Remembrance of Things Past

Remembrance of Things Past

18x36

I was midway through this painting when the storm blew in, with all its rain and hail, for hours and hours. The next day, I came back to the same spot and finished the painting, with that day's mountains and the previous day's sky. 

I'm writing this several days in advance. I've traveled hundreds of miles and made many more paintings, and I can tell you that this piece and the previous one began a process of unlocking my painting in ways I'd hoped for but never quite imagined. The sky in this painting and the trees in the previous painting (Tucked Away) have freed me from bounds I never knew were holding me down. 

Above, the day I finished this painting. Below, the day I started it.  

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Cowboy Up! 

I stopped in the Starbucks in Sheridan, Wyoming, and was working on the blog there when Don Tescher, above, came up to me and told me a series of jokes that I can't remember right now. 

We got to talking, and he said he had been a rodeo rider for 40 years. He rode bucking horses (that's what he called them, not "bucking broncs") and he had loved it. He had broken a few bones, he said, but not many, and had never spent a night in the hospital, unlike many riders. 

Don was one of 10 kids, growing up on a ranch in North Dakota. His dad was a rodeo cowboy, and Don had loved it from the moment he was able to participate. The photos below are him riding, which he started when he was 14. He won his first contest at 17, and his first trophy buckle at 18. It was a hard life, but one he loved, and he pursued even after he was married and had kids. He did go back to the amateur level, at that point, but he kept riding. He said he rode more than 1,300 bucking horses, competing in 36 states and five Canadian provinces. At one point, he was ranked 17th in the world.

Rodeo cowboys will often ride in more than one rodeo in a week, driving all night to get from one to the next. They sometimes see the same horses in different rodeos, Don told me, adding that most bucking horses only are ridden once every three or four weeks. They're treated very well, he said, and kept healthy. 

Still, I have some trouble with rodeos, the same sort of trouble I have with zoos, aquariums and horse races. I don't begrudge anyone their enjoyment of these - I used to love all of them! But I'd rather see the horses out in the fields, bucking and running and rolling in the grass, or even being ridden to corral a herd or guide them on their way. 

Above, Don's father is standing, far left, and Don's uncle is standing, far right. Below, a friend of Don's, who - amazingly - did not fall off after this award-winning photo was taken! 

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Dog of the Day

The first time I saw this, on the rainy day, I thought maybe the dog was chasing the car, or had escaped from the yard and this is how his human got him back. The second time I saw it, the next day, I realized that this is how the dog's human gets him his exercise! I saw another person doing the same thing, 20 miles away, a few days later.