DUST BOWL FARM #1

7 x 7 inches • mixed media on board

DUST BOWL FARM #2

7 x 7 inches • mixed media on board

DUST BOWL FARM #3

7 x 7 inches • mixed media on board

DUST BOWL FARM #4

12 x 12 inches • mixed media on board

PAINTING THE MOTHER ROAD

For the past few years I have been absorbed in painting about the impressions of my childhood travels on the old Route 66, combined with memories of the games of my father, mother, grandparents, and aunts and uncles such as domino, card, and pool games. The Mother Road Series reflect my impressions and memories of that road in the 1930s, 40s, and early 50s as a young boy. The paintings have become part of a fondly remembered story I tell myself with paint.

John Steinbeck called the Route 66 the “Mother Road” of the country. In 1937, paving was finally completed the entire length of Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. Leaving the Dust Bowl in 1938, with my mother and father, I began my journeys on the old Route 66 heading off from Oklahoma to settle in California. It was my first time to see mountains, real lava beds, and desert. During the next 15 years, my family made 20 or 30 trips back and forth between Oklahoma and California, taking different “shortcuts” off of Route 66 to try and find the fastest drive.

DUST BOWL FIELD

10 x 10 inches • mixed media on canvas

TEXAS 1938

14 x 11 inches • mixed media on canvas