Hoist a Cold One

“Hoist a Cold One”, written by Melody Groves with great photos by Myke Groves, is a gem of a book my wife discovered. It covers historic bars of the Southwest. This couple traveled around Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and of course Colorado looking for old historic bars from days of old. What a great idea. I wish I had thought of it. By “bars”, I mean the pieces of furniture that make up the “front” bar, over which the drinks and beers are served to sitting or standing patrons, the “back” bar which was usually adorned by a mirror or two, shelving for the various bottles of liquor and racks for the glasses. Often there was also a liquor cabinet at one end which housed extra bottles of booze.

Most of these pieces of furniture were hand crafted in the mid to late 1800’s. While some were imported from Europe, many were made here in the US. All of them were handcrafted by wood working artisans in cherry, walnut or mahogany, with a lot of hand carved detail. Wonderful pieces of “art”. It is difficult to imagine these fine pieces of furniture and accompanying mirrors, traveling over hundreds and even thousands of miles by whatever means of conveyance that was available at the time. It’s a wonder that any of them arrived safely.

As a result of Prohibition, during which establishments in the business of selling and serving alcohol were closed down, these beautiful bars were removed and hidden from the Ladies of Temperance, saving them from destruction. Many were “stored” in Old Mexico. When Prohibition was lifted, they began to resurface and once again found homes in saloons, bars and taverns.

Interestingly, in my travels searching out material for paintings and looking for old classic signage and gold letters on window glass, I have found myself in the same room as some of these historic pieces of furniture…strictly for purposes of research you understand. In our neck of the woods, the book lists The Diamond Belle in the Strater Hotel, Durango; Grumpy’s Saloon in the Grand Imperial, Silverton; The Brown Bear Café in Silverton, and the Silver Eagle Saloon in Ouray.

Recently I was in the Lone Cone Saloon in Norwood, which was overlooked by the author. They have one of these classic old bars that was made in the late 1800’s and shipped from the Midwest. A beautiful piece of furniture. The carvings and woodwork are outstanding. You ought to check it out. The green chile burger, with a cold draught is recommended.

I believe I might have to look for other similar pieces of “art” the author may have missed and hoist a cold one in salute to the craftsmen.

ABQ

For those of you in the Northern Latitudes and back East, ABQ is short for Albuquerque, as in New Mexico, Land of Enchantment. I remember when I was a kid I was just absolutely fascinated with New Mexico and their “Land of Enchantment” slogan. Still am I suppose.

Daughter Mandy lives in Albuquerque. She’s the Assistant Manger of Guest Services for the Sheraton Hotel there. We took a load of Olathe Sweet Corn down to her and her SO, Daniel. Been pretty busy at the shop here doing framing, painting, lettering and gilding. It's nice to have the work. I don't know what to attribute the change to but I'm trying real hard not to over-analyze it and just run with it for as long as it will last. Consequently I've been working longer hours so it was nice to to get away for a couple days this past weekend. Jumped on the Harley for some quality R&R and headed south.

As you all know by now, if I’m going somewhere, I prefer to ride my Harley. That’s why I got it and these days, it sure is easy on the gas bill when traveling about. So I’ve got 3 cases of sweet corn to deliver. No problem. I borrowed brother-in-law Tim’s motorcycle trailer, the same one we’ve been camping out of all summer on our rides. Worked out swell. Traded sweet corn for Hatch Green chilies. A good trade, if you ask me.

I really like Albuquerque. It doesn’t feel like a very big town. Central Avenue, old Rt.66 is a really cool place to hang out. Kathy and I spent Sunday morning riding up and down Central, stopping and taking pictures of the old neon signs, murals and hand painted signage that still adorn some of the buildings. Unfortunately a few of the old landmarks have been torn down as part of an urban renewal effort. The old Kia Lodge is gone but I got a shot of the old neon sign. Same for the Aztec Motel. It’s gone but the sign is still there. Got that one also.

A number of the old stores from back in the day have been remade into some pretty nice eateries and bars. Some of the businesses from the heyday are still operating right alongside the new ones. Lots of murals on the walls and classic hand painted signs and old architecture. Of course there are a lot of characters on the streets which makes it really interesting.

Had lunch in Old Town at the Church Street Café which is housed in the oldest residence in Albuquerque. Built in 1706 so they say. Old Town is about a 10 block area surrounding the plaza consisting of the old original buildings which are still occupied as residences or businesses. Much the same as in Taos or Santa Fe. Albuquerque sits at the foot of the Sandia Mountains which are just to the east of town. The Rio Grande River, the same one with headwaters right here in Colorado, runs right through town.

Another great ride and a great time too. If you haven’t been there, it’s not far, 350 miles and well worth the trip. Spend a day or two.

Two Extras

Here are two extra paintings I did while in Crested Butte for the show this past weekend.

The one just above is of a pond at the campground I stayed in. This pond was lined with these beautiful Cottonwood trees. The light and the reflections were too much to pass up. When I left the campground to go to the show Friday morning, I had to stop and do the painting. I'm glad I did as it turned out to be a good one. Unfortunately I had already turned in the paintings for the show and they were already hung.

The first painting pictured above, is of a scene between Crested Butte and Almont, that I did on the way home Sunday. Even though the show was over, the artist in me wouldn't let me pass up the opportunity to do this painting. It is the road to "Jake's Cabin" which climbs throught the pass and down to the Taylor River on the otherside. Again it was the light on this scene that prompted me to stop and do the painting.

Stopping to do the painting of "The Road to Jake's Cabin" reminded me of a time that son Ted and I were going to go to Canada several years ago to paint and fish. We had two weeks. The idea was to paint and fish our way to Calgary, Alberta where I had a friend who had invited us up there to fish the Bow River. Ted would do the fishing and I would do the painting...and maybe do a little fishing too. At the end of ten days, we hadn't even gotten out of the state of Colorado, so we had to call the trip off. Ted said that next time I couldn't do any painting until we got to Canada, which was the case the following year. That time it worked out better.

So is the risk if I stop to paint everything I see no matter when or where I am going I might get anywhere. I would love to have the time to do that, just wandering around stopping to paint the picture and then move on to the next one, maybe stopping to fish a bit too. It's a good thing I got home Sunday, even though a bit later than I had told Kathy I be there. It is a wonder that I get anywhere, when I'm supposed to, when I have a painting kit with me.

Although these paintings weren't in the show I have framed them and they are available at my sudio/gallery. They are both 9x12 watercolors and are framed with linen mats, fillets and Museum glass and for sale for $600 each. I can send you a photo of them framed if you are interested.

Crested Butte Plein Air Invitaional

I have to say that the reception and show in general for the Crested Butte Plein Air Invitational, hosted by the Oh Be Joyful gallery in Crested Butte this past weekend was very well done. The quality of work was very good. As with all shows, there were some paintings that weren't up to par but overall it was very impressive. The hard work of Shaun and his staff in setting up the tent and the lighting and the hanging of the paintings definitely showed. It is a difficult task to show art properly in an outdoor setting but they did it.

The idea here is that 45 artists (all professionals), including myself, were invited to come to Crested Butte and paint the subjects of our choice as long as it represented Crested Butte and the surrounding area, and then display and sell the results. I was fascinated by the choice of subjects that each artist made and how he or she represented the chosen subject matter in their paintings. It is well known that if you take five artists and line them up to paint the same thing, the results will vary. That's art. Each of us sees the same thing in a different manner and will portray what we see differently than the artist standing next to us. Click here to see what each of us painted and what sold.

While the big show is over, select pieces of art have been kept by the gallery for the remainder of the show which runs through Sunday. If there is anything of mine that you see that interests you please let me know as I have all of them back here in my gallery with the exception of "CB Alley" which the gallery chose to keep until the end of the show. I was fortunate to have sold my "quick draw" painting (a quick draw is a set time limit we all had to do a painting) on Saturday. It is not pictured however. Thanks to Brenda from Tulsa who bought it.

Crested Butte Plein Air Art Show

This is one of 9 paintings I've done in watercolor in the Crested Butte, Colorado area for the Crested Butte Plein Air Show which opens the 15th of July. You can find more information on my gallery page at www.facebook.com/simpsongallery. You DO NOT have to belong to facebook to access my gallery page. It is available to the general public.

Bears, Eagles and Fireworks

Wondering how others were going to spend the 4th my wife Kathy and I and another couple, jumped on our Harleys and rode up to Red Lodge, Montana to find out. Ya, I know, it’s a long way to go for the weekend. Every little town we rode through was having, or getting ready to have, their 4th of July celebration.


First off I will say that the countryside was green, green, green, and the rivers were all running really muddy, really wide and really fast...and there is still a lot of snow left in the mountains. Looked more like April than the 4th of July.

In Lander, Wy, Main St. was closed for their celebration. We spent the night at an old RV/Tent campground right in town. It was run by an old codger who told us to pick a spot under the shady cottonwoods and put up as many tents as we wanted. I don’t care how many of you there are. That’ll be $20. CASH! We paid up…CASH…and picked our spots.

In Cody, Wy they were getting ready for their tribute to the 4th. Lots of flags and folks in town. We kept going on to Red Lodge, Mt, at the base of the Beartooth Mountains. We rode our Harleys down Main St. and it looked like a mini-Sturgis rally. Motorcycles and bikers everywhere. We fit right in. Lots of American flags waving in the breeze in a grand display of patriotism. Camped in the KAO, all of our neighbors were bikers. Harley’s lined up like it was a dealership. All good folks and proud to be Americans.

In the morning we rode over the famous Beartooth Pass. It rivals our Red Mountain Pass. Fabulous views. Alongside the road there were still drifts of snow 10 to 15 feet high that the road had been plowed through. Coming off the other side, as far as one could see, the mountains were still VERY snow capped. We entered Yellowstone NP where we were treated to bear, buffalo and elk. That evening we sat around the campfire sipping some of Lynchburg’s finest and kept mosquitoes at bay with DEET and cigars.

In Flaming Gorge, Utah we saw an eagle in a tree eating a freshly caught fish. As we came off of Menoken Hill Monday night we were treated to the great Montrose Rotary fireworks display. We even got onto our deck at home, with a cold one, in time to catch the grand finale.

The cost of our curiosity? Gas, $122.81. Campgrounds, $52.50. Food, $32.50, for a total of $207.81. The material gathered for paintings and the sheer pleasure of it all? Priceless. It sure beat staying home and mowing the grass.

Skeeters, Prairie Dogs and Texans

OK. You’re probably wondering what these have in common. Truth is…nothing, but follow along gentle readers and I shall tell you a tale that will shed a little light on the matter.


I was up in CB again last weekend painting for a show coming up in July. For those of you who don’t know, CB is the moniker that the locals in Crested Butte use when referring to their little burg. I’ve been up there so much lately that I feel I have the right to use it.

The first night I camped on a gravel bar close to the trees along the swollen Slate River. The setting sun cast wonderful shadows across the land. It was beautiful. As night fell on me up there at about 9500 feet, the mosquitoes decided to join the party. I quickly built a fire, lit a cigar and let the smoke of both bath me in an attempt to ward off the pesky little critters. The next day I moved over to Washington Gulch and discovered a field of brilliant yellow dandelions. In the far background was the silhouette of Mt. Crested Butte. A painting for sure.

The breeze was blowing rather stiffly where I was parked so I climbed a nearby hillside and got into the trees a bit. This actually afforded a better view anyway, but I soon discovered that the skeeters liked it up there out of the wind too. The little rascals were ferocious. Lots of deet and another cigar seemed to have little impact. Being the professional I am however, I endured the pests and did the painting. With arms and paint flailing wildly about and doing a little jig back and forth at the easel trying to avoid the little beasts I must’ve looked like an idiot up there having a fit. Hope nobody was watching.

Back at the truck, while I sat on the tailgate enjoying a cold one and taking in the spectacular view I had just painted I thought about the mosquito. I think the worst place for mosquitoes I’ve ever been was up in Jackson Hole when I was younger and being a cowboy. I remember trying to eat a sandwich in the barn one day and it was difficult to take a bite without getting a mouthful to add a little flavoring. Alaska claims the mosquito as their state bird. I don’t know about that since the only time I was in Alaska it was 35 below in February. Weren’t too many bugs of any kind out at that time of the year.

Oh! Prarie Dogs and Texans? I’ll have to say those for another time. Thanks for stopping by though and stay tuned.