Outside Loxley, LA

Outside Loxley, LA

Tubac Painting No. 6

Pascagoula. 

Bayou LeBatre. 

Pass Christian. 

These are just some of the names of towns I've driven through on this trip, and they are names that resonate with me, for reasons I don't know.

Could be books, or songs, or stories I have heard. I suspect it's that I've read everything James Lee Burke has written, and much of it takes place in Louisiana. But it feels like more than that, like a memory, or a legend, or something I've known deeply and for a long, long time. 

These towns have been nothing like I imagined them, though, except for Pascagoula, which is a big city. Bayou LeBatre looks a little like neighborhoods of New London, CT, where I grew up, and downtown Pass Christian is just one street, maybe a quarter of a mile long. 

And still, these places are lovely, with a rhythm and lightness that seems peculiar to the area. The sand here is still the brilliant white I started seeing in Alabama, and the sun matches it, and this thin, bright light suffuses everything. 

My painting in the landscape

***

  

In what feels like another lifetime, I made a lot of pottery. My favorite potter was George Ohr, the self-proclaimed Mad Potter of Biloxi. 

As I was driving Thursday, I went by the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum, a fascinating-looking place on Route 90, and I decided to go in. 

Designed by Frank Gehry, the museum includes several buildings, including the brick welcome center and related exhibition halls, and three or four strangely shaped metal pods, three stories tall. 

Gehry came to the project in part because of his association with Mr. I can't remember his first name O'Keefe (surprise! No relation to Georgia!), in part because he is a fan of George Ohr, and in part because he fell in love with the site and its many oak trees. Several of the trees were lost in Hurricane Katrina, and the building project was delayed, but it is all pretty much done except for the pods, which will house the Ohr collection. 

Right now, it is in one of the galleries. It was an absolute delight to see the man's fascinating and gorgeous pottery in the flesh! Ohr, a fanatical worker, dug his own clay and produced pottery in phenomenal abundance. In addition to regular pots and utilitarian pieces he sold to make a living, he threw very, very fine pieces, thin as paper, and then worked them, twisting them, adding curves, collapsing them, into elegant and unique shapes. I never thought I'd see his work in real life! 

***

Scenes from the day

Boats along the canal near Loxley, LA

Oak trees along Highway 90 near Biloxi 

Really, you gotta love stuff like this! 

Me and my pal. Don't tell Jojo! 

George Ohr, the Mad Potter of Biloxi

Below, several shots of the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum 

Here's some of George Ohr's pottery. At one juncture, unhappy that his glazes were getting were getting a lot of notice and the shapes of his pots were not, he made a whole series of unglazed pieces. 

All along the coast of Louisiana and Mississippi, the damage of Hurricane Katrina remains evident. This scene is typical - an empty lot with a for sale sign, backed by brand-new homes.

And last but not least, Dogs of the Day

Sunny Wednesday, Gulf Shores

Sunny Wednesday, Gulf Shores

Oil on canvas, 10x10

Tubac Trip painting No. 5

Usually, when I'm on a trip, I'm thinking about getting there. I'm reading the map, following the route, focusing on the destination. 

But on a painting trip, I've realized, I have to focus on wherever I am, and whatever is around me. Not the destination, not the map, not the movement. 

I call Peter several times a day, and if I am having a good painting day, I don't know where I am. 

Still, I have to make forward progress. I do have a destination, and a deadline, and I can't really just hang around, say, Fort Morgan, Alabama, simply because it's beautiful, and I like painting it. 

***

Overnight, the temperature dropped into the mid-30s, and though I had a sleeping bag, and was sleeping in clothes and socks, it was still cold. 

Even in the morning, it was cold, with a chill wind whipping in off the water. I was wearing two shirts and a denim jacket, and I was cold.

But the kids on spring break, they were out in their bathing suits. 

I guess the point is that it's spring break, and so you put your suit on No Matter What. 

Brrrr! 

My painting in the landscape 

***

Scenes from the day

This croc was outside a Cajun shop that, sadly, was closed. 

Fort Morgan was all air and sun and sand. Beautiful! 

These seagulls followed the ferry from Fort Monroe to Dauphin Island, snatching goodies that were tossed to them the entire way. 

 More azaleas! They were everywhere today

Today's dog fix came courtesy of Sanibel the husky, who was happy to greet me. 

 Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the souvenir shop...

 The unpaved roads had me thinking of Emmy Lou Harris's "Red Dirt Girl." 

Outside Marianna

Outside Marianna, Florida

Tubac Trip painting No. 4

Oil on canvas, 10x10

I was listening to an interview of a California artist on NPR yesterday when I had a revelation.  

This artist does things like putting colored stickers over the faces of people in newspaper photos he has collected.  

He says that this makes viewers pay attention to what is going on in the photo, rather than paying attention to who is involved in the activity. 

I shut the piece off, and as I did, I realized that I am not at all interested in art whose impact depends on thinking and intellect. I am interested in art whose impact relies on the heart.  

That is all I am after. That is all I want. 

I want you to feel something when you look at my art. I want my paintings to stir something in your heart and in your soul. I want to bring you experience and emotion. That's all.  

 Here's my painting in the landscape

Dallas and Blyss the dog are headed to Tulsa, OK, for the national Dog Agility Trials. Dallas says that Blyss is a contender to win! They showed up while I was painting. 

 Here's the RV park where I spent the night

See? We could all live in Niceville! 

***

On a very sad note, Louisa McElwain, the painter who inspired me more than any other, has died, apparently by her own hand.  I never met her, but her paintings showed me how my heart could speak.  For that, I will be forever grateful. 

To see some of her work, click here. 

Okefenokee

 Okefenokee

Oil on canvas, 10x10

Tubac trip painting No. 3

I spent much of the day Monday in and around the Okefenokee Swamp, a gigantic area of pines and palms (primarily), that stretches from Georgia into Florida and back into Georgia, where it meets up with the Suwanee River and the waterways around it. 

I saw quite a few alligators in the swamp. The ones I saw were small, but a man who stopped told me there was a 10-foot-long one just down the road. 

In the pond that's in the very front of this painting, two alligators lazed on a small hummock that raised above the surface. I don't think they moved for the entire time that I stood there and painted. They were like statues. 

The wildlife refuge area was well-maintained and well-used. I saw lots of folks in cars, on bikes and walking, looking at birds and gators and who knows what all. 

But I circled around the area as I headed south and west, and really found myself in some places that raised thoughts of "Deliverance." They were pretty, but I sure wasn't going to get out of the car and paint. 

I'm sure no one would have done anything to me, but I would have felt awkward and nervous - and who knows? 

Here's my painting in the landscape

***

I saw a bunch of animals during the day, including cows and donkeys and, in the field beside the hotel where I spent Monday night, an ostrich! 

Outside Dunn, NC

Outside Dunn, NC

Oil on canvas, 10x10

Tubac trip painting No. 2

I spent the night Saturday in a hotel in Plymouth, NC.

When I got up this morning, I decided to head back to the coast (I got a little lost yesterday) and look for stuff to paint.

I found Belhaven on the map, and it sounded pretty and looked like it had possibilities, so I decided to go. It was about 30 miles from Plymouth, and I could go one of two ways. I set out to discover which would be the prettiest.

Let it just suffice to say that I asked two women, both in their 40s, both natives of Plymouth, and neither one - neither one! - had ever been to Belhaven, or on either of the roads to there.

Wow.

***

Belhaven, when I got there, was pretty - and also deserted. Seems like lots of everything is closed in North Carolina on a Sunday. 

So I left Belhaven and in a while, stopped in Wilson, NC, to get gas. I'd seen a sign for a barbecue restaurant, and asked the woman behind the counter for directions.  

I followed her route, but I nearly drove past the restaurant. There were so many vehicles in the lot, I thought it was a car dealership! Then I saw the policeman directing traffic.

Guess the little towns are empty because everyone's in Wilson, eating barbecue.

p.s., it was delicious!  

 

***

Rough Seas, Nag's Head

Rough Seas, Nag's Head

Oil on canvas, 10x10

Tubac Trip painting No. 1

Painting came to me out of the blue, and sometimes, sometimes, I am gripped with the fear that it will leave me the same way. 

The time I have that fear most pointedly is before the first painting of a trip. 

I've bought all the supplies, made all the arrangements, done all the loading, left the husband and the home and the friends and the pets, and now - what if it doesn't work? 

I like to do the first painting as soon as possible, to get over the fear, to get the whole thing started. 

So even though it was insanely windy, so windy that sand had blown in drifts like heavy snow, and Outer Banks roads were closed because of it, even though the waves were pounding in climbing masses at the lip of the beach - even so, I stopped to paint. 

And I love this piece! It has all the wildness of the raging sea, and the screaming wind - and more than a few grains of real Outer Banks sand, too. 

Here's my painting in the landscape

Here's some of that huge surf! 

Sunflowers on the Easel, Canvases in the Living Room, and the Van Packed to Go!

Stefanie's Sunflowers

Oil on canvas, 36x72

sold

In just a few hours on this Saturday morning, I will climb up into the giant van and hit the road for Arizona, on my "To Tubac and Back" painting trip! Whee!

Twenty-two people have sponsored me for 27 10x10 paintings, so I leave with money in my pocket and a challenge ahead of me. That's a lot of paintings! But I've come home from my other trips with more than 40 paintings, and they've generally been bigger than 10x10, so I know I can do it.

I really love knowing that I'm making paintings for these folks:

Kathryn Yamartino

Tiffany Williams

Laurie Cooper

Dov Kugelmass

Pat Hart

Blake Wenz

Maggie Platte

Donald & Paula Cooper

Kristen Singh

Linda Fite

Nancy Russell

Sherry Svec

Heather MacLeod

Susie Zuntini

Mary & Eric Bryson

Ellen Cornelius

Richard & Mari Hook

Candy & Jeff Buebendorf

Mike Vincitore & Rose Dittus

Joe Skelly

Patrick Gallagher

Don Bruce

Lucy Beit

Isn't that great? 

If you haven't sponsored me, don't feel bad! I have all that I can handle - and I know that everyone who follows The Accidental Artist is coming along with me for the ride. I promise tons of paintings and photos from the road for everyone! 

***

And speaking of tons of paintings... Here's the stack of 10x10s that I prepared for the trip. This is more than twice as many as I need, but you never know. 

***

And here's the big van, nearly all packed. 

The peg boards not only serve as structures to hold the paintings upright, but also are going to offer me a place to hang wet 10x10s. Cool, huh? And while the van isn't as sweet as the teeny camper, I should be able to sleep there comfortably, at least some of the nights.