You have more patience than I do if you’re reworking paintings. I just throw them away and start something else - somehow when they’re not working I HATE them and don’t want to deal with them anymore, and really really want to go on to the next idea. With respect to cat spots, Bob Kuhn said once that if he could hire someone to paint all the damn spots on a leopard he would. So you’re in good company!

I’ve re-worked a couple of paintings this week and like them better. I was sick for a couple of weeks and am finally getting my strength back. I have started two new paintings - one of a snow leopard [those spots are driving me crazy!] and a paint foal - I love how this one is working.

You continue to inspire us. Keep up the great work!

Catch of the Day, Nabbed, Freeze Frame, Striding Tandem, Two fer One, Walk This Way, Two-Timing, Rope Burn, Built for Two, Sharp Reflexes, A Blonde AND a Brunette, Double Dating, All I Need is a Wagon…okay, now I’m getting silly.

Call me fercryin’ outloud. I miss your voice!!

As far as corrections - I agree, to a point. I put a stroke down and decide if it’s the right shape/color/value/edge, adjust if necessary, and keep going. Sometimes a stroke has to be revisited as other strokes go on. If I have to correct - especially shape and drawing - continually or in a big way, the painting starts to feel like it’s falling apart. Maybe I’m just not committed enough…or maybe I need to BE committed…

April 23rd, and as I look out the window it’s snowing hard and accumulating, dammit. Spring? HA.

a painting is really a series of corrections

… or one big correction.

Two more cents on inspiration/perspiration- The first gets us started on a painting, the second is what gets us through to a good end. Sometimes this is damn hard work, but it makes paintings that flow like the first one you described all the sweeter. Kevin Macpherson comments in one of his books that a painting is really a series of corrections and how true is that!?

I’m jealous (about that too!)

Here in the east, we don’t have Wind(y) Rivers. Just “Airy Seacoasts”.

back when I lived in utah, I got up to the “Winds” numerous times (almost every summer for over ten years). my favorite was the Titcomb basin area, not far from Wyoming’s highest peak (Gannett), but any place in the Winds is pretty fantastic (if you can stand the mosquito hoards, that is)

And horses are very good! Of all my trips, I only “used” horses the last time. I kind of frowned on it in my younger days** (see below) — to pack my stuff in, but not back out, unfortunately. I must admit, it sure beats packing the stone, but to this day, i still feel sorry for that poor horse, carrying all my beer, steaks and assorted snacks as it were.

**Some fellow alpinists (kinda like “pianists” but different) and I actually composed a song about the “Flesh Riders” (ie, Horse Riders). We composed the song on a moonlit night near “island lake” in the Wind rivers. There may have been a little alcohol involved, but I can’t quite remember, since it was so long ago…

“Flesh Riders in the Winds” (Sung to the tune of “Ghost Riders in the Sky”

Their legs are long
Their backs are strong,
Their hooves are made of steal…

They’re riding hard,
They’re traveling far,
They’re tearing up the trail….

And when you see them coming,
You’ll know to step aside,

[Chorus]
Flesh Riders in..,
Flesh Riders in the Winds.

Upon their backs,
They carry packs,
Aladen down with tar*

Their rider’s fat,
he’s drinking beer,
You’ll hear him from afar.

You know they’re in the meadows,
You’ve seen them at the car.

Flesh Riders in,
Flesh Riders in the Winds.

Their s**t (sounds like spit) is green,
Their rider’s mean,
They travel far and wide.

They like the sights,
They like the sounds
And yet they ALWAYS ride.

And when you drink the water,
You’ll know that they’ve been by.

Flesh Riders in…
Flesh Riders in the Winds.

We’ve hiked all day,
We’ve made some way,
We think we’re gonna die.

They started hours later,
And still they pass us by.

We think we’ve finally lost them,
And then we hear their cry ….. [shrill whinnying sounds here]

Flesh Riders in…
Flesh Riders in the Winds.

PS. There is (at least) one more verse, but after 25 years, it escapes me for some reason (I know what you are thinking, but just keep the thought to yourself, if you please)

*”tar” as used here has a non-literal meaning something like “amenities of modern life” — ie, everything including the kitchen sink (with many cases of beer, of course). The term derives from “petroleum-based” recreation “Tar heads” are those who partake of “tar” on a regular basis. (ie, drive big cars, big boats, etc) and generally burn up lots of oil — and tires.

I can’t claim to have originated the term (unfortunately). That dubious distinction goes to a friend of mine (whose name i will not divulge, lest i ruin his career), but there is a whole “tar scale” 1-10 that denotes how “tar headed” a person actually is. For example, if one takes a trip driving a Winnebago pulling a boat trailer, pulling a trailer with two jet skis, pulling yet a third trailer with a jeep on it, then one has “achieved” about a 9.8 on the tar scale (if i recall correctly. It’s been a long time since i looked at the scale and i think it was originally just jotted down on the back of an oatmeal package or seomthing which i glanced at once twenty five years ago. I do remember that it is quite nonlinear and approaches 10 asymptotically). For comparison (if my memory serves me), walking (with no shoes) is a 1 and bicycling is a 5, and anything involving RV’s is at least a 9, but beyond that, your guess is probably as good as mine at this point.

No Middle Fork this year; instead, we’re doing a week-long spot pack into the Wind Rivers in late August with a collector of mine and at least one other artist (the collector did all the inviting) and some other folks. I’m looking forward to it - we’re using horses and mules to haul our lazy asses and all our gear in about 15 miles, and I plan to bring plein-aire painting kit of some sort, especially since John Potter, the other artist, is also a friend and we’ll be kicking each other’s butts around to paint. Before then I’ll be at 600 agility trials and rodeos. It’s amazing how everything in MT/WY/etc. happens between May and October - we try to cram a year’s worth of stuff into a few months.