Indecision

Friends -

I struggled a lot with this pastel painting, and the result that you see here is as much influenced by the friends I consulted on Facebook, their opinions and advice, as it was by my own indecision. There was something of a saga in trying to paint this scene from a photograph I took while visiting Red Rock Canyon near Las Vegas earlier this month. The small subtleties of lovely colors combined with the big bold drama of the rock formations are hard for me to describe on small 9"x12" paper. After repeatedly brushing out the pastels and then washing the whole thing with alcohol, along with my friends' advice, I hid the photograph from myself and came up with this. It is the best I could do in my very indecisive state.

In a way, my indecision is very reflective of the rock itself. It seems that the subduction that occurred millions of years ago which thrust limestone and sandstone around like tinker toys resulted in this jumble of colored layers. That, along with the Sierra Nevada granite insisting on being top dog, and everything falling victim to erosion, all the layers now point this way and that in a very indecisive manner. How could I not be affected by that, I ask you?

To top it all off, the beauty of this lovely, ancient land is so opposite the less-pleasant, wretched-excess of Las Vegas that I am totally undecided whether I want to go back or not. Either way, I took a bunch of snapshots and will likely paint a few more from this place before the year is done.

'Indecision' is available in exchange for a check made out to a good non-profit organization of your choice. If you can decide, that is.

Be well always,

margie lopez read

 

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