Eagle Butte

Eagle Butte

12x36

West of Gillette, Wyoming, the land begins to change. It begins to look like The West, or at least The West I have in my mind. The colors get a little muted at one end, and a little more vibrant at the other. The topography becomes a little more ragged, a little more muscular. This scene, Eagle Butte, was one of the first really Western-looking landscapes I saw. It was easy to imagine cowboys riding this range - and they probably still do.

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Bill Richards

As I was painting the piece above, Bill Richards stopped his car and came to see what I was doing.  I figure he was in his 70s or early 80s? A tall, thin man, he'd worked the Eagle Butte mine for his whole life, until coal-caused health issued forced him out. He said that during the last few years of his mining career, he'd worked 12-hour days, and it had taken its toll. Twelve operations and a heart attack, he said. 

And now he paints! He showed me a couple of his portraits, and they were fabulous, full of life and bright colors and, honestly, love. The man lit up when he talked about painting. 

His wife died eight years ago, he said, and he was packing the car that very day to drive to Oregon, to spend the winter with his girlfriend, who is also a painter. Their plan is to paint for at least a while on the California coast. 

We shook hands, he told me how much he liked my painting, how bold he thought it was, and he waved goodbye and took off, for his winter life of art and love. 

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Scenes from the Road 

This is part of the Eagle Butte mine, where Bill Richards worked for all those years. 

It's hard to see them, but if you click on the photo, you can see a small herd of antelope. 

The Gillette airport was surprisingly busy - also surprisingly decorated, with this painted horse, above. And the Gillette Walmart, below, has to be the best decorated Walmart anywhere! 

 Fences are a huge part of the Western landscape. There's an interesting book called "Barbed Wire: The Fence that Changed the West," that you could read if you'd like to know more.

Good-looking cows! 

Lots of barns out here, and some houses, too, have painted "barn quilts" on their sides. 

If you click on this photo, you can see a couple. 

This is the Blue Gables motel, where I spent a night. More on this in the next posting! 

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Dog of the Day 

It's Zeppelin, with his human, Chris. They're from California, and are in Wyoming hunting. Zeppelin ran around outside the hotel and found every bit of semi-edible stuff he could find there. Sigh. Dogs are all alike. 

It's hunting season here in Wyoming, and I went out and bought a blaze-orange vest. There are hunters here from all over the country - Pennsylvania to California - and it would truly be a bummer to be mistaken for a deer.