Weather Changing Ever So Slightly

I know it's getting towards fall, when

the ORB spider appears -

and yesterday with the fog and dew

the webs were obvious

ALL OVER the farmstead.

Around the West and Back Again

I can't believe that my blog has gone this long without a post...but we have been using our RV - traveling the western US, specifically Colorado, New Mexico and Utah for 5 weeks. I have loads of painting subjects on my camera cards and can't wait to get to the studio.  But first, as you can imagine, our farmstead needs a little TLC and taming. It's been moving along - getting wilder and wilder by the day.

So - just as a reminder, some of my paintings are back online in my Etsy shop and also on Daily Paintworks - 2 shop venues I use.

Please visit them - if you have a moment.  Some of the prices have been reduced...so I can move some art and gear up for the next go round!

Great trip, good to be home....being in some of the hustle and bustle of the big cities we visited - makes me appreciate my 'country life' even more!  We also visited lots of state and national parks with wide open spaces that were beautiful!

(Dinosaur National Monument)

A Country Road Landscape in Oil

"V Road"

oil on wood

6 3/4" x 14"

I was updating the photo on this one and the text got removed with the old photo.  I worked more on the road color and set up the painting in color spectrum lighting in the north window.  This is the road to the west of my house.

There is a grain elevator on the horizon, but you can't see it, because

I left it out.  

It Really is ICE

Most of the time, you can count on the weather predictions here in Middle Earth. There are no mountains to change the trajectory of the storm. This one has been right on, all week. They said about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of ice, and it is! The dogs went hurriedly out the door for potty time and Bailey was 'a--holes and elbows', as they say. He doesn't get it, either, doesn't slow him down. On the other hand, Herman, our black and tan dachshund stepped carefully on the part of the sidewalk that wasn't frozen. For around noon, the prediction is 50 degrees and winds gusting to 45 mph. Oh yeah.

Before too much time goes by, I wanted to share these cool photos of a farmstead house I came upon when I returned home from Shawnee. It is about 6 miles from Aurora, Ks., just a sighting off of Highway 24, a beautiful drive BTW! They could use the scenery on that highway for their own version of "Kansas Highways" magazine. Hey, maybe that would be a neat job? Photographing Kansas! Or has someone else already beat me to it?

Anyway, as I was taking lots of pictures, here came the homestead owner in his p/u with a trailer. He opened the fence/gate and then walked over to talk to me. He was very nice. Usually, I encounter people who don't really appreciate my interest. He said you never know who you will meet, Greenpeace, PETA, or something like that, I told him, "No...I'm just an artist/photographer that likes to capture cool sights like this one." He told me about the house. As you can see, it was built in 1888. (Click on picture to enlarge.)
Their family name is "Trahan", you say it "tran". His mom and dad were down the road in the more modern home if I wanted to go talk to them about this house, "'Course dad's had a stroke, but mom can translate for him!" I really wanted to but knew I had better step it up a little, so as not to be late for the dentist. They lived in this house until about 20 years ago, so he grew up here as a boy. You can see where the house was added on to. (You can see it by enlarging photo 1 or 2 above.) He said the roof, just recently started falling off. It was sweet!


I thanked him, over and over for being so helpful and letting me linger on the photo shoot. I could poke around stuff like that, all day! I guess that is one of the perks for living here, cause this area is full of it! What is special is that you get first hand info sometimes, like this one. Lots of history still showing, where as in the city, it is either modernized, or torn down.

Also BTW, you say you are from the Smith Center area...and people talk and talk about our HS football team! They ARE a national sensation, and maybe in the wrong league!