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The Roadtrip Show
Bridge in Louisiana, oil on hardboard 30x40"


Observations through 5,000 miles of the Southwest

Growing up in my parent’s backseat filled my mind with images of the industrial world mixed in with the natural. The way electrical wires undulate in the sky, how the car’s shadow changes shape as it passes over grass and concrete dividers, the constant flowing variety of signs, trucks, buildings, shapes and colors. 

In 2019 I took a 5-week, 5,000 mile roadtrip. I took thousands of photographs from the driver’s seat and created this body of work.
Under Overpass I, oil painting on hardboard 12x16" Row of greenhouses on US-290 in Texas, pen and watercolor drawing 6x18" Red brick building with green door in McDade, TX, pen and watercolor drawing 8x10" Westward Ho Motel Sign, colored pencil drawing on toned tan paper 8x8"



You can see what I see, and most of what I see is our mark on the world, the industry of humans.
Our landscape is filled with objects built for a utility—transporting and storing goods, communication that can be seen afar and roads to connect us to each other. It’s commerce and connection.

I also traveled through southern Louisiana where my parents, grandparents, great grandparents (and on) are from.
I am 100% Cajun.
Available Highway Billboard Sign, colored pencil drawing on toned tan paper 8x8" Truck #15 - Giant Cylinders on Flatbed, pen and watercolor 11x14" Mobile Homes with Prices, pen and watercolor 8x10" Cajun Muffler Center, pen and watercolor 8x10"
Grey Silos in New Mexico, pen and watercolor 18x24" Shrimp & Crab Stew Sign, colored pencil drawing on toned paper 8x8"

PART I: LOUISIANA

“C’est bon?”

my paternal grandmother would ask after setting down our plates of food. 
“C’est bon!” we’d respond while scarfing down rice and gravy or another of her cajun meals. 

Ma Grace's House in Kaplan, LA, pen and watercolor 11x14"

Ma Grace lived in the same house (above) for 50 years where she raised 4 sons, including my dad.
Forever the sweet, earthy smell of a fig tree reminds me of her.
She froze the figs from her yard and we ate the thawing, juicy fruit at the big table in her small kitchen.

Ma Grace with her sons in the kitchen, 1975 Ma Grace portrait Ma Grace My dad's graduation portrait, 1973 My brother and I with my dad's parents, early 90s The motel my family stayed at when visiting Louisiana. [Sunnyside Motel Sign, colored pencil on toned paper 8x8"] Haystacks in Maurice, LA, pen and watercolor 6x18" The rice mill my paternal grandfather worked at, as it looked in 2019. [Rice Mill in Kaplan, LA, pen and watercolor 18x24"]


“Teet crote!”

my maternal grandmother exclaimed when I was behaving bad. It means “little shit” in Cajun French.
She lived on a corner of her parent’s cattle farm (below) and raised four kids, including my mom.

Family Farm in Abbeville, LA with an inset photograph of my great-grandparents, pen and watercolor 18x24"

Granny always took an afternoon nap. The house would be dark and quiet.
I’d sneak into the pantry for a Little Debbie cake to eat while I watched Bob Ross in the playroom.
I now have a chair in my living room that was in that playroom. When I sit into it, the smell of her house wafts up. 
Even though I’ve had the chair for 10 years, her scent still persists.
 

Granny's kitchen, she's standing at the stove Granny's kitchen when I was growing up (I'm in the green shirt) My mother's parents, photo taken in the late 1940s My greatgrandparents who owned the cattle farm Granny and my mom on her wedding day Granny and me

The memories of my grandparents are what come up when I think of Louisiana.
Despite us moving to Texas when I was 5, we always stayed connected to this place.


Three Blue Silos in Louisiana, pen and watercolor 18x24"

Trucks

Trucks are both a utility object and, to me, an art object with an unending variety of color, shape and typography. 
Trucks are at once mundane and purposeful.

SERIES OF 20 ORIGINALS, WATERCOLOR AND PEN ON WATERCOLOR PAPER
Cotton Bales Truck, pen and watercolor 11x14"

Truck with 3 Cones, pen and watercolor 11x14" Truck with Large Piping Spindles, pen and watercolor 11x14" The DART Truck, pen and watercolor 11x14" Truck with Tractor, pen and watercolor 11x14" Round Container Truck with Blue Stripe, pen and watercolor 11x14" Retired Penske Truck, pen and watercolor 11x14" Stack of Trucks, pen and watercolor 11x14" Colburn's Truck with Blue & White Door Panels, pen and watercolor 11x14" Stack of Flat Beds Truck, pen and watercolor 11x14" Oversize Load Double Portrait, pen and watercolor 11x14" Vacmasters Truck, pen and watercolor 11x14" Hay Bales Truck, pen and watercolor 11x14"



Highway Overpasses in Texas, oil painting on hardboard 30x40"
Running on Cargo