Sunday, December 17, 2017

third hell and the elephant

Pared the open studio invite list down to familiar names and faces. Valued customers, friends and supporters. the right word is floating just out of reach.  Perhaps that is fourth hell, but I don't want to know.  One batch of fudge, some bottled water, a bit of cheese and crackers.  Wine or brandy with cider.  That is the hospitality that I had to give, but the weather was nice on saturday.

Anyway, I am trudging through third hell, resorting to routine, - and  -  monkeys are not the only ones who happen all over fatcityclay.  note the elephant passing through!




An abc, 123 pig for oliver townes.


Thank you to Kathleen for purchasing this painting at open studio.  It is from a day in February when we held a memorial service for my mom, who came to live in this "Pleasant" valley upon her marriage to my dad in the 1940's (?).  The road is County "M", Grant County, WI.

Monday, September 18, 2017

fall begins

I would like best to be known for my landscape paintings. 

Here are two recent paintings begun en plein aire on a recent visit to southwest wisconsin and finished in studio.  Thank you to Justin C. for purchasing these two six inch by 12 inch oil on board paintings.



Below, detail photos of a ceramic piece showing scenes from the old homestead located a few miles away.  it is included (if they decide to claim me) in an upcoming retrospective of the work of teacher Tom Manhart and his students at the University of Tulsa. Sold at Living Arts Gallery. October 2017.




Monday, August 7, 2017

today in the studio


Slab work for long narrow trays.  Palace Cafe likes them to present appetizers.



Watching paint dry.


morning rain on leaf



Friday, July 28, 2017

first day back in studio



Organizing celadon fired at Santa Fe Clay studio.  Humid conditions fogged the lens cover. The lighty gray were supposed to be blue but the studio manager is still learning the kilns.



I glazed the buffalo print mugs with the wrong glaze, but realized my mistake in time to save them for the next firing.




Tiles from the workshop after their glaze firing.  Also bisque firing for mugs thrown on sunday in santa fe studio and transported to tulsa as leather hard ware.



Visual sketching of dinner ware.  Saw some nice serving ware on the tables at Joseph's in the Railyard District.  Part of the experience.  How else to explain $16 bowl of chili verde.

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Santa fe time

You can go to the Okeefe museum in santa fe.  you can go to ghost ranch.  You can stop at Bode's Store in Abiquiu.  But you can't see O'keefe's house at ghost ranch.  The museum owns it and does stuff with it.  Its just not on the tour.  I chose the Box Canyon trail and fried my oysters off!



Go up past the hogans and across the meadow (I think that historically it received irrigation for crops) and past the fence.



Afternoon clouds gather. No rain falls.




quick sketch of depot at railyard, santa fe

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

buffalo mugs won't you come out tonight

transfer prints on ceramic. my new skill
The Shalene Valenzuela workshop at santa fe clay has come and gone.  I learned some new things, though I was challenged with altitude sickness. I'm still trying to stay hydrated five days after the workshop ended.


4 Inch tile


Requiem to santa fe.  Too little air, too much sun, holding back the ants (a losing proposition) and a social slap down by the princess, her monkey and governing phlebotomist.  hint: see my nose pressed against the glass.  

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Mr hopper

"Mr hopper!
Play the tune."
"Dance."
Life is long.
Life is short.

"we won't live long."
maybe, soon,
we'll say its time.

A blue knight
On a blue horse
Danced on my chest.
(In the shade. In santa fe)

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Pop to Classic; Portrait to Tiles. April and May in the Studio

Payne landscape copy wip
payne homage wip - nearly there


BBD Ketchup. 20" x 16"  Oil.
This worm's eye view of a ketchup bottle presented itself as I waited for breakfast to arrive.  

The Old Cedar - Second Draft
 Berger Santzen's original painting is at Gilcrease museum in Tulsa.

Mark at the Market



Soap dishes connect me to the concept of humility.


Left over kitchen tiles. These will probably come to market as coasters.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

National Parks and Monuments, March 2017

Its a lesson I learned on my first trip to the Grand Canyon the summer of the Mt. St Helens eruption - the stubby mountain as it is known today in Portland.  It must have been more representative of a living hell that summer I visited the Grand Canyon.  

Oh yes. The immutable lesson: "Don't go on another person's trip,"  . . . even the pleasant is interminable.

The Snail Train goes west. 

Day 8 in the books.  Two thousand miles. Eight days. 250 miles per day.  average around 10 miles per hour elapsed.  Snail trains.  turd emoji?


The Cast

Blinker, Cipiopini, and CinQo hit the road on a halfway quest for the ultimate landscape sensory experience.  The ultimate is Alaska.  Were it not for the presence of Cin!Qo and a lack of calming anti histamines, the Canadian border at Vancouver would not have kept us from the ferry and the elegant off shore public transportation systems connecting canada and Alaska.  (Instead, we turned around and left the Olympic Peninsula.  I entirely missed the fact that Bainbridge Island was right there. Crap.)


Meet the Moderator
April 1

In case you are wondering, today is April 1, 20017.  The biggest question of the day is whether that jack ass in the white house is going to try and verify his presidency by waging war.  It seems a dear price in flesh to pay for buying false promises.

Day 1 of the Tulsa farmer's market was magnificent in terms of weather, participation, sales and renewal of friendships. It is my 18th year to participate.

The snail train completed its loop on Tuesday.  We produced a record number of mugs for a one week period.  The incredible part is that we did it in three days.  I have four bulk sales orders pending simultaneously.  This is a first.  Perhaps its time for death insurance - or another beer.

Speaking of my erstwhile muse, Candy Buddha Sweet and Salty, (aka MonkeyNuts, the human candy bar) is off to the mountain top, and not a moment too soon. Too much this.  Not enough of that.

Alpha female
 Whew.  Time to breathe deep and enjoy the sunshine.  I am exhausted. Roll on big river.


Back to the Parade
sometime in early march

Busy streets of Bakersfield

Bakersfield - fresh oranges and good mexi fast food.  It may have been the prettiest day of the year there.  We saw rain in the Mojave and heavy rain coming over the mountains at the Cesar Chavez center along the highway. The news of my youth come to life.  I took many pictures there.
Bakersfield bright and flat. Squatting precisely in the fertile middle.

Previously

Day one. Packed. The snail train underway. Amarillo beef.

We saw a lot of birds just west of Amarillo on the way to Hereford.  It is a flyway where unnumbered birds flying and grazing co exist with wind farms using the same air currents. It was the last green we would see until we reached the central valley in california.

Beef feed lots abound. I  must admit to a love for steak.  The process can be hard to see on an industrial scale.  Stuck in a stantion and forced to consume in captivity for a lifetime?  Its not my favorite vision while eating.  I do manage to squelch my squeamishness a couple of times a week.

Fortunately, there are other things to amuse.  Quick Trips, signs, power lines and grass dominate the landsape, with the help of some half buried Cadillacs.





Holed up in Grants, NM 


Day two. Holed up in Grants, NM with snow and rain on the way overnight. Pacific moisture. Snow and wrecks on the continental divide.  Visited Richardson's trading post in Gallup.  Became acquainted with the spider rock women in the rug room.

Headwinds, were a prelude to Grants. Trains and winds come through here. The winds can knock you back. Highlight of Grants pictured here.



.

Canyon de Chelly

Aimless wandering brings us to the place of the first mystery.


Lost my phone and FOUND my phone. IT has been reincarnated as it popped out from the seats.  camera batteries have failed though. 

Spider Rock. Canyon de Chelly

The valley is inhabited in the summer.  During the winter folks mostly live on the plateau, or rim as the maps call it.  There are timeless views.  The nature of the place changes during the day.  
Black Mtn view across Canyon de Chelly


End canyon de chelly 

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Zion.

God's Place on Earth







Nevada. I-15

Vegas strip was crazy crowded on a saturday. We stopped at lake Powell instead.


Busy Barstow trail crossing.

Low water at Lake Powell.


California's Central Valley
 the place where fantasy gives way to antiquity.


Sequoia trees on Monday.  Rented tire chains to make the trip.  23 miles of ice and snow roads.  No bathroom.  Yellow holes in the snow.  Massive orchards along the roads coming out from Visalia.  Almond trees, orange and lemon trees, etc.  Flat farms give way to 13000 plus foot mountains.  Charmed lands.



The Burbs
Sonoma. Hills and trees and vines. We brought the weather with us. Stopped at a charcuterie and picnicked in a park with rows of grape vines marching away to the hills. Visited a winery looking for the perfect chardonnay. Came away still seeking.

Sonoma picnic in the vineyard.

Lost coast. Fog. Mountain slid over road on its way to the sea. No road. Detour. Change of plans. 

Mon

Bodega Bay was nice. Fog cleared between one and three.


Shoreline, Bodega Bay, California

Mendocino county, lake county, pizza in fort Bragg at the brewery. Worth remembering.  Avalanche closed 101 both ways, so we detoured back east and missed the redwoods. Took the five past Mt Shasta. The lake presented classic Sierra beauty 25' low. Cruised Ashland to Grants pass. Jelly Donut a worthy warm-up to Voodoo Donuts in Portland. 

Never made it to voodoo donuts.  But Blue Star was two blocks from the hotel.  Like most things in Portland it is well done and overdone, locally sourced and narrowly focused.  Quality has a price.

Olympic Peninsula exceeded expectations.  The high areas of the park were under seasonal closings, but we visited the Hoh rain forest and the beaches.  Also visited the westernmost point of land on the contiguous 48 - the breath taking and nightmare inducing cape Flattery.

Cape Flattery, Olympic peninsula, Washington

Port Angeles was pleasant and quiet when viewed from the waterfront Red Lion.   Its not a fine dining place to be, but the gastro pubs do a good job.


Road Home

Bend has grown tremendously. So it has traffic like every other place including Twin Falls, Idaho where Shoshone falls has more water than it has in 20 years.

Shoshoni Falls on the Snake River. 

Hwy 84 rains coming into Utah.
Heavy rains all the way to Salt Lake City.  Rain chased us out of town the next morning.

Treasure.
We did see one beautiful town that time has forgot. Obviously, that's a secret.


Postscript

Blinker, Cipiopini and CinQo: an annotated tale of the 'snail train' travelling through the southwest, west and northwest parts of the US, performing a parking lot rodeo.  "What is that rock over there? I thought half dome would be bigger.  Durango to Pagosa Springs, entering a region of memories.  Scoped out the cultural heritage sites.  Doc's bar and the Sagebrush Inn at Taos, then out across the plains. Flatter than ever with clear skies. Close calls in traffic piling up. Running in front of our luck.  Big Dan's for dinner in Woodward. 


Dedication

For my son, who had the audacity to grow as a strong and self sufficient person.


Regrets

Oh yes.


Canyon Lands

Rock Face, Canyonlands, SE Utah

Green River, Canyonlands, SE Utah
  You can drive your vehicle and ride your bikes for one hundred miles through these areas.


The Magic Mountain

Taos Mountain rain storm.

We stopped for a cookie and a bathroom break at Tres Piedras.  Twenty miles out of Taos on the Carson Mesa.  Highway 64 was open with some re-drifting of snow covering the road in places.  

Obligatory Woodward Skyscape