A Visit To Big Sky Country

When the heat and humidity of late summer start to settle into the studio, sometimes you just have to hit the road.  7 days and 3200+ miles later.....

Years ago I was helping a friend of mine move out to the bay area and we just happened to stop in Grants, New Mexico and eat at a 4B's Restaurant.  Seven years later I was back through New Mexico and intentionally stopped at the 4B's location only to find that it had closed the month prior.  Some internet research indicated that the number of locations was being drastically curtailed nationwide -with the bulk of their remaining locations being in Montana.  I can't say I ever figured I be in Miles City, Montana for any reason, but since I was, it was time to rendezvous with 4B's yet again.  Not disappointed.

BOOOOM! Breakfast Burrito with hash browns.

Later that day I stopped at this roadside joint and enjoyed a bison burger and tater tots.  Two for two on that day.

I was just a few days too late to attend the Red Ants Pants Music Festival outside of White Sulphur Springs, Montana.  A friend of mine's daughter's band (Laney Lou and The Bird Dogs) was the opening act on the main stage.  You can check out more about the music festival by clicking this link: http://redantspantsmusicfestival.com/.  You can check out more about Laney Lou and The Bird Dogs by going to their website: http://www.thebird-dogs.com/bird-dog-bios.html.

After two days in Montana, it was time to dive down into northern Utah.

We stayed at The JR Inn.  Time travel at its finest.

Outside of town we encountered these posts along the side of the road.  These posts stick out of the snow in the wintertime to help indicate where the road is.  I stand a little less than 2 meters tall just to provide a reference point to how much snow they receive.

The antler archways in Jackson, Wyoming.

The Grand Tetons.

Here at Punching Holes In The Rah-Rah, we like to take a moment to pause and celebrate the rugged individualism and outright contumacy of the one tree who has just had had enough of the group and decided it is gonna go it alone.  Keep fighting the good fight!

On our way across northern Wyoming, I received a hot tip to go check out the Medicine Wheel -a prehistoric astonomical observatory site constructed by Native Americans at slightly higher than 9600 feet elevation.  These are some views around the area.  Breathtaking!  I mean that both ways.  Stunning panoramas and thin air for 'the husky artist-type adventurer' to breathe.  You can read more about it by clicking this link: http://solar-center.stanford.edu/AO/bighorn.html

Still a long ways to hike to reach the site.

This is a panoramic shot looking AWAY from the Medicine Wheel.  If you wanna see it, you're gonna have to climb up there yourself.

I threw this image in to show off my alpine hiking physique.

.....and then there were signs......

.....and then there were sketches.......

Part of this drawing comes from my sketches for the cello I painted for the Quad City Symphony's 100th year anniversary back in 2015.  You can see that post by clicking HERE.

The road trip is complete.  Now it is time to get back to work.

The Day of Reckonning For Critical Mass

This is what Critical Mass Sans Polar Nuclei looked like back in 2010

I'll throw in a few preliminary sketches from the ole notebook to serve as a slight refresher as well.

Anyway, I reworked it once back in 2013 by adding several new stamps forms/figures and a little note from my Theater Appreciation class........

.....but I still wasn't really satisfied with it, so I'm gonna mess around with it some more.

Before I haze this layer over and added another level of imagery, I want to add some color into a few areas to liven the whole thing up a bit, because once a layer has been hazed over, it's kinda locked into place.

Much to my surprise, that little touch of color not only brought a little life back into the piece, but it helped unify the top and the bottom halves (which visually function almost like two separate pieces instead of a unified whole).

Perhaps I will try a little more color?

I'm still going to have to add a few more elements to unite/unify the top half and the bottom half, but it won't be nearly as drastic as I first thought (maybe).

With some luck this final go-around of color will do the trick.

I'm still not quite satisfied with the bottom half, perhaps something a little more drastic.

After staring at Critical Mass for three months, it occurs to me that something bad might happen to the piece.......

Uh-ooh.

I slight tussle ensues......

Ouch!

Don't worry kids! Critical Mass will get to live on in several pieces.  As my friend Gary once said to me, "It's the cycle of life, my friend.".  How can you argue with that?