Absolutely Ridiculous

I know there is a lot we could chat about that would fall under this topic but time and space won’t allow it…fortunately. Almost each and every day we encounter something to which a natural response might be, “What? That’s ridiculous!” The other title I considered for this week’s column was “Stupid, stupid, stupid”, which would’ve been just as appropriate.


Being an artist and an entrepreneur is somewhat of a difficulty in itself. In a pure sense, an artist will create art for the sake of art. When an artist chooses to make money from whatever talents he or she possesses then the picture (pun intended) changes, sometimes drastically. With a new season (summer) approaching us here on Main Street and the anticipated arrival of visitors (tourists) to our fair community I’ve been looking around the studio/gallery and trying to anticipate what it is that they, or you good folks for that matter, might be interested in buying.

If you’ve been in the gallery you know that I like to paint a lot of different subjects. Many are subjects that appeal to me and some are strictly “market driven” so to speak. It’s that “market driven” subject matter that brought me to a new series of paintings I’m doing. I make a number of note cards and prints of the paintings I do, and I was thinking of doing something new that might have a broad appeal. It’s been in the back of my mind for some time now and like many ideas I have, it got pushed to the back of my mind as I tackle life’s every day occurrences. Yesterday I decided that now is the time.

I’m starting a series of Colorado wildflower paintings. So far so good but the idea has proven to be more of a challenge that I thought it would be. My chosen medium for these delicate delights is watercolor. I’ve got all of the reference material I need so that’s not an issue.

The problem that I’m having is that I can’t seem to get the results I want and here is the point of this column. I tried five paintings and none of them worked. Frustrated, I lined the paintings up and stood back to have a look. They all looked the same. All five had the same problems. Then it dawned on me. I had repeatedly been making the same errors. I had continued to do the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. How stupid is that? It is absolutely ridiculous to continue doing the same thing over and over and expect the effect to turn out different. That little insight can apply to many things. Lesson learned…finally.

What Now Boss?

This is a 24 x 48 oil painting I just finished. It depicts a cowboy and his dog making their rounds under the big Montana sky. The dog was trotting ahead of the cowboy on the trail they were following and came across the cow and her calf coming up the hill. The cow has her eye on the dog trying to determine if he is a threat or not, while the calf eyes the cowboy. The dog looks back at the cowboy hoping to get some instruction as to what he should do about this unexpected encounter.

This is a detail of the cow, calf and dog.
The painting is for sale at my studio for $2495 unframed.

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.

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.