Three Essentials for Life

We could probably count wind, water and fire as essential. Surviorman would have us believe that water, food and shelter should be at the top of the list. Some of you might even include love, happiness and generosity and while it’d be nice to include a fine bourbon, a steak and a good cigar too, I’d have to say you are all missing the important stuff though.


What are my three essentials for life? I’ll tell you. Duct tape, bailing wire and deck screws. That’s what I’m saying. Sure, all of the afore mentioned fundamentals are necessary to sustain life but when it comes right down to the nitty gritty, I find that my three are absolutely indispensable. I know some of you are nodding in agreement.

It is highly probable that almost anything, in the right hands, can be fixed with either duct tape, bailing wire or deck screws. If you need a little back up, throw some super glue into the sack too. It might not look real pretty when I get done with it but it will get me by until I can do it properly or, more likely, call someone who can.

There has been more than one time when I was out in the field working studiously on a painting and I had some sort of malfunction with my portable easel, or I find a branch next to my tent rubbed a tear in it during the gale force winds that came up while I was out painting. Then there was the time the radiator in my pickup truck sprung a leak, the result of hitting a deer over in Utah, or the time the bottle opener accidently broke off of the bathroom counter in the motel room. The list is long but the solutions are all the same.

Yes it helps to be a bit of a do-it-yourselfer but even the most inept can take advantage of the benefits of what’s in my sack of essentials. In fact I would go so far as to say that the more incompetent one is, the handier it is to have these items. I speak from experience. Let’s face it. Those of you who have a higher degree of finesse when it comes to repairing the unavoidable malfunctions that plague us in life will be shaking your heads in pity. I know. I know. I’ve been on the receiving end of those looks, but hey! It works. Most of the time.

Say! Have you been in the new shoe store a couple of doors down from me? D’Medici Footwear? Debbie has brought us some very fine quality shoes, which happen to be on my wife’s list of essentials. Stop by if you get a chance.

Afternoon Shadows

Here is another 36x24 oil painting fresh off of the easel. A wonderful late afternoon on the Middle Fork of the Little Snake River in Northern Colorado. A nice effect of light with long shadows on the water. The transparency of the water in the shallows turned out well. You can see rocks etc. on the stream bed. This 36x24 painting sells unframed for $1200

Food for Thought

As you know, if you’ve been following along, my mother had a close encounter with death when she had her heart attack in February. As it has turned out, she is on the road to recovery and is doing fairly well.


One of the issues that came up during this “event” is the matter of how far do we go to save her life. While she was living with my sister in North Carolina, the two of them went to an attorney and had a couple of documents drawn up, a Living Will and a DNR. A Living Will is simply a document that states what your wishes are should it be necessary to take life saving measures, typically by medical personnel, in order to keep your smiling face amongst the rest of us. A DNR is a “Do Not Resuscitate” order for anybody who may need to know. Hence the initials DNR.

This would be a good place for me to say that I am in no way going to tell you what you should put into a Living Will or whether you even need one. The same goes for the DNR. That is your business. I think it is pretty important though or I wouldn’t waste your time here.

The whole idea is this. Somebody needs to know what your wishes are. How far do you want medical people to go to save your life, considering what the consequences of such measures might be. In other words, you could wind up fine or you could be hooked up to a machine for the rest of your life. Where do you draw the line?

I’m just going to provide a little food for thought in case you have one or both documents or are thinking about it. It is not as simple as it may seem or sound. It is nearly impossible to spell out all of the procedures that may be performed on your behalf much less for you to decide which ones you want or don’t.

Never-the-less, let’s say you have made an attempt at it. Now you need to be sure that everybody knows it AND has a copy of all 138 pages of your single spaced, typed wishes. It’d help too if they were indexed. By everybody, I mean family members, hospital docs and staff, EMT’s who have been called, and anyone else who needs to know. You need to have numerous copies and they need to be READILY available. A daunting task when emotions are running high and you are uncommunicative.

So, what to do? Maybe get it tattooed on your chest. I can’t really say. I’ve got a painting to finish. Let me know if I’m involved though…please. I’ll need a copy.

Good Morning Utah

This is one of my favorite paintings. It has a wonderful classic look to it. It now belongs to a nice couple from Washington DC who just bought a place in Telluride. Thanks folks. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

New Work

Yes, I know. It's been awhile hasn't it? I've been working on some new oil paintings in a little larger format of 24 x 36 and 30 x 40. These are typically known as "Sofa Paintings" in that they are an ideal size to go behind the sofa. These paintings are on stretched canvas and are offered unframed and at a very reasonable price.

This is a scene from a favorite area of mine to paint, the East Dallas Road, which leads you right up close to the base of the Northern San Juan Mountains just below Mt. Sneffles, one of the Colorado "fourteeners". The fall colors in this area, and the surrounding mountainscapes typify what Colorado is all about. There is just an absolutely huge amount of material here. I have done a number of paintings on location here and taken a vast number of photographs to paint from. The fence on the right of the painting is known as a "worm" fence in that it is staggared in format, "worming" it's way along with out the need to dig post holes, thereby being self supporting. This  is an oil painting on a 24 x 36 inch stretched canvas and offered unframed for $1200.

This painting depicts a scene a little farther down the East Dallas Road closer to the base of Mt. Sneffles. Don't you just want to hike on down that road to see what is there? The view is from a wonderful picnic spot that my wife Kathy and I had all to ourselves. This is an oil painting done on a 40x30 vertical stretched canvas and is offered unframed for $1500.

Here is another scene from the same area. This painting depicts Mt. Sneffles with a fresh coat of snow in September. The long afternoon shadows lend a dramatic effect of light. This a 30x40 oil painting on stretched canvas and is offered unframed for $1500.

Any of the above paintings can be removed from the stretcher bars and rolled for easier shipping.

Merry Christmas!!

In a couple days Santa will be bringing gifts to those amongst us who are believers. Everybody else will probably get something from someone else. Of course the true meaning of Christmas for us Christians is the birth of Jesus Christ…but it’s nice to get a little something under the tree too.


When I was young, my aunt and uncle would host a huge Christmas Eve gathering for the family. It was a really big deal. I remember one time someone said there was over 20 kids under the age of 6 there. They would have a dinner and everybody would dress up in their Christmas finery. They always had a big white flocked Christmas tree with lots of lights, balls and tinsel on it.

At the appointed hour, one of the adults would sneak outside and jingle sleigh bells. All of us little ones would get ushered into a bedroom to await Santa’s entrance. There were lots of shrieks of excitement and the adult chaperons stood guard by the windows to keep curious deviants like myself and my cousins from peaking out the windows.

One of the male adults, preferably one who was a bit on the portly side, would dress up in a Santa suit and do his “HO HO HO” thing with more bell jingling. Another adult would climb up on the roof and clomp around driving us kids nuts.

After what would seem like a couple of hours of torture, the door of the bedroom would open and we would rush out. Somehow they always timed it so we would catch Santa in the doorway just as he was leaving (they didn’t have a chimney). He’d turn to face us and belt out “Merry Christmas” and before anyone got too close to him he’d duck out and the door would slam shut. Our attention was quickly diverted to all the gifts piled high under that magnificent tree.

Years later when I was older I remember a star struck little guy who walked up to my Dad, tugged on his pant leg and shouted, “Uncle Glenn! Santa has shoes just like yours!” Gasp, gasp! A hush fell on the room. My Dad just winked and patted him on the head and said that Santa must shop at the same shoe store that he did. That was good enough for the little guy and he turned and joined the other kids ripping into their presents still a believer.

Yah, those are some good memories. I don’t remember when it was that I learned any different nor do I remember exactly when I realized that just maybe there really is a Santa Claus. How about you? Merry Christmas folks! Thanks for stopping by.

The Art of...

This column I wrote for the Montrose Daily Press is reprinted here for Anna...hope to see you soon.

Over the years I’ve expressed my appreciation of “the art of…” a lot of different stuff. Of course we all know that art is very subjective. I’ve gotten into a bit of trouble with you folks for expressing an opinion of what I thought art is. That’s not bad though because it has opened my mind up to some really beautiful designs and ideas that I had previously ignored.


One aspect of art that I’ve only scratched the surface of with you folks is the art of cooking. While I know that a number of you are no doubt better versed on this topic than I am, I do have an appreciation of a well prepared meal whether it is served up in a high class restaurant, a diner down the street or at home. It makes no difference.

My wife is a good cook. Because we both work longer hours than we’d like to, she doesn’t get to practice this art as often as I’d like. Consequently when she does put something together, it is a real treat. She has a couple of recipes that if we were ever to open a restaurant they would need to be on the menu.

A recent creation involved Anasazi beans. Never heard of them? They are grown right over in Dove Creek. Lots of acres devoted to the little multi-colored bean. They are good, if you like beans. Ironically, we came across a bag of them at the Santa Fe School of Cooking, in Santa Fe of course, the last time we were down there. I’m told that they are available at City Market too. I would hope so.

Kathy, my wife the cook, adapted a generic recipe for beans and ham using the Anasazi bean and some ham hocks. She added another favorite that we have come to use in a lot of dishes, chopped/diced Hatch green chiles. Our daughter lives in Albuquerque so we have a somewhat direct source for them. She buys them by the gunny sack full, has them roasted and then chops them up and freezes them in quart bags, which we pick up a few of whenever we visit. Daughter Mandy’s “significant other” is a chef in ABQ so that helps too.

Southwest cooking in general is pretty good eating. I’m originally from Minnesota, land of meatloaf, tuna casserole and white gravy, but I really enjoy well prepared chile rellenos, huevous rancheros and the like, anything I can put green chile salsa on.

Here’s a little tip. If you like green chile salsa, look for Santa Fe Seasons Fire Roasted Green Chile Salsa in the market or go to www.santafeseasons.com. Highly recommended. See you downtown.