Diary of a Residency, Day 22, March 09, 2009

As usual, I spent the day at the Red Barn. Carrie Radomski showed up at 4:30 pm. She’s one  of the new owners of the Lost River Trading Co; George is the other half. And they’ve changed the name legally to the Beatty Mercantile, which is what we want to call it anyway. She and I drove out to the Rhyolite (Bullfrog) Cemetery, which is really worth visiting, in that poignant way that cemeteries often are. This one has some graves tended, a few “modern” headstones, an interesting inscription or two, but what really grabbed me were the rows of mounds. Whatever markings had been there are long gone and all that’s left are mounded, six foot long, 3 feet wide, mounds of desert earth. All quite orderly and quite quite poignant.

We left dimes at the 1959 tribute to the miners — a big stone piece — and I took a photo of Panamint Annie’s (born Mary Elizabeth White) grave, which is carefully tended. We didn’t leave any money there; she seemed content with her tributes. The article linked to her moniker gives some detail.

Annie has a Joshua Tree to weep for her.

I also added stones to my Work Maze. Keeping this Journal, with its daily count, allowed me to count the maze stones, which needed a few more added.

As for the art work?

Well I finished up the three on-the-road pieces that have been lingering, looking forlorn.

Redding, CA, Best Western, 12 x 16, oil on board

Chowchilla, CA, Motel, 12 x 16, oil on board

Barstow, CA Best Western Motel, 12 x 16, oil on board.

Then I tweaked the two pieces I worked on yesterday:

Beatty’s Evening Glow, 12 x 16, oil on board

Bare Mountains, pm, 18 x 24, oil on board.

And I started a Beatty Back Wall Map, as well as a new Shorty’s Rebellion. The Back Wall map looks like this — “started” is definitely the operative word.

It’s not very big, but it’s big enough. And it’s canvas, so it soaks up the paint. But it keeps me out of trouble. The wind was blowing from the south again today, and I finally gave in, closed the Barn doors, and turned on the heater right at my feet. That helped get me through the day.

These are long days, but I seem to be getting some things done. I always come home feeling exhausted, but then, after a bit of a rest (and a read on my Kindle 2) I recover enough to believe in the work again. Rest is good!

Reported from Beatty, Nevada, Hellsgate and 5 miles from Death Valley.

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