the street to wait this one out. Stay tuned.

Just A Miss

I finally got done processing all of my photos from the Will James Roundup I was at a couple of weeks ago in Hardin, MT. I took about 400 photos and have been busy converting them all to something useable, selecting the best, cropping, enlarging, etc. After making one initial pass through the results, I have 77 photos right off of the top I can use for reference for some great paintings, in both oil and watercolors. I also plan on doing a series of pen and ink sketches of many of these images.

The trick here is going to be to to capture the fluid motion and not just make an accurate illustration of the image. Drawing an accurate rendition of the image is easy. I want to create something that depicts the motion. That'll be the hard part. There are some great action shots and I really need to experiment with some technique to pull it off. I'm thinking kind of loose and sketchy with just a hint of detail.

I'll start with this one, titled, "Just a Miss". Because I'm only using the information presented to do the art, it would be very tempting to move the loop a bit so it is a "catch". We'll have to see what I decide to do.

Yard Art

We took a little trip down to Santa Fe last weekend. I’ve been wanting to get down there again for a couple of reasons. It’s important to me to stay abreast of what the art market, and the related framing market, are doing in terms of not only what is being offered but what it is that people are buying.

I pick Santa Fe to be my source for inspiration and fact finding because Santa Fe is considered to be a significant art market. 2007 Census Bureau data places Santa Fe fourth in the market for sales, behind first ranked New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), followed by the second ranked Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, MSA, and the third ranked San Francisco-Oakland, Fremont, MSA. It is interesting to note that Santa Fe is the only individual city ranked, where the others are all metropolitan areas. Another reason Santa Fe is attractive to me is because it is close and I like it there.

So, with justification established, off we went. We had another couple with us who wanted to look for some “yard art” while we were down there. I figured “art is art” so let’s see what we can find for them. Driving around we saw all kinds of stuff that I suppose could qualify as yard art. Everything from junk cars to old refrigerators including the requisite worn out couch on the front porch. Lots of that. We had something a little more tasteful in mind however so we kept going.

There’s a great little place on Cerrillos Boulevard on the left, headed south, just past Tortilla Flats, which by the way is a great place for breakfast, that had some really interesting metal fabricated… sculptures…I guess you could call them. I saw a really cool eight foot tall scarecrow looking thing behind the building. It had what looked like a deer head welded out of metal with a small set of real antlers on it. Metal fabric of some kind hung from outstretched horizontal arms. Kind of evil looking, like something a shaman would have. I figured my wife wouldn’t allow it in the yard as her cats would never come home again. We settled for a couple of rusty old Spanish cross designs instead and the other folks found what they wanted too.

Last fall when we were in Santa Fe, we came across some really cool, and really expensive, metal whirly-gig kind of things that rotated in the breeze creating quite the visual experience. There is a lot of talent down there and something for every budget.

Of course it is hard to beat nature for yard art. this is a great shot my wife Kathy took.
As always, a great time, great art and good food too was had by all. Stop by if you get a chance.

Flying Our Friendly Skies

I just participated in one of the most ridiculous human activities ever invented. Last week I voluntarily boarded an airplane with some 200 other fools to have my body hurled across these United States. I think this activity ranks just below the “running with the bulls” that takes place every summer in Spain and probably below the once popular practice of streaking by college students.


Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I have a fear of flying so much as a bit of claustrophobia perhaps. I mean, there is just so much wrong with this idea. Sure, it’ll get you from point A to point B rather quickly, relatively speaking, but I think that is the beginning and end of the advantage.

While I’m not much for standing in line I have to say that all in all it went much more smoothly than it could have. I’m thankful for that. Taking all of the stuff out of my pockets and the pat downs weren’t bad. Kind of reminded me of when I would get shook down as a teenager in high school or during a traffic stop in the middle of the night where much worse things can happen. “Up against the wall…” you know how it goes. On the other hand, maybe you don’t but I’m sure you’ve heard of it.

A friend of mine who is a Fed was flying out of Charlotte the same day I was returning to Montrose. As part of her job she is allowed to fly with a gun. I asked her how she gets through security and she said she just shows her travel itinerary and her ID and walks through. No lines at that desk. I asked if she could get me through that easily and she responded, “probably not”. I then proposed that maybe she could cuff me and pretend I was her prisoner, and release me when we got through the gates. She said “probably not”. I had to try at least.

Sitting in the terminal waiting for my flight did yield a side benefit however. I had lots of unsuspecting free models. I generally take a sketch book with me everywhere I go and I managed to fill a couple of pages of portraits of these characters…and there were plenty of them. For a people watcher such as myself, an airport terminal is a treasure trove. Lots of very interesting looking folks. Not quite as good as a bus depot but still worthwhile. Time well spent.

Of course when I travel, if I’ve got the time, I much prefer to drive or ride the Harley but I suppose in the interest of time, joining the rest of the masses in our friendly skies has it’s merits.

September

This is a great time of year. I can already feel fall in the air. Although it brings an end to the fine days of summer, and a fine one it has been, fall has it’s own character and appeal.


We pretty much have ended our motorcycle camping trips for this year. It has been an adventurous summer. I got to see some great country, met some neat people and got a lot of material for new paintings to do this winter. By camping and traveling on the motorcycle we managed to get it all done for a little over $600. Can’t beat it.

September, and most of October for that matter, will still offer up some great opportunities that I’m looking forward to. Our fabulous fall colors will be upon us soon. I see hints of it starting already. For a landscape artist, this is a prime time of year. People pay big bucks to come see and experience what we have right here in our own backyard. We don’t have to go far to see some of the best fall colors the Rocky Mountain West has to offer.

I’ll give you a couple of prospects for you to think about in the coming weeks. For a day trip, it is hard to beat the road over Kebler Pass. Between Paonia and McClure Pass you’ll see the turnoff. You’ll wind up in the colorful little town of Crested Butte which has several outstanding places to get a bite to eat. Highly recommended .

Another favorite is to go up and over Owl Creek Pass. You access that loop either by going south toward Ridgway and turning left or go east on Hwy 50 just past the little community of Cimarron. Turn right and follow the road. Either way, the road will take you through some of the best color available. Both are easy drives. A picnic would be in order.

For an overnighter, I would head east on Hwy 50 to Lake City and go over Slumgullion Pass, through Creede and South Fork, over Wolf Creek Pass and into Pagosa Springs for the night. JJ’S Riverwalk Restaurant is a good place for supper. A soak in the hot springs afterwards might be nice. The return route through Durango and over the passes to Ouray and on home will be hard to beat.

Two different overnight trips to Utah in October when the temps will be cooler are worth considering. This is a perfect time to see Moab and Arches N.P. as well as going a little farther to Capitol Reef N.P. If I don’t forget, I’ll expand a little on these next week. See you when you get back.