Dusk

This was the final glow of sunset before the blue twilight.

The Bowtie area of Tracy provides an unusual opportunity to experience the vast, open landscape with an unobstructed view of the sky, in the middle of town. I returned several times to the Bowtie to paint the changing sky, from mid-day glare to twilight. So I was becoming a regular feature of the neighborhood. I waved to the evening jogger with earbuds, and the neighbors who had friends and relatives stopping by all afternoon and evening. There was a group of children walking the railroad tracks who came over to see what I was doing. Driving along 6th Street, one of art teachers in Tracy’s schools recognized my painting easel because he had one just like it. So he parked his car, came over and introduced himself and chatted about art.

The last time I returned to paint the Bowtie, and a grandmotherly neighbor came over at dusk to see what I was doing. She was curious because she had noticed me several times before. She shared that her family had moved from Southern California to Tracy when she was 3 years old. I learned that the south side of 6th Street used to have houses and buildings related to the railroad. With July 4th just a 2 weeks away, she was looking forward to walking over and setting up her lawn-chair in the middle of the Bowtie to enjoy an unencumbered view of the fireworks. 

"Local Presence", Grand Theater Center for the Arts, 2016

"Statewide Landscape Exhibition", Santa Cruz Art League, 2017, Judge: Frank Galuszka, Art Faculty, University of California at Santa Cruz

"Co-Op Holiday Invitational Exhibition", Grand Theatre Center for the Arts, Tracy, CA, 2022