Side of the Road and Autumn in Melrose

Side of the Road

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In my reluctance to leave the Wisdom area, I drove back roads, I soaked in the October air, watched the sky, looked at cows and horses and electric-colored trees - and painted. 

I made these paintings in the megalopolis of Melrose, Montana, a tiny town between Butte and Dillon. Lots of cows, a hotel with cabins and RV spaces, a fly shop, and the Big Hole River, winding through it all. I saw a volunteer fire station, houses, ranches and not much else. The population in 2014 was 138 - more than Wisdom's 98 but less than Wachapreague's 232.                                                                                                                   I don't think a single car passed me in the hours that I stood at the side of the road and made these paintings. The day was cool, the sun was warm and the heavy clouds softened the edges of the rocks, and brought out the deep, rich colors of the land. 

Autumn in Melrose

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More of Melrose

Above, lots and lots and lots of cows in Melrose. I'd wager that cows easily outnumber people.

Above, the volunteer fire department in Melrose, Montana. 

Below, a cool door on the fly shop in Melrose. 

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Dog of the Day

Here's Tiny, who's best friends (well, sort of) with Tanner, DOD from yesterday. Here's how their relationship works: Tiny will be sitting there, minding his own business, and Tanner will come up and bark, bark, bark, bark, bark - until Tiny finally leaps up, snarls and chases Tanner around the yard or house. Then Tiny goes back to relaxing, Tanner spends some time doing something else, and then the entire cycle starts all over again. 

Last Look and Yellow Trees

Last Look at the Big Hole

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Since I'm home, it feels right to send out a couple paintings in each of the remaining newsletters, so we can get to the choosing more quickly. I thought about posting all the rest of the paintings in this newsletter, since they're already up on the Jacobson Arts website, but there are things to say about each of them, and so I am going to string this along for a little big longer.

These final few paintings are probably the most emotional of the trip. I was feeling tired and lonely and so far from home - but I was exhilarated by what I was seeing and what I was painting, and as always with these paintings trips, I didn't want the journey to end.  All of that shows up in these pieces, I think. It shows in the brilliant colors that pulled so strongly on my heart. It shows in the wide, free splashes of paint I put on the canvas, and how I loved the silky feel of those mixed colors, those random melanges. It shows in the details I decided to allow and the many more that I decided to let pass. This trip brought me to a place of ease, excitement and freedom in my painting that I'd never experienced, and it shows in all the paintings, but especially, I believe, in these final ones. 

And I'd be leaving out part of the story if I didn't mention how very scared I was, with each piece, that the thing I found I could do - and which I did do - would suddenly be gone. 

Yellow Trees

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These yellow trees, whatever they were, cottonwoods or tamaracks or aspens, they were the visual extravagance of this trip. They were the glitter, the glitz, the sparkle of this autumn landscape, and I fell in love with them. This particular grove was in Divide, on the way to Wisdom. I saw it on the trip in, and had to go back and find it on the trip out. It was so very windy, however, that I had to paint inside the van. I'm going to make a large version of this painting very soon, before the memory of the shine and flash of these trees fades.

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Scenes from the Road 

Saw this marvelous painting, above, in a store in Wachapreague. Below, the sign on the door of the gas station: "Open til Closed / 8 or 9 to 5 or 6 / Closed when door locked." 

p.s., the gas station is for sale... 

Just a pretty scene near Divide, east of Wisdom. 

Above, the Crossing, the only restaurant in town. Below is Shale, my wait person, who just earned her master's degree in Emergency Management and Disaster Resiliance at Tulane in New Orleans. She'd come back to Wisdom because her grandparents have a ranch just outside of town, and she'd spent nearly every summer of her life there, so it seemed like a good place to gather herself together and figure out where to look for work and start on her career.  

A nice sculpture outside the gallery in Wisdom. 

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Dog of the Day

It's Tanner, a sweet little dog who lives with a couple in Omaha who collect my art, and sponsored me on this trip. Next time, you'll meet Tiny, Tanner's doggie housemate. 

Heading Home

Heading Home

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The Wisdom area resonates in me, for reasons I can't explain or even really understand. I have the same reaction to it as I have to Wachapreague, where we live. The songs that these places sing, they are the songs that my soul hears. It has to do with the breadth of the visible landscape, the size of the sky, the colors and topography, the quality of the light and the way all this comes together. 

I was delighted that my response to the area was the same this trip as the previous one, seven years ago. And it was hard for me to leave. I'm thankful that the hotel had no room for me, or, who knows, I might be there still. 

As it is, I am home, in Wachapreague. I have a few more newsletters to send to you, a few more paintings to unveil. In the meantime, if you want to see all the paintings I made on the trip, you can click here to reach the Big Skies paintings page on the Jacobson Arts website! 

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Instrument House

I don't really know what else to call this place! All over it, all over the yard, the fence, the driveway, all over parts of the house and the garage, there were, well, instruments. Implements. Machines. Models. Stuff. Cool, painted, whimsical stuff. I wanted to go up to the door and ask about it, but in sharp contrast to the fun nature of the decorations, there was a scary black and red Do Not Enter / No Trespassing sign, so I refrained.

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Dog of the Day

I had to do it, just once! 

Bales

Bales

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All over the West, there are bales of hay standing there, preparation for the winter. The bales - whether they're round of gray - are enormous, and the stacks they're in are bigger than any that I've seen around here. 

I've never completely understood how hay bales are made, and I still don't really understand how the square ones are made, but I did find a cool YouTube video about how the round ones are made. You can see it by clicking here. 

This scene is just outside of downtown Wisdom. The land is mostly Bureau of Land Management land, open to everyone, and there are ranches, too. Cattle from the ranches graze on the BLM land, and in many places in Wyoming, you see signs saying "Open Range," meaning that cows or horses or bison or what have you might be walking across the road at will. 

This was a special piece that I made for a collector to give to his new love on her birthday. I hear it was a successful present!  

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Downtown Wisdom

Above, a couple of the businesses in downtown Wisdom. The Horn and Hook also had good espresso, and the bar next door, an excellent breakfast. People told me it has good burgers, too. Below, a longer view of downtown. 

 Above, the Nez Perce motel. It has eight rooms, and all were full when I was there. The place was clean and simple, with plenty of hot water and pretty good TV and internet. There's zero cell phone service in Wisdom, however. Below, the American Legion Hall.

 

Above, the view from my hotel room. 

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Dog of the Day

It's Girl, who spends her time in the gas station in Wisdom. She's pretty shy, doesn't like to be petted, but enjoys hanging out in the gas station anyways.

Afternoon on the Big Hole

Afternoon on the Big Hole

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The gray sky hung in over the land around Wisdom, Montana, and though I am a fan of the huge blue sky, the gray afternoon crept into my bones and into my palette and brought our all the rich colors of autumn. 

I grew up in New England, where fall was a glory, a riot of color and heat, crimsons and deep oranges, yellows so bright they look lighted from the inside. Fall skies were blisteringly blue, clouds sharp and white, and unless the trees were blazingly colored, it wasn't a good autumn. 

The West is so different. Here, near Wisdom, under a soft, gray sky, the grasses shone subtly yellow, the evergreens made a deep, dark background, and whatever those spiky bushes are - I never found anyone who knew - they added deep red splashes with purple/gray shadows at the base. I saw no fish rising, and saw only that one guy fishing, but I know what a perfect river this is for autumn fishing and, yes, for autumn painting. 

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Scenes from the Road

The Big Hole at one of its wide points, south of Wisdom

Saw this lone guy fishing both days I was in the area. 

When you're up this high, on the high plains, you're pretty much in the sky. 

 My second day in the area, the sun did come out. 

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Dog of the Day

Yup, it's Koko, and we're celebrating her coming to live with us, just about a year ago. 

Peter saw Koko, who was being fostered by our friend Christine Stark, and he knew she was my dog. And he knew how much I needed a dog, since the death of my Jojo. So I stopped in to Christine's house on the way back from a show, and got little Koko. 

Even though we didn't know each other that well, Koko knew I was her human, and she wasn't letting me leave Christine's house without her. 

A year later, Koko is my best doggie girlfriend. She has helped bring me back to life after Jojo's death. She keeps me company, greets me with delight every time she sees me, and makes sure I take time to play, each and every day.