The Sequence of Events for Rte. 163

I took this picture on Rte. 163 outside of Fort Plain in 2008. It was a great site in the morning, and the sun hit just right to create this spooky scene. I decided to use this photo as a launching point for my next work. The telephone pole lines opposing the trees is my favorite spot in the piece. I decide to make sure I exaggerate this and include it with pen and ink.

I labored in this watercolor on Saturday and Sunday morning.These things don't come easily for me. It looks simple enough. But each layer has to dry before the next, or else you get funny blooms, like the one in the left bottom corner. I debated at this stage. I wanted to use pen and ink in order to put in the trees. But then, this piece is going to be a collage.
I make some tape transfers of the trees, so I can get all those twisted fine lines the way I want them. The reality of this against the loose watercolor is quite striking. I wanted this piece to be about the telephone pole and the house. It didn't need any people really. But while I was working I found this b/w print of a primitive painting of some children. These children! These 2 children looked like sisters to me (and internally I equated them to The 2 Miss Leavens....one of the songs by Rasputina in the Sister Kinderhook CD. The 2 Miss Leavens: they were sisters, only 200 years apart.) I can't resist the urge to put the girls in. I feel quite minimalistic at this juncture, and I didn't want to add a bunch of ephemera to cloud the eerie house on the hill feeling.

So. Where is the telephone pole?
Not there! I still might add it. But I hate to add pen and ink at this point! Scary. Cuz it requires definitive curved lines that must be perfect. Not sure my skills are honed up at this point. And I don't think another tape transfer is appropriate.
You can see how things morph as I work! I start out with one thought, one motive. And as I go thru the process....things get filtered out, unspoken stories get inserted. It does seem a bit simplistic. But I am going to leave this piece as is. And this was where I ended up. On Rte. 163.

Listen to 2 Miss Leavens
Lyrics:
the 2 miss leavens - rasputina

here we see the two miss leavens
each girl was sixteen years old
kylie died in a car crash in iowa
harriet in an 1815 portrait from connecticut

harriet’s necklace and purse are lined in scarlet rags
kylie’s myspace states that she was a good friend stylized clouds float behind their heads
suggesting the halos that awaited them

the two miss leavens, no doubt in heaven
i paint their portraits on ivory
two perfect likenesses, teenager highnesses
soft focused by death, by history

i am the limner, i make portraits in miniature
these two girls were separated by two hundred years
but still they are sisters

when this you see, remember me
bear me in your mind
what others say when i’m away
speak of me as you find

resigned to dust, don’t pity us
we’re forever pretty and mysterious