Autumn and painting out-on-the-spot. Those Autumn colors are always fun to put on canvas. Looking for just the right spot to set brings me to interesting farm stands. White signs tacked to trees and fenceposts saying, "Eggs and Honey," draw me off course sometimes - and sometimes to a more interesting spot to paint. I love to gather stories at these backroad farm stands. Bought an apple pie at one the other day. Asked about the barn with the sign saying, ‘Built 1854.’ Got a tour of the old barn and saw some farm equipment meant for draft horses. Looked like it could still be used. The lady showing me around spoke of her father and how he harnessed up the horses every Spring and plowed a little section of land for vegetables for canning and their dinner table. The horses added to the flavors of the vegetables that came out of that garden. Now that little garden brought in a bit more; money to keep the state from taking the farm. Mary, giving the tour, said she and her sister Paula did the repair work on the barn and when there was time they oiled down the old harnesses.

Came away with an apple pie, some butternut squash, and a half bushel of apples. Add that to the place with Indian corn and I had a full back seat with goods, two jars of honey, two dozen brown eggs, and corn stalks for the studio.

The stories and sketches are what bring me out painting every year. Farmer Chris, who leaves four rows of corn standing each year for deer and other critters that visit his property. Mr. Vargas, who boards ponies and old horses, told me about losing a couple toes in the Korean War. Sitting down and painting is an invitation for conversations, some with the farmers whose barn or house I'm including in my landscape, some with people returning from Sunday Church. One family went home and came back with coffee and donuts for my painting buddy and myself. They sat and watched us go about our business of messing up a canvas. We may not have been pleased with that day's effort, but they were.

Never know what you'll get when you follow the “Eggs & Honey” sign.

Sometimes I like to paint a subject that is out of my comfort zone and use colors that give me a hard time. I choose subjects that require a different form of drawing, drawing that can be a bit restricting in nature. Subjects that call for a different approach, a bit more planning. The figure, with all my years of sketching, is quite simple, so this past month I have turned to buildings for my challenge. Red brick buildings with strong lighting to spark my appetite for color. Red has always given me a challenge, not sure why. Red roses scare the hell out of me.

Red brick buildings seem to be the perfect subject. One painted red was even more of a challenge. A scene I see every evening, the back of the buildings behind my studio, seemed perfect. I took to watching them as the sun set each evening, painting them in my mind. Mixing colors in my head and deciding how much shadow I wanted. I remember once seeing wash hung out to dry and thought how that could add to the life of the place. When I lived in New York City I remember wash lines strung from building to building. Always wondered how those lines were put up. I'm from an era when wash lines were an every Monday thing. Why Monday is another question.

This new subject thing was raising memories and questions I hadn't figured on. Did not think I'd be able to think about other things while working on a painting of red brick buildings, but there I was, relaxing and settling into my own world. It's where I can relax and be at peace with myself and the world around me. Paintings that should be done in a day or two always take a week. All those questions that a painting raises, and the time to answer them... Especially when there is only my own thinking that is there to address them. Maybe I wasn't day dreaming back in grade school, maybe I was solving problems…? No, I was day dreaming. Day dreaming about being the fastest gun in the West. The man who cleaned up Dodge City.