Color Me Blue...

"GARDNER LAKE"
Beartooth Pass, Wyoming
Oil on Rag Board
19.25" x 22.25"
$800 USD Unframed


At nearly 11,000 feet there is little but sparse tundra vegetation clinging to fierce craggy soil and hard scrub bracken bordering the small glacial lakes. The Beartooth Pass offers but two seasons; winter and almost winter and the latter is extremely short. It is not a place for those who fear heights, cold weather or lightening and the nearest cozy lodging can be found 20 miles down the mountain at Red Lodge, Montana.

I began this painting the previous day but quit when an imposing storm system rolled in. Today another dark thunder cell loomed with howling winds and plummeting temperatures that quickly settled into my bones. Even the paint on the palette was nearly too cold to mix and a less boneheaded individual might have given up completely. Just then a voice behind me said, "Hello, say do ya mind if we interview you?" A big fuzzy microphone and camera were then thrust at my surprised face – every blue frozen inch of it, no doubt looking dangerously sexy and perfectly suited for prime time.

Say hello to Doug McConnell and his traveling film crew from the Backroads series, here on special assignment filming a segment on Yellowstone and the Tetons, all of them looking marginally pleased to find an artist painting on this forbidden stretch. Sure, why not? I have a sense of humor and I was already running high on adventure, having recently escaped the last cooking job at the Flying Resort Ranches in Idaho. I was basically traveling through the mountains painting and camping before determining where to go next. Officially, I was footloose and fancy free with no legal address. The date of my last hot shower was also in question.

With fierce winds brutally whipping us, the cameras rolled, Deborah squeaked her little story (so cold the mouth was barely cooperating by then), a quick shot of the painting in progress was included, and off they went, those magnificent men in their filming paraphernalia. The producer was funny, and kind enough to send me a copy of the segment. The painting was ultimately completed. And revisiting these images, I would gladly be there again, if only…

I searched up the Backroads show and learned they had just concluded a 23-year run due to lack of funding in August '08. However you can find them at http://www.openroad.tv/ where portions of the Yellowstone and Tetons segments are posted. As for my little 15 seconds of fame, it fell to the editors cut. S’okay… it is part of this image, frozen right there in the paint.