Are We There Yet?

Sometimes people ask me, “What are you painting these days?”  There would be a puzzled silence when I answered, “Old wrecked cars.”  So it is probably appropriate for me to explain my choice of subject matter; a verdant vista or a lush floral arrangement they are not. 

There is an auto salvage yard in Williams, California that I had driven by many times on my way to Oregon.  I would always glance over at it as I drove past on Interstate 5.   Finally I caved in to my urge to stop there.  As it turned out, these weren’t just any wrecked cars; these were old classics that had traveled many a mile at a time when America and her roads were a different world.  Here they were, at their final resting place, left to decay and disappear with the vagaries of scavengers and time.  The sun was setting in the west, making for long interesting shadows and giving the weathered patina of the cars a kind of rough beauty.