An Early Summer Sketching Trip

This post is more about a particular evening than it is about the sketch, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. It's also sort of a part one to the next planned post.

_____________

This was one of those early summer evenings along the Wasatch Front. 

The day's weather had been warm and partly cloudy. I had been caught up during the day tending to other distractions, but later finally found myself free of the day's concerns. It was tempting then to just plug into the internet and veg out, but I was eager to get outside and take a walk. Even a little walk. I got in my car not sure of where I was going, but soon found myself at a trail head on the Wasatch Bench Trail. 

There's a day pack in my car that's always available for any spur of the moment wanderings I may take. This little pack has some basics in it; water, compass, rain poncho, flashlight, first aid kit, knife, sketchbook, etc. A little essential whatever for wherever and whenever I may wander. As usual I take this pack with me as I walk southward along the trail.

It's late May – technically not summer but feels like it. It's the season when summer still feels fresh. The trail is dry, but for the most part the trees and grass on the mountainside are still green – as yet unsinged by the mid summer sun that will be here in just a few weeks. In a meadow between clumpy stands of Gambel oak, a deer stands watching the human travelers on the path fifty yards away. Even back lit, the deer's red-brown hide stands out against the fresh summer greenery. I stop and watch the deer for a minute or two, and then move on. The sun is low in the western sky, shining through patchy clouds above the Tintic, Lake and Oquirrh mountains. The silhouetted clouds are blue-gray, blending into lavender towards their edges which are brightly lit by the westward sun. The air is so pleasantly warm. The evening breezes are gentle, occasionally becoming a little more assertive but never too gusty. It feels good against the skin. I leave the trail and walk up the slope a short distance to some boulders. There I take a seat, pull the sketchbook out of the pack and sketch a stand of Quercus gambelii.

Below me is the town, full of activity. Lights down there begin to come on as the sun crosses the horizon. The lights make the town look all a-twinkle. But up here on the bench, the dusk is peaceful and soothing. Clouds above the western mountains are an even slate color now. A thin crescent moon, just a day or two old, looks down, still able to see the sun which is no longer in my view. Night breezes caress my skin and tussle my hair. Crickets chirp in perfect time.

The bell tower down on campus tolls nine times as I begin the walk back to the car. Usually I'd have tunes cranked up on the stereo as I drive, but tonight the radio is silent. Turning it on would seem... wrong. The air conditioner I had used earlier in the day is off, and the windows are rolled down.

I think I need to do some shopping before I go home, and stop at a store along the way. There in the store I get caught up in all the bright colors of packaging and rows and rows of goods on shelves, along with their prices, advertising and other signs. The magic of the evening dissipates. When I get back out to the car I realize that the spirit that was with me up on the mountain bench – a spirit of peace that had even accompanied me as I drove down off the bench – is no longer with me.

This had been one of those early summer evenings along the Wasatch Front. One of those evenings far too brief, but oh so valuable. One of those things that can never be found online, or in any store.

But I know where to look for it, if I want to find it.

____________

Next time - what a difference a day makes!

Delivery Truck Driver

12" x 9" Pastel Pencil on Paper

This man modeled for our drawing session a few years ago. My sketch was made with a sepia pastel pencil - instead of charcoal this time - on white paper. 

For more about drawing sessions, go to "Labels" on the side bar and click on "sketching" or "drawing."

May Fields and Trees

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

Another warm and pleasant day in May to go paint. The farms and ranches between the west side of town and the lake continue to provide good subjects for paintings. It's a good place close by that I'll probably continue to visit and paint in from time to time. At least for as long as "development" doesn't overrun it.

Prime Plein Air Season

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

It's the beginning of prime painting season for some of my favorite subjects - trees! Both of the paintings in today's blog post are from the west side of town. The painting shown above was painted last Tuesday. The next day the painting shown below was made.

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

They're also both out of my new 9" x 12" pochade box. I'm enjoying that new box a lot.

Spring Clouds Over Mt. Timpanogos

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

This was painted in the middle of last week. It was a beautiful spring day, so I took one of my new 9" x 12" pochade boxes out on a hunt for something to paint. Tree leaves haven't reached their fullest yet, so I searched for another kind of subject. The cloud patterns and he shadows they cast on the mountain won my attention for this painting.

Japanese Woman - Color Sketch

5" x 7" Pastel on Coated Gray Paper

This sketch is from a while back at the weekly drawing session. This model posed for us a few times. Another sketch I made of her is shown here. 

During one of the sessions when she modeled for us, one of the other artists kept talking to the model during the pose. His conversation had nothing to do with the session and was distracting the model who kept loosing the pose. That was distracting to me. After a while, I finally said to the guy who kept yakking at the model,

"Barry (not his real name), are you harassing the model?"

My comment didn't have much of an effect on him, but when he tried talking to the model again, she responded to him only with,

"No Hablo Ingles."

One of my favorite models!

For more about drawing sessions, go to "Labels" on the side bar and click on "sketching" or "drawing."

A New Painting, and a Different Kind of Easter Story

5" x 7" Oil on Panel

This is the last of this years "stick season" paintings. It was painted in that time between when the snow melts away and leaves come out on the trees. The rhythms and proportions these trees presented were what got me to paint them.

It was around this time of year a few years ago that the events in the following story took place.

Exhibits, plein air competitions and long painting trips have taken me all over the intermountain west. There's been plenty of long drives to and from places in Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. To help pass the time while traveling I'll usually listen to CDs or tunes on the radio, but sometimes audiobooks will keep me company as the miles pass. Audiobooks I've listened to have been about a wide variety of subjects. Some of the audiobooks I've listened to the most have been the scriptures.

Daylight hours on these long trips are often filled with painting, scouting out places to paint, or attending shows. Because of that, much of my travel is done after dark. Wild critters of all kinds also travel at night. Many of these wild critters - from mice and weasels, skunks, coyotes, to deer, elk and even moose - have made cameo appearances in the nocturnal tunnel of my headlight beams. Livestock can be a problem, too. I've been pretty good - or lucky - avoiding serious trouble with them. Except one time...

On one trip a few years ago to Southern Utah, I spent some days camping and painting in the spectacular red rock deserts that region is known for. Since I crammed as much painting as I could into the daylight hours, night was falling when time came to leave for home. The drive home includes a couple hours of traveling through really wild country - country full of large wild things that don't seem to understand the concept of what's on the other side of those two bright lights. On that particular night, I was listening to the New Testament as I drove. Most of the trip was behind me and the audio player was in the latter part of the Book of Luke.

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.

As I drove, I tried to keep my tired eyes on the lookout for any animal that might run in front of my car. Every boulder or bush near the road was suspect, as on occasion I've seen what looked like a rock or bush transform into a deer as my car approached. When I see deer I slow down or even stop if necessary until the danger of collision is past. As I traveled that night, the audio-Luke continued:

And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?

Just as the audiobook reached that point, a fast moving tawney-gray blur streaked in front of my car from the left. Everything went into slow motion as I slammed on the brakes. Impact was half a second later. I saw the entire front of my SUV bulge momentarily outward and a tangle of hooves and deerhide cartwheeling and tumbling down the highway in a cloud of dust and broken car parts. The deer was still rolling when I pulled to the side of the road.

In a moment of denial, I though that maybe – just maybe – my car wasn't really damaged very much. Then I got out of the car and saw the damage. Denial fled. The hood was dented and buckled. Both fenders were damaged. The bumper looked like some giant had wrung it out. The grill was gone, scattered in pieces along the accident zone. The car horns were smashed and the air conditioning unit was damaged and leaking. I could tell there was more damage inside the engine compartment, but the hood wouldn't open to allow me to see. The headlight mountings were smashed and the headlights were sitting on the mangled bumper. Somehow, the headlights were still on and pointed generally in the right direction.

Surveying the damage to my car, I thought, “Lousy deer!”

Then I turned to look at the deer. It was laying just off the shoulder of the road, illuminated by my somehow-still-working headlights. The deer's hind legs kicked violently in it's death throes. Blood flowed from it's nose and mouth. I watched as the deer's breathing slowed and stopped, and the deer became still.

“Poor deer.” I thought.

Then I looked at my car again.

“Lousy deer!”

I looked back at the deer. Again the thought came to me,

“Poor deer.”

My feelings were different depending on which way I looked. Maybe there's an object lesson there somehow.

Wondering what to do next, I gathered up whatever loose car parts I could, for whatever reason. The lights of the next town were visible in the distance and the car was still functioning. And the headlights still worked! At a half past midnight I pulled into a truck stop where I used their phone to call the state police and report the accident. The dispatcher offered to send an officer out to write up a report if I wanted one, but I declined, thinking to myself that if a cop saw the condition of my car they might not allow me to drive it.

And I wanted to go home. Now.

From there I drove the interstate back to the town I live in, all the time hoping and praying that the hood wouldn't suddenly pop open and fly up into the windshield, or the headlights fall off of the bumper they were sitting loosely on, or some other thing happen that would leave me stranded wherever. I was so happy I had made it when I arrived home in the wee hours of the morning.

The car was at the body shop for around a month before I finally got it back. There was over $4,200.00 in damage that needed repaired. I began to refer to the paintings I did on that painting trip to the desert as my “$500 deductible paintings.” So far, the car continues to get me where I need to go.

Also, I've finished listening to The Book of Luke, and the record of the Savior's trial, crucifixion, and resurrection, without further misfortune to me. I've also finished the rest of the New Testament, and even re-listened to it a couple more times. But now, every time I come to the part in the gospels where Judas Iscariot enters the garden to betray Jesus, I think of...

...something bad happening.

May you and your deer ones have a safe and happy Easter!