Still Pumping, Highway 371 North of Magnolia, Columbia County

Still Pumping

8X10, Oil on Wood
Available

Oil was discovered in Arkansas in sizable quantities in January of 1921. The first discoveries were in Ouachita County just to the east of Columbia County. Oil fields in Arkansas are almost entirely in the southern part of the state which were largely swampy millions of years ago when the Gulf of Mexico extended much further to the north than it does today. The region boomed during the 1920's as over 3000 wells pumped at full capacity and exhausted much of the supply before the end of the decade. Some oil is still being produced though as evidenced by this modern pumping station still in use. This location is on Highway 371 and is a few miles north of Magnolia.

It was not intentional but my color scheme turns out to be a nice homage to a beautiful mural in Magnolia telling some of the story of the oil boom as it related specifically to Magnolia and Columbia County. Magnolia has some fantastic murals!

Speaking of which, that painting is still in works. I'm terribly anxious to finish it but I just can't rush it. I think it would do terrible injustice to a city I found to be a gem. So, you'll have to keep waiting as I try to make it perfect...a tall order made tougher by the fact I don't like I'm doing particularly fine work at the moment. I can't put my finger on precisely what I think the problem is but they just aren't living up to my expectations.

Roundtop Filling Station, Sherwood, Pulaski County

Roundtop Filling Station

11X14, Oil on Canvas
Available

This is an old gas station in Sherwood. This old place, constructed in 1936, was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008 but it's in a sad sad state. When we went by there, it looked like it had been used by some homeless folks. The front door is about to fall off the hinges and it's full of broken bottles. If it were in a more prominent location, I doubt it would be in the state of disrepair it's now in but the stretch of road it sits on was long ago routed around by Highway 67. You can learn more about it here.

We didn't make it up to Marion County this weekend like we had tentatively planned. We did, however, head down to south Arkansas! It was new territory for the wife and kids. I had been down there before but it was 20 some odd years ago so that barely counts. We got reference picures from 4 counties: Nevada, Clarke, Columbia, and Ouachita. It was a loooong day and I'm not too sure the pictures from later in the day will be very useful since we were all pretty tired and ready to get home. But I definitely got some good material to make hay from in two of those and I'm excited to get to work on it. Not much time for plein air work though while we were out.

Next week, we're heading out to southern California! I'm hoping to meet with a couple of my favorite artists and (dare I dream??) paint with one of them in Laguna Beach!