Historic Downtown Series
Where the buildings still have stories to tell.
I guess my fascination with old downtowns started in Meeteetse, Wyoming.
My dad’s family homesteaded there, and although I didn’t grow up in Meeteetse, I always felt a connection to that little town and wanted to live there someday. In the mid-1980s, Dusti and I finally made the move. We bought a house, and I set up my studio upstairs in an old bank building downtown.
I didn’t know it then, but being surrounded by those old buildings, and all the stories that came with them, would send my artwork in a whole new direction.
Wyoming was getting ready to celebrate its Centennial in 1990, and I became interested in telling some of Meeteetse’s history through my work. After a lot of research, in 1989 I painted “From Count to Cattle Baron,” a historic downtown street scene depicting the land deal that helped launch the vast Pitchfork Ranch. The painting later became part of a collection displayed at a downtown bank in Cody.
That painting planted a seed. I began looking at old downtowns differently. I was fascinated by the small towns that had managed to grow and change without losing the character of their past. The old storefronts, hotels, banks and alleyways weren’t just interesting architecture to me. They were pieces of history that had survived and if you looked closely enough, you could almost imagine the people who had walked through those doors and down those streets generations before.
Over the years, Dusti and I put a lot of miles on the road exploring those places. I painted several more scenes from Meeteetse, but eventually began looking beyond Wyoming for other small towns whose history was still visible in their downtowns.
While exhibiting at the Ritzville Western Art Show in Washington, I spent hours wandering around downtown with my camera, photographing old buildings, storefronts and alleyways. Those photographs inspired dozens of sketches and eventually seven finished paintings. Later, I found more inspiration in Texas towns such as Bastrop and Granbury, each with its own architecture, history and personality.
I’ve always had a soft spot for these places. Maybe it comes from my ranching roots, or maybe I just appreciate things that have managed to endure. Either way, I like the idea that a painting can preserve a little piece of a town before time has a chance to change it.
That’s really what this Historic Downtown Series is about. These aren’t just paintings of old buildings. They’re paintings of places that have stories. And I don’t think the series is finished.
Now that Dusti and I have landed in East Texas, I’m finding myself surrounded by those kinds of places again, old courthouse squares, brick storefronts and small towns that have managed to hang onto their character. I’ve got a feeling it may be time to get the camera and sketchbook out again.
There are still a lot of old buildings out there with stories to tell.
