Day 2 - Is Roadtripping Still Reckless? Follow the 50

I started the day in Rolla, Missouri, where I was told it wasn't the South or the North, just the Middle.  I drove far longer than it looked on the map (5-plus hours) to this small State Park in Arkansas, Petit Jean. The lodge is spectacular! It was built in the 30's by the Civilian Conservation Corps using rock from the local mountains. The beams are at least 12 inches thick and the ceilings are forever high. The view looking west is of a distant valley.

I got here mid-afternoon and hiked to a stunning waterfall.  There is no way I will drag my easel and canvas down that rocky trail! I tried to draw the raging water and slammed my sketchbook shut. An eight year old girl asked if I would paint it. "Nope!" There are many more trails and views here to choose from, though I may end up just outside the lodge, painting the quintessential triangle that frames the faraway hills.

I think I am being romantic rather than realistic by using the word "reckless" In my title. Tonight I drove 12 miles to get a burger and a beer (this county is dry) for dinner and then turned around without eating. (Thank you, Vicki, for packing me a substantial snack bag!) The only "Lounge" had 12 pickups and one sedan and I suddenly felt pretty damn careful. A woman alone in a bar in the South just feels a little suspect... And so I may have been "cautious" or  even "cowardly" but surely not "reckless".  This project needs a new name.  Any suggestions?

Tomorrow I take brush to canvas, for sure.

Day One of Reckless Roadtripping - Follow the 50

So I don't have a title for my project yet but I can't seem to stay away from "reckless". It is my beer-drinking name at Saugatuck Brewery (thank you, Allen) but also the alliteration charms me. One meaning of "reckless" is to be unconcerned with the consequences of ones actions which is really the sort of freedom I've been striving for so maybe the word won't go away because it fits.

Anyway, I spent all day driving and landed in Rolla, MO, which feels like the South because they have fried ocra as a side at the local steak house. I listened to "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac most of the way down and realized I felt really dingy when, 6 hours into it, the local radio station played 80's music and I liked it!

Tomorrow I drive to Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas to find myself a landscape to paint. I hope I can learn how to upload photos from my iPad before that day is done!

Definitely a Chicken-Painting Day

A Painting in One Night

Last Friday night I found myself with nothing to do and an abundance of energy. I looked around for a painting to paint over and found "It's About the Clouds", which was a fine plein air attempt but nothing special.  Also, being only 12x12, I thought I could take this on in one sitting. Below is the metamorphosis. I worked looking at a photo from the Dunes State Park. I was very warmed up from working on "Three Pines" all day and this little landscape just about leaped off my brush! I started around 9 and was cleaned up and in bed by midnight.

The original "Its About the Clouds"

Michigan Scene

"Three Pines" gets a makeover.

So here is a painting I did this summer.  It was in the gallery from late summer till we closed for the month of January.  Several people thought seriously about buying it but the more I looked at it, the less I liked it. Initially, I just wanted to make the tree trunks brown, because they looked like birch trunks instead of pine.  Once I did that, I could not stop adding color. New life for a sickly painting... feels so good... !

"Laurie's Chickens" 12x12 oil on canvas

I went out last week to photograph Jeff and Laurie's chickens.  It was a cold day but sunny and Jeff stepped outside to feed them peanuts so that they would stand in the sun. They are beautiful birds!

First Still Life of the Season

Like hunters, skiers and outdoor people of all kinds, I look forward to the autumn/winter and its colder weather.  Not, however, to be out in the cruel elements, painting, but to be inside painting, hugged by the heat of my wood burning stove.  This is when I turn to still lifes for inspiration. It is easy to be excited by the sand and the dunes and big open skies. It is much harder to get worked up over lemons, limes and pitchers.  However, I did my best by setting up a crowded table, throwing tons of wood on the fire, drinking plenty of coffee and pitching forward, head first. Here's the first of the season, a large oil, 30x30.