Autumn Trees, and Near Red Lodge

Autumn Trees

Oil on canvas, 10x20

As I'm writing this, I am heading home, and it looks like I will probably get home in time for Halloween. It's a little confusing to be posting paintings that I was making as I was heading to Wisdom, but it's OK. So for at least a couple days, I'm going to send more than one painting in each newsletter. 

I made this painting on Tongue River Canyon Road, the day after I painted "Red Afternoon." That day, the "Red Afternoon Day," I had been planning on leaving Sheridan, Wyoming and heading to Montana. But I had such an amazing painting day, the colors were so beautiful and exciting, the landscape so inspiring, I stayed another night in Sheridan. That night. I saw this painting in my mind. I understood what I wanted to paint, how I wanted to see it, how I could make the trees look like flames, how the painting would feel. I went back the next morning, found a perfect spot to pull over, and painted, fast and sure of myself, before the rain came. 

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Near Red Lodge

10x10

I drove to Red Lodge, Montana, and as I mentioned in a previous newsletter, didn't find it particularly compelling. It was nice enough, but not what I wanted to see or paint. The road to the town, however, was lovely, and vibrant and alive in the brilliant afternoon sun. 

It's often difficult to find a good, safe place to pull off the road and paint. In New England, and the East in general, there are ditches along nearly every road. There are ditches in the West, too, but there are also regular pull-in spots, designed, I think, for farm and ranch equipment. These are just long enough to get my van into safely, and I've used them whenever I've found them. 

Near Red Lodge, I found a huge flat space belonging to the state Department of Transportation, I think. My guess is that they store sand there, perhaps, and park snowplows and big pieces of equipment there in the winter. But when I was there, it was empty, and lined with beautiful, bright yellow trees. 

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Yes, where there are trees in Wyoming and Montana, they are brilliant yellow, with tints of orange and green, shimmering and shining in the fall sun. The rest of the land is beautifully colored this October, if more subtle, less brash than the tamaracks and cottonwoods. 

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Dog of the Day

It's Tuffy, whom I met at a hotel near Red Lodge. His human had come to Montana from Oregon, and brought Tuffy along. The dog had belonged to the man's mother, who had died. Tuffy was missing an eye when the mother got him from the shelter, but it didn't seem to faze the dog in the least. 

Ready to Go!

Hello, sponsors! Welcome to the Big Skies Painting Trip blog!

As most of you know, I've been delayed a bit in my trip by the specter of a gigantic hurricane potentially smashing directly into Wachapreague, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, where we live. Left, you can see the Eastern Seaboard; Wachapreague is where the little red thing is... (click here for a bigger map). At any rate, it now looks like the hurricane is going to go off into the Atlantic well south of us, so my plan is to head out on Saturday. My thinking is that I will drive out directly to Wisdom, Montana - one of my favorite places in the world - and have that as my turnaround. Then I will wander and ramble my way home, painting in Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota, and wherever else I see something wonderful. 

Some of you have already mentioned ideas you have, things you might like me to paint, places you might like me to visit. I'm open to all suggestions! You can send me an email me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com, or call me at 860-442-0246, and I will do my best to fulfill your requests. 

Those of you who know me already know that I tend to stay away from the national parks and the well-trodden, already protected areas. There are millions of paintings of them already - and what excites me is the beauty of the ordinary, or at least what's ordinary for the people who live in these beautiful places. 

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The Van is Packed! 

Above, you can get a look at the canvases that I've readied for the trip. I've got dozens of 10x10s, mostly in the clear boxes, and a good selection of larger canvases, as well, mostly all gessoed and wired. I also have a nice air mattress I'll use when I camp in the van.

To the left, the same area seen from the side door. My clothes are in boxes, I've got some paperwork to do, and it looks like I need to string a few more bungees across to keep stuff from sliding.



The brown pegboard on the far wall of the van will hold wet paintings to dry; there's another piece of pegboard flipped up and ready for three or four paintings. Most will dry in the slot just above the air mattress. And yup, I've got a port-a-potty, for the nights I sleep in the van.

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Dog of the Day 

The black Labrador painting is really a hanger that my mother had in her living room. I've had it in the van as long as I've had the van, and just this week decorated it with a Halloween bandanna that my friend Pat gave me, and which our puppy Dr. Cooper wore for a while. I nearly brought my dog Koko, but decided that, for this trip, Mom's Lab will have to do.