Diary of a Residency, Day 20, March 7, 2009

It was a long and satisfying day. I got a painting done before people arrived for the Open Studio. Todd,  Christy, and David, from Las Vegas, showed up to work on the cistern. No water yet, but progress is being made. They are hard workers, and David is a good purveyor of beer,  a beverage for which I was grateful at the end of the day. About 20–30 people came by, a number because of the flyers that I carried around town. And a number because of the sign board that Jer hauled down the lane in the Honda. Many people got postcards and made donations, so even though it’s a small bit, I feel like I’ve done a little for the Goldwell Foundation.

This morning, I took a larger Ampersand board, 18 x 24″, and did the AM painting of the Funeral/Grapevine Mountains. I can’t discern a cut between the two ranges from the Red Barn, so I’m not sure which I’m painting — only that the eastern sun hits them in wonderful ways, pulling out details and coloring them better than any painter could.

The Bullfrog Hills from the Red Barn, 18 x 24″, oil on masonite, 2009

One thing fun about this painting was the foreground — the desert and the dirt road in front of the barn [ed. note: I want to do more to this painting, six months later. One of these days….]. I got to play with varying colors and textures. I like the painting, or did when I left the Barn at 5 this evening [see note above <snort>]. This is one of 3 or 4 of the scene from the Barn that I want to do at different times with the sun pointing out to me what I should be painting .

I didn’t get any photos of any of the people who showed up for the Open Studio, although a number of people photographed me. I tend to forget I have a camera when I get to talking. Richard Stephens, a Goldwell Board member, regaled me with a number of tales of characters around Beatty about whom he has written, as well as telling me of the paintings of Rhyolite he did, modeled on various famous painters and paintings. I can’t find his work on the web, but I’m hoping he’ll find a way to show me some of what he did. I think he did a Dali-take-off of the sculptures. He said the paintings sold to raise money for a local institution.

In and around chatting up the visitors, I played with Shorty’s Rebellion, which is looking better. I gave Icara much larger wings, and that seemed right.  I diminished the Lego Lady, which worked Ok, but in the process I made a compositional problem for myself — one side is more full than the other:

I think I have two paintings;  maybe I’ll just have to cut the board apart. Later I also gave the Last Supper participants more dimension and ghostly black slits for faces. That was fun but I forgot to get a photograph. These long boards are beasts to compose on. I’m thinking of starting on the panorama again, diminishing the figures and maybe the hills too. Or maybe I’ll just paint it out entirely.

And I started the Bare Mountains PM, but got carried away with having too much fun with color. It’s not even covered with paint yet, but hey — it was a long day.

Painting with one’s back to the brilliant late afternoon sun does weird thing to the observed color, both of the object being painted and of the paint that is used. What fun.

I was thinking today that only time, that old trickster, allows me to see all this in its amazing variety — to understand how the desert light changes color and points up or deletes things at will, depending upon angles and strength and whether the wind is too strong to bear looking into or the day too early or late to take note. It’s a real privilege to be able to watch this land as I have in the last 3 weeks.

Reporting from Beatty, Nevada, early March, 2009.

Oh dear, in looking again at Shorty’s Rebellion, it occurs to me that I should move Icara to the left, having her coming into the scene, flying toward the last supper. Ouch! Doing that would be painful.

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