3:27pm update: more tweaks today. if you scroll down & look at yesterday's version, you'll notice the changes. they are subtle, but at this point in the process, all important. the one i love best are the faint veins on the hand furthest to the left, and the patterning i introduced on the violet dress of the woman on the left. i'm out of steam, so i'll clean my brushes & walk home through the snow, much of which has melted.
1:34pm update: work continues on parade 37. i've made some changes to the upper and lower quadrants of the painting, and will continue working till i run out of steam.
A SUPERB EVENING WITH FRIENDS DAN & LILLY:
10am update: as he drove over 10,000 ft. poncha pass on his way to the hospital, dan spotted a girl in the gravel beside the road. her brand new bike was wrecked. he stopped and as her drew closer, he could see that she was badly injured. a quick evaluation revealed a deep gash in her knee which was gushing blood, and signs of trauma to her hand and jaw.
"call 911!" she shouted, in a state of shock. "no need. you're coming with me! i'm a doctor and i'll have you in the hospital in 10 minutes." he helped her to his car as her boyfriend, who had been a few hundred yards ahead pulled up. "you get her to the hospital; i'll take care of her bike."
Ten minutes later he pulled up to the hospital, where he had been headed. an MRI and CAT scan revealed 2 breaks in her jawbone, 2 teeth knocked loose, 3 breaks in her hand bones and a deep gash in her knee, filled with gravel and requiring debridement, followed by 15 stitches. today, she's off to denver for surgery to set and wire her jaw.
the spot where the accident had occurred was at the very peak of poncha pass, where there is no cell reception. had it not been for dan, she would have made it to the hospital, but in hours, not just 10 minutes.
dan, a renowned infectious diseases specialist, told us the story over a delicious dinner, as heavy snow fell outside in what turned out to be a record breaking storm. these stories are not unusual for dan, who seems to appear time after time, just when he's needed to save lives.
over lily's delicious pasta and salad dinner he spoke of his ceramics classes and got up to show us a bowl he'd made. as soon as i saw it, i thought "this is one of the most beautiful ceramic bowls i've seen!" slightly oval in shape, it's ideal for making matcha tea. so i blurted "it would be perfect for my morning matcha tea!" despite my protests (half hearted i'll admit) we drove home after dinner with the bowl carefully cradled in mikela's arms.
dinner was followed by back and forth story telling around the fire, with much laughter. before leaving, dan brought me a large box of vintage maps, which he knows i love to use in my abstract collages. one, a hand drawn map of a lake in maine, came with stories of his childhood, which will be woven into the mix as i cut and attach pieces to my canvas.
we ended up receiving a record shattering 18+ inches of snow. the snow was so heavy and the visibility so poor that, despite having lived in crestone/baca for over 22 years, i made three wrong turns on our 3 mile drive home. ok, i admit, i have a lousy sense of direction. so much so that, when we're in denver and i think we need to turn right, mikela knows it's a sure sign we need to go left.
BELOW: some shots of dan and the bowl, and of me drinking matcha tea this morning.
