Oklahoma

Vinita, Oklahoma gave me the biggest challenge yet. The main street is a wide boulevard typical of Western cities. Early Saturday morning it was just me setting up my easel by the curb and the guy hosing down my main subject...this sparkling brick 5 story monolith. It wasn't long until trucks were rumbling past regularly. Their trailers carried hay, grain, poultry, cattle, hogs, goats, horses and equipment.   I was aware of the smells and sounds as they breezed by and now I know that goats do not go quietly like the other cargo. Two hours of that and It was becoming hard to concentrate so I pulled up stakes and hit the road myself, less than delighted with my choice of subject and it's execution. I knew I had most of a painting and it could be tinkered with back in the quiet of studio. The paper held the essence of morning light, at least. That is why we love plein air painting...it's authenticity and freshness.

Vinita is a rodeo town on the professional circuit; once a year there is a four day event at the rodeo grounds right across the street from my hotel, but not the weekend I was there. Too bad. I'd like to paint a cowboy portrait. I suppose some of the ropers and riders leave Vinita feeling a little defeated, too. At least I wasn't sore and broken.

Illinois

Searching for far too long for a compelling scene I finally settled on this one somewhere south of Nauvoo along the Mississippi River. Man, was it getting hot! This place had shade, not like the drifts of wildflowers right along the broiling river bank that are still calling to me. Next time. 

Three cedars 9 x 12 pastel on paper

Iowa

Windmills! I did not realize how loud these big ones can be...but who's to hear? While I was painting this picture a handsome farmer with two little boys stopped his truck so as "not to spray me with dust" (as the previous 20 vehicles had all ready done).  I guess those white gravel roads are limestone? All vehicles, even the ones going less than 50mph leave huge white plumes blowing behind them which you can see for miles. He also invited me to drive up a dirt track on his land, to get closer to the windmills, which I did, later after packing up my painting. They are truly huge. I fear I did not successfully convey their size in my small painting. The small water pumping windmill offers some scale...but all in all proportion and scale were a problem in this painting. Challenges are what this project is all about. I like that the windmills are grey and do blend in with the sky at times in a surprising way.

Nebraska

I arrived in Falls City on a sleepy,  steamy Sunday afternoon.  I ate some ice cream and drove around the streets looking for something to make a picture of. A hundred or so years ago this little house was someone's prairie dream home. I loved the light and the two peaked gables...and even the satellite dish.

Between 1979 and 2000 I did 630 commissioned house portraits. Now I rarely choose to do a house (never on commission) but when I do, I still wonder and imagine the lives of the people who have lived in those houses, planted those lilacs and apple trees, raised their kids and come home after work.

I pack pre-cut sheets of sanded pastel papers when I travel by airplane. I am limited to a 9 x 12 format, which is really stretching my comfort zone. I usually work 11 x 14,  or larger,  in the field. My 9 x 12 Guerilla Box is self-contained and is carried on the plane as I do not like to have my finished pastels out of sight. I guess most of us travelers have arrived without our checked luggage. Clean clothes I can do without...not my art supplies. I put the tripod necessary to support the Guerilla Box in my checked bag, knowing that I can use the rental car trunk lid or picnic table if that goes missing. I pack a lightweight linen cover up smock and then by removing that, dusting off and scrubbing my hands I am ready for an art museum (not a white tablecloth restaurant).

Arkansas

A good night's sleep and a walk around the neighborhood of my motel in Rogers, Arkansas, I found my next subject....sometimes it pays to peer over hedges. I usually have to work a little harder than that to find a compelling scene, but I could not pass up this piece of shiny clean equipment...(is fire engine red emerging as a theme on this trip?) As far as equipment yard/garages go this one was well cared for. I am calling this machine a crane...more red sections were lying out of view...please inform me if that is not what it is. 

The temperature was pushing 90 at 9am so I drove to Bentonville...home of Walmart and Crystal Bridges; Museum of American Art. I spent the entire day inside soaking up the art. It was too hot to explore the lovely landscaped grounds and trails. The architecture alone is worth the trip...thanks to Moshe Safdie.  I loved the special exhibit Angels and Tomboys: Girlhood in 19th Century American Art organized by the Newark Museum. And women painters and sculptors were generally well represented in this museum's collection of American art...it's not often you get to see 2! Grace Hartigans  (anywhere, let alone the Ozarks). This was a breath of fresh air to an old feminist who has been counting heads for decades (gender and race) on the walls and pedestals of public art collections.Alice Walton has brought a beautiful art museum to middle America...and it's free. (special exhibitions entry is $5)

Missouri

In celebration of my wonderful new knee* I spent nine days covering 1400 miles of the midwestern United States. When I left home in New England with an airline ticket and a rental car reservation I knew there was a possibility of painting in seven states. I also knew everything would have to fall in place perfectly for that to happen. It was raining when I picked up my snazzy little screaming red Fiesta so Avis gave me a big umbrella to use and return with the car. That must have been the lucky charm. I never saw another drop of rain for nine days. I spent the afternoon at the St. Louis Art Museum and checked out downtown a bit for prospective painting sites.

When in doubt, do the waterfront; early morning found me trying to be inconspicuous in a sparsely populated derelict neighborhood on the banks of the Mississippi River.  But I loved the view of layers of urban architectural history including the famous Gateway Arch. It was good enough for Lewis & Clark to start their monumental voyage of discovery there, it was good enough for me to start my little sojourn as well. 

Reasonably happy with the morning's results I pulled my "stealth! brightest red on earth" Fiesta out of the bushes where I had attempted to hide her (and all my valuables) and I put in my longest day of driving to Rogers, Arkansas due south west.

 9 x 12  soft pastel on coated paper 

*I had a total right knee replacement on February 25th and wish I had done it way sooner. So if any of you are contemplating this surgery, I encourage you, "Do it". Once you've survived the first month of hell things start looking up and at my age the months do sort of fly by...before you know it you'll be doing stuff you haven't done lately. I must thank my All-Star Cast of supporters ( husband and family, surgeon, nurses, physical therapist, doctor of accupuncture and chinese medicine, massage therapist and my friends) for my complete and speedy recovery. YES! (oops, forgot all the rest of you taxpayers for medicare)....thank you...I mean to use it well.