The theme for the Grand Valley Artist gallery show in March is “Variations of White.” My entry, “Room 304,” 12×16 inches on canvas board, is painted with watercolor and sealed with acrylic medium. The white theme is very broad for interpretation. Gallery visitors can expect to see creative artwork of many styles. If you would like to visit the gallery, please check online at grandvalleyartists dot org for gallery hours which generally coincide with workshops and weekly activities. The gallery is located behind Schuler Books on 28th street, on the backside of the same building. The parking lots connect. The gallery address is 2661 29th Street, Suite B, Grand Rapids , MI.
Denny, long-time buddy and band leader for local band Down Yonder, held a jam session in his outbuilding yesterday. The pot-bellied stove was fired up, and there was faint wood smoke in the air. I brought my 000-16 Martin and a looper I got for Christmas, thinking that if no one shows (there was a mild blizzard), then maybe we could fool with that. Andy, Denny’s son, was there. He’s an amazing guitar player. My first thought was I should have packed an electric guitar so he could cut loose on that. He brought a small-bodied Martin that sounded amazing, a gift from his dad. Jan, one of Denny’s band members, showed up, and I was thrilled to see her. She has a beautiful, clear singing voice, plays a squeezebox and ukulele, and maybe other instruments. Denny surprised me by having a new guitar. (That’s not the surprise; he is always buying guitars.) He pulled out a solid wood Alvarez acoustic. He has a large collection of Martins, along with Martin kit guitars he built himself. So seeing any other brand guitar in his hands was otherworldly.
We covered a lot of songs from a variety of artists. Jan sang some Linda Ronstadt, Andy covered “The Way” by Fastball, I did a Stones song and pushed myself to the breaking point on others, and Denny played some classics out of the encyclopedic song vault in his brain. We weren’t hurting for songs. For me, the highlight was Jan singing Harvest Moon by Neil Young. I should have set my guitar down and grabbed my camera for a short video. If I had known she sang Neil Young so well, I would have suggested more songs, but unfortunately, that was the last song of the jam. She had to go; three hours had mysteriously gone by, and we may have all been thinking: get back on the road before they start freezing.
After a trip out west last spring, I was inspired to do some Native American scenes. These were painted from archive black and white photos found online, so I had to get creative with color. And composition. These are acrylics, which allow impasto technique and watercolor-like washes.
The middle section of a tipi has a spirit being that comes in a dream. From what I understand, the spirit being has taken pity on the owner and has shared its spirit for the well-being of the tribe. It is much more complicated than that; everything about the tipi design has symbolism based on respect for the natural world.
I just completed this last painting. Grand Valley Artists (29th Street behind Schuler Books) is having a December sale, with cash prizes for the best three artworks. I entered this painting titled “Inventory,” based on a photo from the Montana Historic Archive. 16×20 acrylic.
Best laid plans are often amiss. Six people were invited, but it was just Natch and I up at Pickerel Lake. A shout out to Brandon, an avid fichigan reader for 8 years, who stopped by and had some kind words to say about the blog. Thanks, Brandon!
Natch and I fished the main rivers, the Sturgeon and Pigeon. Water was low and clear. The sun was out. Natch caught a brookie on the Pidgeon, and I took a nice brown on the Sturgeon off Fontinalis Road. I had some spinning reel trouble that cut that outing short. Closed-face trigger spin reels are getting scarce, due I guess, to the better reliability of standard spinning reels. That is bad news for those of us who grew up with Shakespeare 1810 reels, looking for a good substitute.
Bottom line: Not much to show for 3 serious days of fishing! But that is just part of trout camp.
One evening, we decided to try an elk viewing area, something we hadn’t done before. There is one located north off Sturgeon Valley Road near where the Pigeon River crosses. We pulled in, parked, and sat on a grassy knoll at the south end of a huge field. We weren’t really convinced we’d see something but it was great sitting there. It reminded me of bow hunting in my younger days. Suddenly, four bull elk walked out at the far end of the field. We both worked our phone cameras trying to get a good shot. Natch finally moved close using two trees in the field as cover. He took the video.
One afternoon, sitting on a bench at the boat landing/beach at Pickerel Lake, some horseback riders stopped to give their mounts a drink in the lake. A family with kids gathered to see the horses. That was fun to see too.
Even though the fishing was tough, the weather was perfect for camping, hanging out, and keeping busy. I lost 3 pounds. That was a good surprise. Natch and I hit our favorite streams and stretches, had a good laugh here and there, and left on a good note. October Camp… hoping that works out a little better.
I was digging through some old photos and found these, most likely taken by Feral, of me, on the Sturgeon River. Best guess, maybe ten years ago. At the end of September we would run into huge brown trout heading upriver to spawn, but it seems like those days are gone. The same thing took place on the Pigeon, huge browns up to two feet long, moving upstream. This hasn’t happened for years and I can only guess global warming has pushed the fall migration further into the year, possibly late November. We do catch a few lunkers, but nothing like the heyday. On a single trip up the Sturgeon, ten years ago, I caught four browns over twenty inches. We will be up there again this fall, checking those rivers, but maybe it’s the end of an era. I wish we had some answers. Note – we turned the big ones back and kept small ones for the skillet.
I did some paintings of songwriters I admire. I joined an artist group, and they are all nice, but the jury may be out on just what I am trying to do. I hope to add to this series and post others.
Sometimes you just need to get away and hang with friends. About noon on Friday, I sent a text to the guys wondering if anyone was up for a Vanderbilt trip, meaning Pigeon River State Game Area, either Pickerel Lake or a remote camp by Grass Lake. Jake was in Pennsylvania, Feral was a maybe, and Natch was good with it but had some things to do which might be a problem. I figured two maybes, but sort of knew Natch would make it work. So I headed up which turned into a four-hour drive because of road construction and heavy northbound traffic. I passed some big travel trailers that were swaying whereby I timed the passing when the trailers leaned toward the edge of the road.
I mentioned to Natch I was bringing a tent since it was just a two-night trip. He brought a portable ice shanty, which he bought expressly for camping. It has 6-foot clearance for standing and a collapsible pole system for easy set-up. There’s room for a cot and a couple of chairs, so it really makes a nice tent. And it’s dark in there. Close it up and it’s pitch black – great for sleeping. I had my small Eureka backpack tent and two sleeping bags as a mattress off the ground. I slept okay, but I need to rethink this. Natch showed up around eight pm. It was drizzling and a bit chilly, but we sat outside and had some snacks and beer, and talked for quite a while. It was good.
Luther on the Sturgeon
We usually fish the Sturgeon and the Pigeon. The Sturgeon was high and stained, the Pigeon low and clear. That didn’t make much sense. We grabbed some breakfast in Gaylord, food at Meijers, and then fished the “valley” on the Sturgeon. It was tricky wading. The water was just deep enough to hide logs and boulders so it was lead with one foot, bring the other foot up. It was deep enough to where trout hugging the bottom may or may not see a lure pass by overhead. Still, we caught a few. Nothing to brag about. And we saw enough fish to keep it interesting. We had a sandwich back at camp, checked out the lake, gathered firewood, and finally decided to head over to the gravel pits, another spot on the Sturgeon. Same thing – high water and stained. Natch caught a brook trout on his first cast. Then another out of the same bend.
Natch on the “gravel pit” bend
I went downstream into a cedar swamp. I knew from experience there were good spots to cast but mainly it is from the bank because of so many blowdowns. My reel started making grinding noises. I could cast but winding in felt sticky. I saw a couple trout but went fishless. I returned to the truck, dropped off the pole, and headed upstream to see how Natch was doing. He fished another bend and then met me at the truck. We drove back out to the gravel pit and hung out there for a half hour on the off-chance of seeing elk.
We broke camp early on Sunday. We were packed and ready to go by 7:00 am. We figured an early start would get us past road construction with less bumper-to-bumper and it did. It was a three-hour trip home.
Customized vintage BB gun with a hand-made knife and sheath by Feral Tweed. Our group’s interest in vintage pellet guns has expanded to new areas. Jake took a part-time job in a gunshop and is cleaning up and re-blueing old rifles, along with his amazing metal forge work. Natch surprised us all with slingshot rifles that he built in his workshop. I built a kit guitar (telecaster) and added artwork. Somehow we need to work in more camping, trout fishing, and late-night partying.
I thought about my grandfather, Jake Lucas, while fishing the Little South Branch of the Pere Marquette River this morning. I got up at 4:30 and left the house by 5. There was a sliver of moon in the night sky. I ran up the 131 expressway and got off at 19 Mile Road just past Big Rapids. If you take 19 Mile west it eventually turns north, switches into gravel and back to blacktop, veers west, and dead ends onto Foreman Road. There are a couple of two-tracks leading to the river off Foreman Road. This is where Jake used to take my brothers and me, when we were kids, for trout. It is generally shallow, easy to wade, and loaded with brown trout.
I didn’t know what to expect as far as stream conditions and stream conditions are everything. I hit it right. The water was high and tea-colored. It even drizzled a bit. I had two dinner trout in ten minutes but tossed them back. Trout were everywhere and aggressive. After catching a couple more I decided I had better start keeping some because you never can be sure if the fishing will go south on you. Sorry about the pun. I kept four trout, around 13 or 14 inches. Caught at least ten. Back at the truck I sent a photo to the guys and headed back to town. What a morning.
The artist group I joined, Grand Valley Artists, is having a postcard sale. Members create 4×6 postcards and donate them for the fundraiser to cover costs for the studio and other expenses. I did these from photos I found online. Permanent marker and acrylic paint. Quite a few artists will be providing cards so it will be interesting to see. There is no theme so I imagine there will be landscapes, abstract, block prints, flowers/still life, etc. If you are near Schuler Books on 28th Street, it’s on the back side of that building. Check the studio hours to make sure it is open.
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