Shack on the Hill

Shack on a Hill, 10x10

The best painting spots are the ones when you can face in one direction and see one amazing scene to paint, then face in the other direction and paint a different amazing scene. 

That's the case with this painting. I face north to paint "Near Steamboat," then turn south to paint "Shack on a Hill." It's an especially excellent spot, as it's a windy day, and I'm able to use the van to block the wind. 

I continue to be amazed at the homesteads that I see out on the plains, miles and miles from neighbors, stores, commerce of any kind. Many of these do involve more than one building, though, and as I stayed on, it became clear that entire families live together on the reservation - grandparents, great-grandparents, and many adult children and their children. 

This is a good thing and a not-so-good thing, according to a couple Navajo women I meet. It's great to have the love and support of a family, but not so good to have the constant presence of a watchful family. One young woman moved to a hogan at the very edge of the property, but tells me she still feels that her privacy is virtually nonexistent. 

Another Navajo, however, pointed out that while I see homeless dogs on the reservation, I see no homeless people. And she's right. 

My painting in the landscape

***

 I have to crop these photos so that you can see the houses, but believe me, from the road, they are just tiny specks. And there are no other houses anywhere near these. The quiet must be amazing and total. The night sky must be astonishingly brilliant. But how do you get help, if you need it? How much of your day is spent traveling to shop or visit friends, on the day that you do that? How long a bus ride is it for the kids to get to school? I thought places I saw in Maine, or on the Eastern Shore were remote - they are nothing compared to places on the reservation.

This scene, above, feels like the top of the world to me. 

***

Dog of the Day

Yes, I know it's a cow. It makes me laugh, though. Cows are more or less allowed to roam free on the reservation. Across most access ways to the roads are cattle guards - roadway-wide segments of metal bars set into the road itself. Cars can go over them easily, but cows won't walk on them. But I see cows in a number of un-cowlike places, and this is one. These metal buildings are part of the government complex at Window Rock, and this cow is enjoying some government-grown grass, late one Sunday afternoon. 

Outside Steamboat

Outside Steamboat

Oil on canvas, 10x10

The drive from Fort Defiance to Ganado takes about 30 minutes. About 40 minutes past Ganado, you arrive in Steamboat, Arizona. 

In 2010, according to the Census, there were 56 households in Steamboat, and nearly 300 people. The median yearly income was $9,276. There is a gas station/convenience store, a place that appears to fix cars and other machines, a church and some houses. 

Steamboat's page on the Navajo Nations Chapter website says that the town's Navajo name, Hoyee, means "State of Fright." The site says that there is a V-shaped canyon there, with an overhanging cliff and a spring at the convergence. The spring was a place where travelers could get water, but locals were afraid of being ambushed if they got water there. "Steamboat" comes from a rock formation that supposedly looks like a steamboat. 

The town fascinates me because I can't imagine living there. But Wachapreague - where we live, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia - is not that different! Same general size, though Wachapreague has a grid pattern to the streets, a town green, fire department, restaurant and hotel. All of Wachapreague's 200 or so residents live in the 192 square acres that make up the town. I think many of the people of Steamboat live on the plains. 

It takes 90 minutes to get to Salisbury or Virginia Beach from Wachapreague - but then you're in a big city. It might not take much more than 90 minutes to get to Gallup, but then you're in Gallup. And Onley is 100 times larger than Fort Defiance, in terms of shopping and amenities.

But it is beautiful. The plains stretch out pale and silvery between deep-red buttes. The sky is the size of the world. There is nothing there, but the quiet of the landscape makes serene that which could be desolate. I love standing in that landscape and painting. 

Here's my painting in the landscape

*** 

The plains shimmer under a huge sky. 

Wild horses, cows, sheep, llamas and dogs roam all over the reservation. I have seen

 horses pretty much everywhere I've traveled. 

I've really come to love the sage that grows all over. Its stems are gray, its leaves a soft, silvery green, and its flowers a light mustard color. At certain times, I could smell the scent of sage on the air. 

Here's the place in Steamboat where I think you could go to get your car fixed. 

Gallup must be a major hub for trains. This one had four engines, and a far-as-I-can-see line of double-decker boxcars, stacked on on top of the other. It seems pretty miraculous. 

***

Dog of the Day

Here's Minnie! I met her in Tubac, and she was a funny, friendly dog.