
LAGUNA PUEBLO
Oil on Panel / 6 x 6 inches / ©John Farnsworth
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I’ve been driving past this scene on I40 ever since it was Route 66. And every time, I’ve thought, I should paint that. Just look at how the white church stands out against the dark mountains in the distance. Well, today, I finally got it done. I feel better now.

ELK
MORE ON PHOTOGRAPHY AS A PAINTER’S TOOL.
I hope you can tell how much fun I had creating (as opposed to taking) this photograph of the elk skull that I had hanging in my Santa Fe studio. I thoroughly enjoy taking a good photograph. Truth is, I enjoy taking photographs, period. When one turns out to be good, I feel blessed. When another lends itself to manipulation, as this one did, I thoroughly enjoy tweaking it, changing it, making it into something more, something better than simply what I was able to capture in that particular split second.
The painting above, Laguna Pueblo, was painted from a photograph I took while speeding by on the Interstate. I don’t know how many shots I’ve taken while speeding past this site. I do know there have been a lot. Most, like this one, were not even very good snapshots. I don’t know how many times I have looked at this photograph and seen nothing I could use. For some unknown reason, though, when I came across it today it resonated. I thought “I’m ready, the photo is ready, I know what to do with it”. I no longer saw the photograph, I saw the painting it could become.
Someone looks at one of my paintings and says “Why, that looks just like a photograph!” (It doesn’t, really. I like to think their intention is to be complimentary. I hope it looks better than a photograph, at least the one it may have been painted from).
Then someone else looks at one of my photographs and remarks, “Hmmm, That looks just like a painting!”
I just smile, and think to myself, “Gee, I hope both look a bit like Art!”
One last thing. If I enjoy a good book, I don’t care whether it was written with a pencil, on a typewriter, or on a keyboard. They’re just tools. Likewise, I don’t care whether a painter used a camera or not. It’s just a tool. The important thing is what is done with that tool.
BETSY BULLETIN
While I was teaching an (Un)Limited Palette Workshop this afternoon, the phone rang. It was the mechanic in Victorville. Betsy is fixed, and ready to go! I couldn’t talk long, so details are sketchy, and I’m not sure when I can go to pick her up, but I will let you know more when I know more. He did say she’s running better than before, and she was running finebefore, when she was running. Oh, yeah, more good news, it appears the cost will be considerably less than we were dreading it could be.
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