I am now the proud and happy and bewildered owner of a new Toshiba laptop with Vista Premium, 64 bit, 9 million changes of files and formats and a multiplicity of confusions to deal with. I like — no, love — having this computer. Jer and I are sitting companionably typing together, instead of one of us pacing and sighing while the other one works frantically. And I accomplished this in spite of (not because of) Visa, who didn’t want us to use our card and Amazon, who thought that billing Beatty and sending the Laptop to Portland was just dandy. But I persevered — which tells you how frustrated we were getting; two bloggers and a Wikipedia editor on one computer just won’t do.
However, I also painted today. And was chatted up by 15 or so people. So the painting, ahem, has excuses. But it’s salvagable, so that’s good. And I sussed out at least 10 more downtown Beatty spots to paint during the next 4 weeks. That’s enough…..
Here’s today’s painting of 3 of the more striking (slightly historic, slightly touristic, buildings on Main Street:
Sourdough Saloon and Affiliate, 12 x 16, oil on board
The Sourdough, good pizza, is the building on the left. It will have a gold sign across the front, but I have to wait for the oils to dry a bit. There are other things to tweak — my greens were at the Red Barn, as was my easel, the rock pile needs a lot of work, but that will be fun, the flags and lampost are inadequate but can be fixed. So at some point, this might be allowed to be part of the oeuvre. The other downtown piece has been turned to the wall, prior to being overpainted.
It’s interesting how much more difficult it is to paint habitations than it is to paint landscapes. The distractions (I love being chatted up but it doesn’t straighten my lines) and the demands of greater precision, along with attempting to get the sense of the place without romancing nor denigrating or giving in to the photographic eye — well, it’s a tall order. And I knew the laptop was waiting for me. Tomorrow it’s back to scenery.
East of 82nd 
Hurray for you! Glad to hear you solved your shared computer dilemma. It certainly is unacceptable for a blogger AND and wikipedia editor to be sharing the same machine!
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Hi Del,
You always hit right on the thing I don’t know. The little house in the center is a “little house in the center.” The big one on the right used to be some kind of eating establishment, called, I think, Burro In. There’s a sign along the side but it’s obviously not in operation any more. That building has a historic plaque on it saying something like “lots of these buildings were moved here when Rhyolite (the ghost town out toward Death Valley) went bust. However, the sign doesn’t say what the building was or even if the building on which the plaque is attached was one of those moved.
I’ll just have to do my homework.
And it was freezing at the Red Barn yesterday — the wind was howling and there was enough cloud cover that the sun wasn’t warming anything up.
As for the size of the photos — I always put them in at 450 pixels for people using laptops or small screens. Otherwise they overlap the text. And I’m too lazy to use a different size and let WordPress decrease the size. It takes too long to upload (my patience is short) and I could always claim that I’m protecting my magnificent art from those who would copy it and blow it up and make a million from the posters — or put it on t-shirts, coffee cups, and underwear. But the truth is, I just do the 450 pixels. If there’s ever a photo you’d like a high res of, just let me know. I have them.
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Gosh, we all know about ‘old brain’. I’ve been sitting here trying to wade through my e-mail and listening to Sylvia Einstein give Mary help with Photoshop Elements. I don’t think they acheived what they wanted to, but they have reassured each other that neither is a babbling idiot.
You didn’t tell us what the other two buildings are ( middle and right) and, of course, we need to know. I am eager to see your refinements.
Neither Jer’s photo or yours will enlarge. You might want to check on the control for that.
I’m freezing! Not that it is really so much colder than Placentia, but it is much damper. This house has tile floors and no window coverings. Since it is out in the ‘wilderness’ they aren’t necessary, however, I change clothes in the bathroom where the window is set very high in the wall!! Who know what lurks in the wilderness other than squirrels, birds, bobcats, deer, racoons, rabbits…?
Have to be up at 7am so we can be in Monterey at 9am for the one day class Sylvia is teaching. Mary will probably have to carry me home in a basket after we have dinner out following the workshop. Groan. Moan. Sigh. Too long a day.
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