Glenpond has a small artist community, and my artist neighbor Bob asked me to go to
Manitou Springs and paint a picture of Serpentine Road, where the creek runs along side the
road, and the road goes up to the Highway, and towards The Cliff Dwellings.
At the bottom there is a place to pull off and set up for painting. But this place turned into a
difficult experience. First Bob had to leave in the beginning of his watercolor painting.
Then the horse flies attacked and just as my pastel was taking some minor form, and the layout
was looking familiar, the heat went up, the clouds moved out and I began melting. I survived that
heat streak, but the mosquitoes replaced the veteran horse flies, and the battle was on again.
I wasn't about to let the elements beat me. Several days later I went back, with my friend
Chris, and he brought his oils. The location suited him and he was inspired immediately, that is until
the traffic began driving through, around, in front and in between us.
While the heat beat on us, teenagers on bicycles were spinning wheelies in the gravel in front of
us, kicking up rocks and dust. Then the horse flies came back, and brought bees, and mosquitoes,
to punish us for our second attempt.
All the time the clouds threatened to send large drops of rain down on our efforts, not just a
sprinkle, but huge drops, two feet apart, and a tablespoon of water in each drop!
Then the tourists pulled onto this shoulder of the road, kids yelling as they poured out of the
SUV, and the dogs running amuck, and the sound of pop-tops, hard rock'n'roll, and a blast of
Spanish music from the other direction.
Dogs splashing in the river in front of Chris, spoiling his view and irritating his own dog, and the
whole dust episode, sent Chris packing and left me there for the third round of tourists, who pulled
directly in front of me to ask me what I was doing.
I came back a third day, by myself, but it changed little, the bugs, the rain, the heat, the dogs,
teenagers, tourists and curious cops, who appeared to never have seen an artist painting plein aire
before. I suspect they think its a French conspiracy. They had to pull in, kick up dust, and turn
around, pull out and leave a second cloud of dust. Serve and Protect.
During the fourth attempt, the fourth afternoon at this location, the rains came and went every
fifteen minutes, all day. It scared the bugs off, but I was determined to finish this pastel and all I
had left to do was the rocks at the bottom. Then a few kids with about five or six dogs on leash
began coming down the road. Another SUV showed up with two kids and a barking lab - then
the bicyclists, all twenty five of them, roared into the space, surrounding me, drinking water and
chatting as though I wasn't there, and blocking the view. Clicking shoes off of pedals, snapping
athletic latex, bending and stretching, lifting bicycles up, down and over. A bus load of Christians
stopped behind the cyclists, kids and counselors poured out, and the bugs showed up fro a feast,
and with all the dust, all the noise, all the critters, prancing like a ballet in front of me, I still managed
to finish the rocks, and get the hell out of the zoo.
Manitou Springs and paint a picture of Serpentine Road, where the creek runs along side the
road, and the road goes up to the Highway, and towards The Cliff Dwellings.
At the bottom there is a place to pull off and set up for painting. But this place turned into a
difficult experience. First Bob had to leave in the beginning of his watercolor painting.
Then the horse flies attacked and just as my pastel was taking some minor form, and the layout
was looking familiar, the heat went up, the clouds moved out and I began melting. I survived that
heat streak, but the mosquitoes replaced the veteran horse flies, and the battle was on again.
I wasn't about to let the elements beat me. Several days later I went back, with my friend
Chris, and he brought his oils. The location suited him and he was inspired immediately, that is until
the traffic began driving through, around, in front and in between us.
While the heat beat on us, teenagers on bicycles were spinning wheelies in the gravel in front of
us, kicking up rocks and dust. Then the horse flies came back, and brought bees, and mosquitoes,
to punish us for our second attempt.
All the time the clouds threatened to send large drops of rain down on our efforts, not just a
sprinkle, but huge drops, two feet apart, and a tablespoon of water in each drop!
Then the tourists pulled onto this shoulder of the road, kids yelling as they poured out of the
SUV, and the dogs running amuck, and the sound of pop-tops, hard rock'n'roll, and a blast of
Spanish music from the other direction.
Dogs splashing in the river in front of Chris, spoiling his view and irritating his own dog, and the
whole dust episode, sent Chris packing and left me there for the third round of tourists, who pulled
directly in front of me to ask me what I was doing.
I came back a third day, by myself, but it changed little, the bugs, the rain, the heat, the dogs,
teenagers, tourists and curious cops, who appeared to never have seen an artist painting plein aire
before. I suspect they think its a French conspiracy. They had to pull in, kick up dust, and turn
around, pull out and leave a second cloud of dust. Serve and Protect.
During the fourth attempt, the fourth afternoon at this location, the rains came and went every
fifteen minutes, all day. It scared the bugs off, but I was determined to finish this pastel and all I
had left to do was the rocks at the bottom. Then a few kids with about five or six dogs on leash
began coming down the road. Another SUV showed up with two kids and a barking lab - then
the bicyclists, all twenty five of them, roared into the space, surrounding me, drinking water and
chatting as though I wasn't there, and blocking the view. Clicking shoes off of pedals, snapping
athletic latex, bending and stretching, lifting bicycles up, down and over. A bus load of Christians
stopped behind the cyclists, kids and counselors poured out, and the bugs showed up fro a feast,
and with all the dust, all the noise, all the critters, prancing like a ballet in front of me, I still managed
to finish the rocks, and get the hell out of the zoo.
| "Serpentine Road-July 2005" - 17" x 22" Pastel on paper - copyright 2005 Dan Stephanian |