The Fox and the Hound

We have wonderful blessing of having thousands of aches of wilderness and miles of beautiful hiking trails surrounding our city.  Just a few steps down the trails and it is easy to forget that we live in a city with a population of around 125,000 just a few miles from Los Angeles.

Punch Bowl trail

Long Canyon Trail

One day I was out enjoying an afternoon hike when 2 beautiful K9s bounded up the trail past me.  One was black, white and brown spotted, the other had a beautiful red coat.  A minute later a man came running toward me and panted out "Did my dog run past you?"  I said yes, they headed that way and pointed in the direction they had run.  He looked confused.  "They?  I only have one dog."  Slowly the light dawned.  His Hound had taken off in hot pursuit of a Fox. 

Fox & Hound ACEO

 I have seen Deer, Coyotes, Rattle Snakes, Tarantulas, Skunks (dead), a Mountain Lion (also dead) and lots and lots of Rabbits.  But this was my first Fox sighting and the inspiration for this tiny master piece.

Attack of the Owls

The inspiration for my ACEO post this week comes from a road trip a couple years ago: A couple of my friends and I set off on a road trip from Southern California heading to Penticton, British Columbia.  The purpose, aside from an excuse to a road trip, was to ride in the Prospera Gran Fondo in Penticton which is organized by Axel Merckx. See more at https://www.facebook.com/gfaxelmerckx   Axel is a retired professional bicycle racer who's quest in life it to promote cycling in the youth of Canada and the USA.  He is also the son of the great Eddy Merckx.  And in addition to an absolutely gorgeous ride, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to ride with Eddie and Axel - well not with, but far behind :-)

Me with Axel and Eddy

But now I'm getting side tracked.  My inspiration came from the journey to Canada.  My friends and I decided to leave So Cal early on the 4th of July and drive to Pendleton, OR, all in one day.  It was a fabulous drive from which I'm sure there will be more paintings.  We traveled through wonderful little towns where people were celebrating the nations birthday with parades and festivals.  We took tons of photos. 

We made it to south eastern Oregon by dusk and turned onto Highway 78. The road runs along a plateau with open fields on either side.  As it because dark it seemed like the darkness around us began to come alive.  There were white blurs in the air as well as on the ground.  We slowly began to realize that we were driving through the middle of a feeding frenzy.  Both the prey - jack rabbits, and the hunters - snowy barn owls, seemed oblivious to our SUV speeding along.  It was surreal.  It felt like living through a video game.  I could do nothing but white knuckle the steering wheel and stay on the road as rabbits ran into my vehicle and owls swooped into it.  The most terrifying was the huge bird who flew straight into my windshield with a horrifying thud. And of course there was the sickening sounds of the rabbits who ran into our path.  This continued for almost 2 hours.   After the trip we discovered that AAA actually has a travel advisory posted for this stretch of road after dark.  That probably explains why we only saw one other car on the road. 

So My ACEOs this week are a tribute to the poor owls who committed suicide on my windshield and the bunnies who ran under my wheels.

Inspiration!

It is a challenge for every artist I know to find inspiration for their next painting.  Whether the are a Plein Air landscape painter or a Fantasy artist that spark of inspiration generally comes from a concept along with something they have seen. Because I am a Photorealist most of my work depends on photo references and a painting is generally only as good as my photo references.  So I am on a constant quest for wonderful photo opportunities.

I pull over on my way to an appointment because I just have to have a photo of the clouds hovering around the top of a mountain. I stop on bike rides to snap a picture of a cactus in bloom beside the road (that's why I ride alone most of the time).  I've even been busted pulling out my cell phone in the grocery store to photograph a price wine label instead of shelling out the big buck they wanted for it.

So it only made sense to me to try and grow some of my own painting resources. Since I paint lilies a lot I was excited when my local Lowes had a special on Calla Lilies.  My favorite!  I live in Southern California they practically grow like weeks.  This should be easy, right?

It worked beautifully!  The photos above became the  painting below.

Well, thank goodness I took lots of photos of my lilies because over the next couple of weeks something began to go wrong.  My beautiful lily plant began to turn yellow and wither.

And despite hand watering, rain and beautiful So Cal weather....

My lily has died. Along with the orchid and anthurium and pink lilies I bought.  I think we can safely assume that I did not inherit my grandmother's green thumb! 
So I guess I am back to stopping outside my dentist's office to take cell phone photos of his lilies!  And with this track record, I think it best that I avoid the pet shop!

I just love a conspiracy theory - Denver Internation Airport

A little over a year ago, because of decline in her mobility, my nonagenarian mother had to move from her lovely Napa Valley retirement home to assisted live. After long consideration she decided to move to the Denver area to be closer to my eldest brother.  I miss my frequent trips to the Napa Valley but Denver is not without it's charm - and a international airport with a wonderful collection of conspiracy theories!  You've got to love that!
Last week end I flew into DIA to spend the week end with my family. Lovely airport!  But the post modern murals are just a bit disturbing.

 "In Peace and Harmony With Nature" and "The Children of the World Dream of Peace" by Leo Tanguma

 

In addition, I understand from watching "America Unearthed", there are all sort of wonderful theories about underground headquarters of the New World Order, the runways being laid out like a Swastika and of course the Freemasons placed a corner stone.  My favorite story is though is the story about the "Demon Horse" statue out at the entrance of the airport.

 

Luis Jiménez, the artist who created it, died when a piece of the sculpture fell on his leg and severed an artery.  Talk about suffering for your art!

Want to read more? Go to  http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Denver_Airport_conspiracy_theory

But, the art I love in the airport:

DIA Baggage Claim Bicycle Art

 

Anytime you can combine bicycles and art I'm happy.

Of course the reason for the visit was to see Mom who is looking pretty go for 92 1/2!

Here's Mom holding a bag she got from artist Stacy Vosberg five years ago.  She still loves it and carries her books and stuff around with her.

So, I didn't get any painting done but I do have some inspirational photos and had some quality time with family.