13 posts tagged “montana”
My little convertible Pony turned 130k this time out: still getting around 30mpg at highway speeds over the Continental Divide, canyons, and stopping fast for deer.
I passed an old pickup on a long uphill who had blown by me at over 90mph back on the flats- as I crested the hill my cruise control always takes a sec to realize we are going downhill and my speed floats up a bit- so I was now coasting at close to <.!.> when suddenly there were deer in the road just a few seconds ahead. I looked behind to see what I expected, the truck had crested the hill and thought we were racing (when actually my speed had been a constant speed set just below what MT State Patrol consider too fast- the hill had slowed the truck down to a labored 65 or so, but now he was wide open pointed downhill). I-15 is a wide two lane tarmac with a tall concrete barrier on the left that the deer couldn't cross. I was still in the left lane from passing the truck (and lining myself up to straighten out the upcoming corner) I sucked in as close to the inside rumble strip as I could, straightened her out and hit the breaks- the ABS kicked in and with no steering pull or even a shimmy from the car I was at a full stop quicker than I thought possible with a big eyed deer peeling out and falling down a few feet from my bumper. I had been sure I would eat at least one of the deer, and my bigger concern was the pickup coming up fast behind me- if he turned his wheel he would flip and sweep me and the deer from the road. The other few deer stopped short as I had suddenly materialized in the middle of them, and the truck blasted between them without having to blink. I sat idling on the highway, knowing there was no one else coming up from behind, while the deer finally got its skating hooves under itself and they all turned and bounced into the forest.
I passed an old pickup on a long uphill who had blown by me at over 90mph back on the flats- as I crested the hill my cruise control always takes a sec to realize we are going downhill and my speed floats up a bit- so I was now coasting at close to <.!.> when suddenly there were deer in the road just a few seconds ahead. I looked behind to see what I expected, the truck had crested the hill and thought we were racing (when actually my speed had been a constant speed set just below what MT State Patrol consider too fast- the hill had slowed the truck down to a labored 65 or so, but now he was wide open pointed downhill). I-15 is a wide two lane tarmac with a tall concrete barrier on the left that the deer couldn't cross. I was still in the left lane from passing the truck (and lining myself up to straighten out the upcoming corner) I sucked in as close to the inside rumble strip as I could, straightened her out and hit the breaks- the ABS kicked in and with no steering pull or even a shimmy from the car I was at a full stop quicker than I thought possible with a big eyed deer peeling out and falling down a few feet from my bumper. I had been sure I would eat at least one of the deer, and my bigger concern was the pickup coming up fast behind me- if he turned his wheel he would flip and sweep me and the deer from the road. The other few deer stopped short as I had suddenly materialized in the middle of them, and the truck blasted between them without having to blink. I sat idling on the highway, knowing there was no one else coming up from behind, while the deer finally got its skating hooves under itself and they all turned and bounced into the forest.
Drove up to the Ranch this weekend to move the herd from Dave Anderson's "lowland" ranch up to Alpine Meadows- about 15 miles on horseback: a long way for the new little calves. There was three feet of snow up here just a week earlier, and snow squalls and rain since- the grass has barely started.
The background has taken most of my attention so far. Today moved from the foreground into the bale. I started with too small of a brush and lost my sense of mass, then backed up with a larger brush and started pushing around with the shadow areas- getting just far enough to leave a nice mess.
I decided to work larger for this series, 32 x 48, and work in acrylic house paint (yellow, green, brown, white). This series explores a meadow full of unwinding hay bails, from many summers ago up on the MT ranch. They occurred because of a mechanical defect with the bailer. They are meditations on physical collapse, once again investigating my father's life and struggle with cancer.
Finished this one at last, and since it was still -20 outside with 50 to 70 mph winds, I kept going on the snow theme.
The wind blew hard enough to move the Mustang (that's usually around 80mph or better) as we made the pass. The tall orange flexi-rod attached to the highway reflector guides the snowplows in ground blizzards and heavy snowfall. As luck would have it, the best shot landed the pole smack in the middle of the composition.
You may not be thinking "Gunslinger", but he was a Deputy Sheriff in Yellowstone County and still has his 6-shot revolver and leather holster- much closer to "Gunslinger" than modern law enforcement.
A final day spent color correcting the foreground, then 5 hours today of adding in fence-line, telephone poles, signs, trees, and highway details of the rumble-strip, white line, etc. Once again, the colors lose a lot in the transfer- even from iPhoto to vox.
the sun had set when I shot this latest version, so don't believe what you see for color here...just figure that it didn't go quite as poorly as it seems. Tomorrow I head back to the foundry for wax work, so it will be a few days before further changes occur. That should give it time to dry a bit.
Saturday I put in a few hours snowing a bit more on the central peak while E read out loud from our sheepy mystery: Three Bags Full. Today (Monday) I added in the power station and the row of bushes in the morning, then remembered I hadn't taken a picture of Saturday's changes.
The relative abstraction of the forms from the underpainting winding through the foreground are quite a nice contrast with the storm/peaks,
The storm begins to emerge from the underpainting...I introduced another blue to the palette.
The underpainting sets the composition and tonal notes. I mixed piles of neutrals with the pallet knife using brown, blue, ochre, and white.
Elizabeth: "They are just too magical to show up well in a photograph- like a Unicorn ...or Sasquatch."
In the span of June-Nov I found myself driving from KS to MT, MT to UT, UT to KS, KS to UT, UT to MT, MT to UT, UT to MT, and MT to UT. This time behind the wheel moving across the amazing Western landscape juxtaposed itself with prior summers of mine as a mountaineer in CO as well as the time spent in the saddle or walking the vast expanse of the MT ranch. This past summer/fall road travel became my time in the landscape- in the summer with the convertible top down, in winter with the wind roaring through the old top as though sitting near a small waterfall- just enough to blur music to a background curiosity. There is an illusion that one is not really in the landscape, that the windshield is somehow similar to a TV screen or a theater stage; but an errant deer or antelope, or a patch of ice hidden in a tight canyon curve, or a tire going, or engine trouble, or a truck drifting into my lane- all possibilities of suddenly coalescing out of the odd spacial warp of time/distance, emerging suddenly from the false security of the illusory proscenium.
The colors are almost right above- though the dramatic warm spot of sun on the R doesn't read. The image below just does not capture the band of light through the trees and the contrast on the butte (or the fade of intensity to the middleground)- but it gives a rough idea. I'm creating these with a limited palette of Yellow Ocher, Burnt Umber, French Ultramarine, and Titanium White. For the highway yellow line on the top I put in a bit of Cadmium Yellow.
This comparison shows the range of how far the camera diddles around with an image. I went back into the image below for the road and brush, and a few subtle changes in the trees, oh- and the cow is darker. All the other changes are due to camera/computer/web diddle-gaps.
The art organization I used to direct here in town offered an oil painting class for adults, and the new director mentioned the classes while we were out for a coffee. The instructor is a great local painter, Brad Slaugh. The class met only about 6 or 7 times, but it was enough to get my head back into painting- which had been my undergrad major for my first two years of college till I abandoned it for sculpture. The work below is a color problem Brad set up, a magenta light from one side and a yellow light from the other; purple and yellow paper; beets and lemons and squash and etc. Our palette was Y & Purple (mixed from blue/red).
The art organization I used to direct here in town offered an oil painting class for adults, and the new director mentioned the classes while we were out for a coffee. The instructor is a great local painter, Brad Slaugh. The class met only about 6 or 7 times, but it was enough to get my head back into painting- which had been my undergrad major for my first two years of college till I abandoned it for sculpture. The work below is a color problem Brad set up, a magenta light from one side and a yellow light from the other; purple and yellow paper; beets and lemons and squash and etc. Our palette was Y & Purple (mixed from blue/red).
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When looking through images from the ranch with Elizabeth, about this image she said: it's Obama and McCain! Funny enough for me...
