I got back to painting today. And it went well. It was a bit chilly and windy this morning, but when the time to paint comes, it comes. And sometimes it isn’t as bad as one imagines.
I went off with my now-ratty painting coat and gloves, heading for the Beatty Cut-off road to Death Valley. As you leave Beatty you climb through a couple of road cuts. The second one opens out into the Amargosa Plain (Playa/Valley) and you see the road going off into the distance, to the cut through the Funeral and Grapevine Mountains at Sunlight Pass before entering Death Valley proper. The ideal place to paint would be in the middle of the highway, right at the road cut. That being rather dangerous, I opted to climb the hill on the right, hoping to get both a good view and a place somewhat sheltered from the wind. I went around the tip of the hill, found my spot, and saw Jer below, willing to carry up my cart and gear, so I wouldn’t lose track of where I was standing. I painted from there. It felt good.
Between Beatty and Rhyolite, oil on masonite, 12 x 16″, 2009
The painting needs a tiny bit of tweaking, but given that this is the fourth time I’ve painted the plain (but not the road) it seems fairly complete.
The other painting I did this afternoon, in Beatty itself, at the general store, officially now the Beatty Mercantile, but still having the Lost River Trading Post sign on its highway side. The store looks modest on the outside, but has vastnesses within which could hold treasures. We frequent the store frequently, and so it has a special place in our hearts — oatmeal and raisin bran are essentials of life.
Behind the store is my old joy, the Beatty Mountain, which I’ve also painted three or four times (depending on whether you count the failures or not). So the modesty of the store against the largeness of its background made a fun combination.
The Beatty Merc (unfinished), 12 x 16″, Oil on masonite, 2009
This painting is missing both its sign and the Volkswagon bus coming down the highway. They will be inserted soon. My view was blocked by a large white trailer being fussed at by the driver, and so I felt like I didn’t really get to work as much on the building as I wished. But the blocking of my view forced me to look more at the mountain, so it might have been providential. I do like that mountain.
Tomorrw we are going back to Zabriski Point — nothing like painting the place where everyone has to sling a brush. I’m not going to Google to find out who else has painted there; I fear to see too much of others’ works.
Reported from the Goldwell House, Beatty, Nevada, where we are getting ready to watch a video. Such decadence!
[ed. note: the link to the Beatty Mercantile is actually a link to a report from Beatty’s Fourth of July parade in 2009, which the Mercantile donated to. The link is written by the fellow who made ice cream with his solar panels, courtesy of the Goldwell Foundation. All part of the fun. We missed this, but were there in spirit. And the link gave us more to day dream about.]
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