"World's Ugliest Truck"



      When I first saw this truck it was like one of those breed of dogs that is so ugly that they start looking kinda cute. It grew on me after a while until I had to paint it because of the extreme character and a sort of social standing among the other old trucks in the lot. It was like, Man! this truck has seen it all!

THE GOOD LIFE

      I usually prefer to paint standing up because it seems my paintings are livelier and I can step back from my painting easier. Only problem is that my back gets tired standing. I'm glad that with my easel I can raise the tripod head and invert the panel holder to paint sitting down sometimes. Carol took this picture on a curve in Jerome.

   

A Day in the Red Rocks of Sedona

     One day Carol and I decided to take a break from truck land and go off down into the Red Rocks of Sedona. It was just a few miles down the hill from Jerome. We got out there pretty early in order to capture those purple shadows. It took a bit of a hike to get down to a good spot where you could see through the Juniper trees. This spot is looking toward the Palaki Ruins in the distance.




WHITE GMC




  

      I had been eyeing this truck from the time I first came up to the Ghost Town. I took photos of it, but Carol ending up painting it first; I think it was Carol's best painting of the trip.  I set up next to her the second time she painted it and we painted it together.

JEROME ARIZONA

     I have a couple posts today to catch up with Carol's. I have my nocturne done on the streets of Jerome. I have loved the little town of Jerome ever since moving to Arizona in 1975. It had been an old mining town (Copper, silver, and gold I think). It is built on the side of a mountain so many of the houses (many are Victorian style) are on stilts and the streets are curved and going up or down hills. There were a lot of hippies living there back in the 60s and 70s and I think there still are some there. The town has that cozy welcoming feel to it. The night we did our paintings outside the tavern they call the spirit room (stories have it that there are spirits from the past walking around and sitting at the bar on occasion), there was an open mic, so we got to hear some very fine singers. Carol sold her painting when the girl that worked there walked out and said "that is my car". It was a cute little Volkswagen under a yellow light. We had run into a painting friend of mine Mark Hemleben the day before and he was painting with us that night. Mark wondered into Jerome with a few bucks in his pocket 15 years ago and has been there ever since.




FIRE TRUCK

     I had walked by this old firetruck numerous times during the week and it didn't really spark anything. The night before I painted this one I had a vision of painting this scene looking at some other trucks in the opposite direction. When I got there, all of a sudden I saw these shadows patterns and the Fire Truck together and that was it. I got out a 12x16 and went to work.




  

'29 FORD AA

     Carol and I both painted this truck together. Well she painted it first, but I saw it first...HA! Anyway it had so much personality, it was like a Disney movie come to life. I think it had a water tank in the back, so probably was used to haul water for the mine maybe.