Gallery Twelve:

Gallery Thirteen: 2010

What I did not mention in 2009, was that two Sundays before Easter I developed shingles on my left facial nerve, otherwise known as Ramsey Hunt Syndrome. (Click This Link) I am amazed that despite the various discomforts and incapacities, I never stopped painting. What I stopped doing was taking photographs, so that, with the exception of one brief photo session in Randsburg, all of 2010's paintings are based on earlier observation.

Click on thumbnails for full image

Aermotor 1
Acrylic on Canvas
9 X 12 inches
Goffs
San Bernardino County, CA
2010

The philosopher Heraclitus was famous for noting that "No man ever steps in the same river twice." Similarly, one can never paint the same windmill twice, since behind the windmill is the sky, which like river water is always changing.

Aermotor 2
Acrylic on Canvas
9 X 12 inches
Goffs
San Bernardino County, CA

The Goffs Aermotor again, "But (as in the Dylan Thomas poem) the weather turned around..."

Aermotor 3
Acrylic on Canvas
9 X 12 inches
Goffs
San Bernardino County, CA
2010

And the Goffs Aermotor yet again.

Goldilocks
Acrylic on Canvas
8 X 8 inches
El Dorado National Forest
Amador County, California
2010

Walking uphill from our Sierra cabin, just after dawn, I met the only wild bear I've ever encountered face to face. She wasn't dark, as I expect a bear to be, but bright sunny gold, like a 500 lb. Golden Retriever. I went home rather quickly. My husband was asleep. "John! There's a bear out there!" He went on sleeping, so I got back in bed. Ten minutes later he sat up. "You say there's a bear out there?" "Well there was; it was bright gold!" That got me nothing but a derisive chorus of "THE DIRTY GOLDEN BEAR IS LOSING ALL HIS HAIR! HIS TEETH ARE OUT, HE'S GOT THE GOUT, HE KNOWS NOT WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT! etc." No one ever believed in my sunshine-colored bear.

2472
Acrylic on Canvas Board
18 X 24 inches
Niles Canyon
Alameda County, California
2010

In 2007 the Golden Gate Railroad Museum was evicted from its home in Hunter's Point, and moved its collection of rolling stock, including the newly retored SP 2472, a 4-6-2 Pacific type steam locomotive, south to the Niles Canyon Railroad.

All Aboard
Acrylic on Canvas
10 X 20 inches
Sunol Station
Alameda County
2010

The next day, Sunday, SP 2472 was on static display in Sunol. But on Monday, Memorial Day, it was in operation all day, running passengers from Sunol to Niles and back. I insisted that we both go, so John would have a chance to ride.

Study the Past
Acrylic on Canvas
10 X 20 inches
Goffs,
San Bernardino County, CA
2010

Anyplace with trees and water in the desert will host a lot of birds. Most of the resident birds at Goffs are small and tuneful, and people feed them. But some are very large and silent, and they feed themselves.

Speed Limit 15
Acrylic on Canvas Board
8 X 10 inches
Stovepipe Wells,
Death Valley, Inyo County, CA
2010

For several years I had entered the Death Valley plein aire competition. Although my paintings auctioned well, they had never even placed, because I didn't follow instructions: my subjects were not immediately present in the Park. I decided to remedy that.

The Mine Shut Down in '63
Acrylic on Canvas
12 X 16 inches
Goldpoint
Esmeralda County, Nevada
2010

I had taken the photo of the little cabin with the empty chair some years before, it seemed emblematic of the desolation caused by the collapse of the mining industry, represented by the idle head frame in the background.

Free Air
Acrylic on Canvas
18 X 24 inches
Randsburg
Kern County, California
2010

I first saw Cowboy Bob's Curio Corral April 22, 2008. I was walking east along the north side of main street Randsberg, camera in hand, when the finest natural composition I have ever lucked into came in view: the wild clutter of memorabilia with the crusty old gentlemen holding court in the middle of it. A man had sauntered over from the saloon across the way. Cowboy Bob croaked "What the heck are ya comin' over here for?" His respiratory problems were far advanced. "'Cause I like to talk with you!" So they talked, and I took pictures.