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. 

Distant Mountains

Distant Mountains 

Oil on canvas, 16x16

I drove around a curve and the land opened up, yellow-green hills in front, red mountains in the middle, blue snow-covered peaks far behind. The road rolled down, and just where a house sat, curved away to the east. It was breathtakingly beautiful - and absolutely, completely silent. Yes, a few times an hour, a car went by, but that was it. 

I'd just started this painting when a truck from Minnesota pulled in to the driveway where I was painting. Three hunters got out, and came over to have a look. They didn't have much to say about the painting, but we chatted. They were there to hunt antelope, and so far, the antelope were winning. I said a silent hurrah. I have nothing against hunting, but I'll choose the animal every time. 

They took out binoculars and one peered off into the distance. Apparently, just beyond a small herd of cows, there was a larger herd of antelope. The one guy would walk down there, and herd the herd up toward the other guys. He set off, and the other two went and sat in the truck. 

In a while, it occurred to me that they might be planning on doing their shooting near where I was painting. And again, no problem with hunting, but I don't want to see it happen. So I went over and asked them, and they said no, that wasn't the plan. In a few more moments,  they drove off. 

I was nearing the end of the painting when they came back. The antelope had won again, they said, and they were going to call it a night - but they wanted to see the painting. So it all worked out OK, especially for the wary, wise and incredibly agile antelope. 

Above, my painting in the landscape. Below, a better view of the land. 

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Scenes from the Road

There might not be a Big Foot, but there sure is a Big Foot Road! 

Beautiful farm in Eastern Wyoming

Above, the Powder River outside Buffalo. Below, the driveway speaks to what must be a pretty gorgeous ranch. The trees glowed in the afternoon light.  

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Dog of the Day

This fierce fellow was defending his gigantic motor home in a parking lot near Wall Drug. He barked maniacally, his entire 9-pound body shaking with fury that I'd parked beside his RV. 

House on the Hill

House on the Hill

Oil on black canvas, 10x10

It takes a little while - at least for me - to start to see and appreciate some of the softer colors of the high plains. There are muted yellows, blue-greens, green-blues, and often, a tinge of reddish-pink that I only really see when I start to look for it. And in patterns throughout the landscape, a pinkish-gray of leafless bushes, low and high, that set off all the other colors. 

The land here is dotted with abandoned houses, dilapidated and empty trailers, buildings that once had roofs and windowpanes and families. I guess people just walked away from these places, these buildings that once were home. It's lovely here, but these empty places add an edge of winsome loneliness to this often thriving, often robust land.

I think I captured some of the beauty and solitude of this quiet, sere landscape in this painting.  

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Scenes from the Road

Happy Halloween! Saw this skeleton taking it easy in Indiana 

The awning of this RV is home to a flexible solar panel. 

I never knew such a thing existed - but what a great idea! 

  Above and below, some scenes from Wyoming. If you click on the photo above, you can see a happy-looking cow that's just about the same color as the tree. Watch for this scene in an upcoming cowscape!

I like the way the peak of this building echoes the peak of the mountain in the background. This scene was near Spotted Horse, Wyoming. You can see more of Spotted Horse by clicking here. 

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Dog of the Day

This guy was probably not the only one misbehaving in downtown Deadwood.

Deadwood Road Rock Face

Deadwood Road Rock Face

Oil on black canvas, 10x10

Cycling back for a moment, geographically! The rocks and bluffs in the Deadwood area are spectacular, rising straight up, craggy and multicolored, cold in the shadows and warm as autumn where the sun hits them. Pines grow in impossible places, where it seems there couldn't be anywhere near enough dirt. And here and there, in gorgeous bursts of color, fall aspens. Luscious.

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Spotted Horse

It was a gorgeous afternoon when I rolled past the road to Recluse and into Spotted Horse, Wyoming. I had to stop!

Spotted Horse is basically what you see above. It's a bar/restaurant. There were no gas pumps to be seen, in spite of the "Standard" sign. There used to be a post office, but it closed in the mid-60s. The official population of Spotted Horse, according to the woman behind the bar, is two, but on the day I was there, half the population was away. The other half, the man who owns the restaurant, was in the back on the phone. 

The bar/restaurant survives because people travel that road and stop in, much as I did. Sturgis, a big motorcycle oasis, is right near Deadwood, just down the road from Spotted Horse, and lots of bikers stop in, the woman said. Hunters stop in, too, and especially in the summer, vacationers. 

While she was telling me this, the other phone rang, and she picked up and had a long conversation about her brother-in-law who had just died, and how she was going to go back to Arkansas for the funeral but hadn't gotten plane tickets yet, etc. 

While she was yakking, I noticed the many dollar bills with people's names and hometowns, tacked all over the walls. And the "Best Burgers in Town" sign. Better be, since they're the only burgers in town. 

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Dog of the Day

Saw this little gal in Wall Drug. It was a chilly morning, and she was bundled up, and seemed quite pleased about it. She was just a puppy, and as sweet as could be. 

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.