Post Office

Painting No. 145,
Post Office, Stewart Indian School
Carson City, Nevada
6"x 8", oil on linen
November 23, 2011

Late afternoon shadows from an old Cottonwood Tree fall across the front of the boarded-up Post Office at the Stewart Indian School. This building was build in 1925...well built I might add, the stone work and mortar are still very tight. I think it could last another 100 years. The old flag pole has been repainted several times, and probably hasn't seen a flag raised on it for 20 years or more.

I used a different approach to applying under-painting to this panel. I applied the under-painting as an opposite color of the overall scene, which in this case was variations of yellow ochre. The opposite color being a violet grey, gave the painting a subdued look, together with the limited palette added to the moody effect.

Carson River Fall

Painting No. 138
Carson River Fall
Eagle Valley, Nevada
6"x 8", oil on linen
October 28, 2011

Mid-day along the Carson River, east of Carson City. It was near this location that Kit Carson and John Fremont camped during their expedition.

I don't have a lot of experience painting such bright colored trees, so this painting is something of an experiment in light control.

Water Tower

Painting No. 130, Water Tower
Stewart Indian School, Carson City, Nevada
8"x 8", oil on linen panel
September 1, 2011

Standing over the facility, like a giant sci-fi robot, the water tower is surrounded by trees and buildings. It's silvery exterior reflecting the local color.
This is painting 6 of 10 in a series painted at the school.

Abandoned Road

Painting No. 126, Abandoned Road
Stewart Indian School, Carson City, Nevada
8"x 8", oil on linen panel
August 12, 2011

Today was warm but not terrible, I feel sorry for those Texans experiencing 100+ temperatures for over a month.
I'm back at the Stewart Indian School for painting number 5 of 10. I thought that I should try to convey the sense of loneliness and solitude that permeates this place. This dirt road was once a designated street that separated the Cafeteria and Band Building from the employee housing. Now it's mostly ignored by the locals. After standing in the same spot for 2 hours I still haven't seen a soul.

Office Building

Painting No. 124 Office Building
Stewart Indian School
Carson City, Nevada
8"x 8" oil on linen panel
8-5-11

Painting number 4 in a series of 10 plein air paintings of the Stewart Indian School. This building built in the 1920's was most recently used as a sheriff sub-station.

Stewart Facility

Painting No. 120, Stewart Facility
Carson City, Nevada
8"x 8", oil on linen panel
July 21, 2011

The Stewart Facility was built as a native american school in the early 1900's. The buildings are now used by several different organizations, many buildings are boarded-up and in a state of slow decay. I'm going to spend the next couple of weeks painting various buildings, like this small office that was made out of local quarried stone, with a steel roof.

Canyon Road

Painting No. 113, Canyon Road
Clear Creek Canyon, Carson City, Nevada
8"x 6", oil on linen panel
6-30-2011

I couldn't take it anymore.
It had been 4 days since I last painted outside and I was Jones'n for a chance to get my hands messy. I only had 40 minutes to work before I had to be at a meeting so I drove up what's know as Old Clear Creek road, just outside of Carson City looking for a spot. Stopped at this location, grabbed my bag and started flinging colors.

This painting is of the lower canyon, where the road snakes through a tight slot, with steep granite formations on the southerly hills, a small overly vegetated stream bed in the bottom and large steep cuts into the granite on the north side to create the road bed. This was at one point in history a portion of U.S. Hwy 50 connecting New York City to San Francisco.