Thursday Morning, Fort Defiance

Thursday Morning, Fort Defiance

Oil on canvas, 10x10

Though I am still posting paintings from Fort Defiance, and still thinking about the journey and my discoveries there, I am now in Memphis, where I have a show this coming weekend. 

I leave the reservation early, for many reasons. One is my annual confusion about February. I tend to overcompensate for the short week at the end, and this year is no exception. Also, when I decide to leave, the weather across the country is looking pretty horrible, especially on I-40, the only route that makes sense for me to drive. And finally, I've stayed on the reservation about as long as I can. 

I have some conclusions after spending 60 hours or so painting on the reservation, and at least twice that amount of time thinking about it. 

The area evokes strong feelings in me, that's clear. And whether those feelings are positive or negative, or somewhere in between, the fact remains that they are surprisingly strong in me, surprisingly deeply rooted. 

I seem to know the sky. And while that might sound flippy and out there, it's the best way I can say it. I have no hesitation painting the sky ever. I don't think, I don't wonder, I don't question. I paint the sky unhesitatingly, in every pieces. 

The big rocks, I know almost as well, though these do take some thought, some guessing, some trial and error. I get the colors easily, again, unerringly, unhesitatingly. It's the massive, muscled, monumental qualities that take work on my part. But even those come pretty easily, in most of the paintings. 

I can't draw a straight line from my earliest days to these latest ones, but I sense the line, I feel it, and it seems to be true. 

 My painting in the landscape. 

***

Around the Region

I spend some time at the laundromat before I leave. It's me and a bunch of Navajo grandmothers, and a couple grandchildren. This boy keep pushing the shiny doors on the change machines, until he gets them all swinging back and forth at the same time.

Three people herd this small group of escapees back to their home, 

somewhere along Navajo Route 12. 

There's a pretty cool-looking junkyard beneath this car tower. 

I see these amazing, conical buttes along Navajo Route 12, 

not far from where the little group of cows is being herded. 

Not only am I now an award-winning artist, I am also an internationally known artist. One of my international sponsors lives in Switzerland, and sent me the photos directly above and below, after she saw pictures of the Painted Desert (bottom photo in this stack). The photos she sent are from Cappadocia, Turkey, where she's gone to ski, and to sightsee. Isn't it amazing how much the formations resemble each other? 

Painted Desert

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Dog of the Day

This vociferous guy actively defends his car in a parking lot in Amarillo. 

You can just barely see his compatriot, a relatively quiet shepherd-type,

 sitting in the driver's seat, minding his own business.