It was time for a road trip. The studio show had come and gone, I’d packaged up a number of pieces for shipment, spoken at the opening of a show of my work at Saddleback Church, said goodbye to house guests, and last Sunday gave my Beatitudes presentation at Gloria Dei Lutheran. With that behind us and Anne getting ready for a full summer at the Festival of Arts, it was time to get a break in while we could. We’d put it on the calendar before we even knew where we’d go. Then we thought of our friends Jeff and Cathy Girard who have recently purchased a mountain “cabin” in Midpines, near Mariposa in the California Sierras.

They were gracious to offer it as a place to stay while we planned to venture into nearby Yosemite. Then we thought, “Why not take our work things and make it into an art-making venture, even if it is only three days.” So that’s what we did. We can always do Yosemite another time; this is what we really like to do.

Imagine, if you can, full days with no sound but wind in the trees, the only neighbors a few horses, large rabbits of the ‘jack’ kind, sunset-scurrying ground birds, occasional deer, buzzing bees in the flowers, and the profusion of clear-sky stars you almost forgot were there.

We’d take the occasional walk, saw no one, just hills of pines and live oak and the likes of this manzanita.

Along with the living was the dead, one as intriguing as the other.

It’s no wonder the bees would be drawn to such pollen bloom explosions as these. They, like us, stayed busy.

Manzanita everywhere. We’ve never seen it grow to such height as seems to be common here.

It’s like endless variations on a theme, the bramble and twists and colors. What Artist has been here before us?

But we do ours and try our best to make it good. Here’s some of Anne’s printmaking materials drying on the deck after a day of use.

We found the Girard cabin (actually a house) very functional for rearranging into two studio areas. Here Anne works on details of a print. She brought smaller pieces this time, what with the shortness of time.

Here’s a partial array of her production, all of which she’d begun before, now hoping to bring them to completion. As I said to her, “Who’d have thought you’d become a printmaker, and then such a superb printmaker?!”

Meanwhile, on my side, I worked on large pieces.  As a point of information, and I might as well say it here, as of now I’m no longer in the Sandstone Gallery in Laguna, where I have been for years and Anne will continue to be. The leaving was on good terms, but I decided the time had come. These works are intended for another gallery which wants large pieces, unstretched.

I worked in acrylic, paint that dries fast enough that I can roll up and transport the large works easily. I always say I’m really an oil painter that uses acrylic sometimes.  And sometimes it really is best. This one’s called Taking a Break and is 50×40 inches with a three-inch border for stretching. (Click on it, and again, to appreciate all the texture.)

I’d brought along a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood to pin and tape the canvas on, as well as some drop cloth. That, and a bit of improvising, worked fine for a “studio.” Here I’ve got the background color in, the rudiments of a charcoal sketch to give me an idea of where I was going, after that it was all trial and error. (See prayer below.)

It was Anne who helped me on this one; she recognized it as “done” when I would have kept on going. It was a case of two people being required to make a painting, one to hold the brush and the other to take it away before it’s ruined. I’ve named her Gown Girl, also 50×40 inches. (Click to enlarge.)

Why not close with a sunset? It’s what God likes to do. Which reminds me: the prayer. I voiced it the morning of the final day, taking a break from the painting of the same name and knowing it needed something but not knowing what:

“Lord, with your great ability and delight in such manifold beauty, creativity and interest,
would you not be just as pleased to manifest such through me?
I know it is me that limits
by my fears to risk,
that thinks I can’t,
that’s afraid to wreak.
You seem to create with such joyful abandon;
why not me too, imitating you?!

That was my prayer. Then I went back inside and, with new abandon, finished my painting. Much better.

We’re grateful for all things.

__________________

PS That show at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest is up for two months. It features some of my major works, including the original of The Last Supper with Twelve Tribes, Five Biblical Women, and The Beatitudes.

Speaking of the latter, if anyone knows who might be interested in the presentation, let me know. A preview is here.