Gallery Ten: 2007
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My first grandchild, a girl, was born in Eugene, Oregon toward the end of August, 2005. Journeys to Eugene have become a regular part of my schedule, some by plane, but others by truck and Airstream, which brings me close again to the Siskiyou/Modoc County subjects I painted twenty years ago.
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UP3985 in the Morning
acrylic on canvas
10 x 30 inches
Eugene, Lane County
Oregon
2007
Steam locomotives are like spectacular wildlife. I haven't painted them because I haven't met them personally. As we were leaving for Oregon and the granddaughter's first birthday, a train-buff friend suggested we must visit the Eugene railroad yards and have a look at UP 3985, which was visiting there. We went in the afternoon and, with a crowd of other admirers inspected the gigantic
Locomotive from all sides, and climbed on and off its train. I noted the railroad yards were full of blackberry vines. Early next morning we returned to see the engine get up steam and leave. The light was beautiful, and I took many pictures. By the time UP3985 was a distant plume of steam, I also had a bucket of blackberries. Steam locomotives will always remind me of blackberry pie.
Cima Cross
acrylic on canvas
11 x 14 inches
Cima, San Bernardino County
California
2007
The Cima Cross, beloved of East Mojave locals, was erected in 1934 by the Death Valley Veterans of Foreign Wars as a memorial to the dead of World War I. The wooden cross was vandalized and replaced by the veterans several times over the years, at last with a metal pipe cross set in a concrete base, shown in my painting. In 1994 the ACLU filed a lawsuit claiming a cross on Federal land violated the separation of church and state. A judge ordered its removal. Meanwhile, a canvas cover was put over the cross. The locals tore it down,
A plywood box was put over the cross. The locals painted a cross on the box. The box was painted white. The locals offered a land-swap to remove the cross from federal land. A judge denied it.
Cottontails
acrylic on canvas
two panels, each 8 x 8 inches
Carrizo Plains National Monument
San Loius Obisbo County
California
2007
acrylic on canvas
two panels, each 8 x 8 inches
Carrizo Plains National Monument
San Loius Obisbo County
California
2007
I've often said I won't paint spectacular wildlife, no grizzly bears or bugling bull elk, unless I see it. And I won't go to wild animal parks to see it. I want my wildlife free-range, or not at all.
Front Porch Fiddler
Acrylic on canvas
12 x 12 inches
Goldpoint, Nevada
2007
Acrylic on canvas
12 x 12 inches
Goldpoint, Nevada
2007
The little cabin stands in Goldpoint Nevada. From the first time I saw that couch, I wanted to put a fiddler on it. When I finally came by a fiddler image suitable to my purpose, it didn't extend down to the feet. Hence the dog. Also I gave the man a cowboy hat, because so many of the fiddlers at Death Valley wear them.
Goffs Sunset
acrylic on canvas
12 x 24 inches
Goffs, San Bernardino County, California
2007
acrylic on canvas
12 x 24 inches
Goffs, San Bernardino County, California
2007
Realism has its limitations. This sunset is totally real. I photographed it, and painted it as it was. The bare flagpole is as close as I came to a 2007
American Flag painting. I gave it to the 2007 MDHCA silent auction.
Santa Fe Sunset
acrylic on canvas
triptych 6 x 12 inches each canvas, 6 x 36 inches overall
Goffs,
San Bernardino County, California
2007
acrylic on canvas
triptych 6 x 12 inches each canvas, 6 x 36 inches overall
Goffs,
San Bernardino County, California
2007
Another Goffs sunset scene, painted the same year, but quite successful.
Nevada
acrylic on canvas
12 x 12 inches
Berlin, Nevada
2007
acrylic on canvas
12 x 12 inches
Berlin, Nevada
2007
Here is a subject left over from my snowy 2003 weekend in Berlin Nevada. When I woke up to snow and feared the rest of my party would never arrive, I decided to make the best of what I had, namely snow. I got out of the trailer and walked the long way round through the trees to leave no footprints
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