Passing America: Windy Plow_John Deere Tractor, plains, farm,

"Passing America: Windy Plow"__6 x 8 Drive-by painting for Passing America:the Great Plains

On the way home from the mountains last week, I planned for us to frive through the southern Great Plains, so I could officially begin my next museum exhibit, "Passing America: The Great Plains". We pulled off the road on a lonely stretch. I forgot why (Nancy and Barbara, please comment below and remind me wy we pulled over!)...It was fiercely windy and a little bit cold. I turned around to look over the land, and saw this cloud of dirt in the distance. When we finally drove off, I made sure we drove by slowly so that I could sketch John Deere coming at us. Here is my small canvas sketch. I wanted it to look windy.

Passing America: The Great Plains is an exhibit which will continue my work of "Last Year on the Farm". As I gave gallery talks about my farm works, I met many hundreds of people who have similar stories of families having to leave the farm way of life...for various reasons. I realized tht there was more to say about this "passing" way of life. Small farms are disappearing, and it's most obvious in the Great Plains. So, for the next two years, I will travel the plains to document what I see and study. To underscore the theme, I will be creating the paintings WHILE ON THE MOVE, "PASSING" by...I call these my "drive-by" paintings. (I am in the process of trademarking that phrase.)

I have been laying the groundwork for the exhibit for a year, now, and am finally mapping out my travels.

A new blog will communicate the progress....please let me know if you want to follow that. It will be "live" soon. I am working on putting it up NOW!...There's a lot more to say about my "drive by" paintings....soon!

Join me at a workshop or event, soon, if you can :) See yesterday's blog for dates.