Diary of a Residency, Day 24, March 11, 2009

I painted the big board that I was thinking about yesterday, the one of the landscape that holds the ghost town of Rhyolite and the Goldwell Sculptures. The last one I did was bad, so it got turned face to the wall. This time I knew I had to paint on-site to get the mountains to frame and hold the scattered pieces. So I hiked a mile down the road, where I could see the mountains as I wanted to paint them.

I’m always amazed at what I can see and what the camera can’t.

Here’s the view I painted:

The tiny specks are the way the camera sees the town of Rhyolite when the mountains are brought into the frame. But here’s approximately the way part of the town looks to my eyes from this spot:

To photograph this, I had to walk up the road something like half a mile, although I could see it perfectly well from the earlier site.

None of this is scientific, of course, and part of the reason for photographing it closer is in the hopes that I won’t have to go back out in a windstorm to paint the ghost town. The weather this morning was good for painting (not so good this afternoon), but I don’t trust it to stay that way. So I can use the photos if I need to.

This painting belongs in the middle of the group that started with the scene to the south of the barn and works its way around to the west. This big (18 x 36″) painting will fit into that empty space above its head in the photo below:

I may do another small one to the south west to complete the circle. But even if I don’t, this feels like it will be complete once I’ve put in the scattered pieces in the center of the painting on the table.

I now have four paintings in process: one of the Exchange Club in downtown Beatty, one of Scotty’s Rebellion, one of June’s Map of Beatty, and the Big Scene at Rhyolite, that I just got a start on today. And tomorrow we are planning on going off to Death Valley. We are both a bit jaded by our routines. Going off in the car is a good way to make coming back home feel wonderful.

Above are three of the four paintings, in progress.

Reported from Beatty, Nevada, where I yawn after a day in the dust and sun.

Next