America's Most Wanted #2

On Saturday I walked the tiny migrant trails that criss-cross the desert near the border of Mexico.  I was with a retired 78 year old geology professor who is trying to find and map the trails used by migrants.  We walked from morning until late afternoon in dry, spiny, high-elevation desert,  trying to determine what was a human trail and what was an animal trail.  We found discarded clothing and hygiene articles.  We found lots of tuna cans and various hydration products.  We looked for, and checked places where humane organizations had left dated gallon jugs of water.  We wanted to know if the water stores were used up, needed replenishing, or had been slashed or shot and destroyed.  The desert has 7% humidity.  A lot of water is needed to keep a human hydrated and alive here.  When we found slashed water jugs (that people had carefully placed at strategic points throughout the desert),  the sweet, old geologist sighed and said, "Some people are just mean".  At the end of the day, I was hungry, thirsty, and exhausted.  And for me it was just one day.

why i paint what i paint #22

This 24" x 24" oil on canvas is a painting of my painting partner and me...painting.  I am very happy with the fragmented, unfinished nature of the image.  I am stunned over and over, how much more 'realistically' this way of mark-making conveys the truth of a thing, story,  person than the very crisp, realistic, finished work.  I think it has something to do with the 'river-ish' nature of our lives.  The minute we step in to the water...THAT water has moved on.

Works In Progress #4

A friend sent me this e-mail titled something like "Check Out All The Wildlife!" and I scrolled down to see all the animals that this rancher in Texas catches on a camera that is located above a cattle trough. There was a cougar, a bobcat, an owl, a couple of javelinas and then, 3 immigrants stopping for water at 4:34 AM. (the camera prints the time on each picture it snaps.) At first I was marveling at all the wildlife he caught in only one night...but then erk!!! Was he equating human beings, forced to drink dirty trough water, with wild animals? Does he know how sick it will make them?