Twenty-Twenty was a crazy year indeed. Right after the calendar flipped over to November, my wife Donna, came down with COVID. She wound up in the hospital for 4 days. After many prayers, our heavenly Father begin to heal her, and she started a slow road to recovery.
We thought part of that recovery should be getting out of the city and the madness of the crowds and drive to where the people are few and the deer and wildlife are abundant. A place “where the buffalo roam”, literally. So, the day after Christmas, we loaded up cameras and paint gear and headed up to the Texas Panhandle to do some painting and photography. If you have ever been in the panhandle, you know that the further you drive northwest, the population thins with every passing mile… we like that. (smile)
Ever since my artist friend, Pete Quaid introduced us to the panhandle, the Quitaque/Caprock Canyon area in particular, we have loved those wide-open spaces. (Caprock Canyon has the official Texas Bison herd.) The beautiful landscape is where the canyons meet the high plains. The wildlife up there is abundant, and you never know when or where you will see one of God’s wild creatures. We saw many, many deer, coyotes, road runners and wild turkey. Donna got some awesome photos, especially of the deer, which were mostly mule deer. The rut seemed to be a little late this year, so the bucks were less skittish and hung around the does, who did not seem to mind the little electronic sound of the camera’s shutter clicking away.
I believe Donna’s favorite shots were of some majestic 10-point bucks we came across. (see image above) It always amazes us how these animals can “float” over fences as if gravity did not exist.
“The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.”
Habakkuk 3:19A
Perhaps the most memorable series she shot was of a buck we came across in a field. He seemed to have it in his head to cross the road in front of us and head off across the field on the other side. But, as he sped up to get enough clearance to cross the road in front us, I gave our old vehicle more fuel and kept up with him, blocking his way. I guess it looked a bit like a race between creature and machine. He ran at full speed, parallel to the dirt road, as our car stayed beside him, “neck in neck”. Strange thing is this went on for one solid mile. He was stretched out in full stride as Donna what I think are some unusual and unique photos. A couple of the photos the deer seems to “fly” in mid-air. Then his feet would strike the ground and he would be airborne again, leaving a cloud of dust, which reminded me of an old cartoon we used to see on Saturday morning.
Sandwiched in between our backroad wildlife excursions, I was to be able to set up my easel and paint in Caprock Canyon for a few hours. I have painted at this canyon several times, and it has beat me down every time. For some reason, the red rock landscape of the panhandle has been difficult for me. It seems to be nemesis as I work out a painting “en plein air”. The colors, light, and shadows, always shifting over the couple of hours I was set up painting.
To continue the on-going learning experience, I set out on several years ago, this painting was created using another limited palette. The colors I put out on my palette were Cadmium Yellow Light, Mars Red and Ultramarine Blue, along with white and Gamblin’s Chromatic Black. The Mars Red was almost exactly the same color as the red rocks of Caprock Canyon, and when mixed with a bit of Ultramarine Blue, turned out to be a beautiful greyed color that worked well for the shadow sides of the rocks.
Since the sun does not rest in its “circuit”, after a couple of hours the light and shadow sides of the rocks and hills has shifted quite a bit, and I had to pack it up and call it quits.
But, regardless of how the painting turned out, my wife and I always enjoy the quietness of God’s incredible and beautiful creation. And to think that the Creator of this canyon, in all its red and green beauty, cares about us, loves us and redeemed all who put their trust in Christ. To quote a line from one of my favorite movies- ”Inconceivable!”
“Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and He was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.”
I Corinthians 15:1-4
