Painting and Photography

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I posted a photo from my Iowa Photographs series on Facebook recently. My friend and painter Stan Fellows from Aurora, CO was inspired by the composition and was compelled to do a study. We agreed to a trade. It was a very satisfying experience to see a painter's interpretation. We both exchanged our thoughts and insight and believe we both learned from the experience. There is a long tradition of artists trading work. It's nice to own work by other artists and know that there is a mutual appreciation and insight shared.

Crash Site • 6.7 Miles North of Clear Lake, IA

_Buddy_Holly_Crash_Site_0001 _Buddy_Holly_Crash_Site_0002 _Buddy_Holly_Crash_Site_0003 _Buddy_Holly_Crash_Site_0004For the past twenty seven years I have been wearing some form of glasses that resemble those worn by Buddy Holly. He is one of my greatest loves in music. My wife and I were in Mason City, IA staying at the Frank Lloyd Wright Park Inn Hotel and I discovered through browsing a tourist brochure that the crash site where Buddy (along with Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens and the pilot) perished was only ten miles away. I met a few people when I first arrived at the marker but spent the half mile walk to the site alone. It was an incredibly profound and beautiful moment to be there and pay my respects. The crash site was along a fence row. If the plane had crashed in the middle of a field who knows if the site would have been preserved? As opposed to a cemetery plot, a crash site, even several decades later is incredibly powerful. Rest in peace.