October 15, 2006
Still cloudy, but very nice out. I worked most of yesterday in the studio, on several twilight images for the Top Secret Project.

Today I really got on a roll and worked on 40 images. Yes, that’s not a typo, forty paintings! Granted, many of them were color studies, slamming paint all over the place and trying to get something (anything!) going, but this is why I’ve been doing the six drawings a day (and by the way, the forty doesn’t count the six sketches), trying to discipline myself for the marathon, while waiting for the muse to show up. It’s safe to say, Ms. Muse is in the house, and I’m in the zone.

Some of the images I worked on today:

• Apache Twilight II
• The B.S.er
• Billy the Kid Peers Out
• Alchesay Stays
• Alamo attackers
• Sienna’s Conceit
• Curly Ponders Apache Tradition
• The Ascension of The White Hat (four versions)
• Lt. Gatewood (portrait)
• Peaches (portrait)
• Rides Like Apache
• Al Sieber’s Regret (old age portrait)

And here's a photo of 30 of them spread out on my studio floor (note the "Western" sign at top, which I got from a Goldwater's store that went out of business at Park Central):



Hairless In Seattle
“Do you know why Indians do not have any facial hair? Or do some tribes do?
—Steven Dubeau, North Carolina

Steven,
The theory I have always heard is that Native Americans plucked out their whiskers until they stopped growing. I assume this must have been over many generations. That said, there are exceptions. I was just looking at several Navajo photos last night and some of the warriors have wispy mustaches. I know other tribes had some facial hair (for example those British Columbia tribes like the Kwakiutl), but not much, certainly not like the hairy Europeans or for that matter Africans and Asians. This question deserves more research. When I find out something definitive, I'll let you know.
—BBB

“Hair of the dog sounds good, but it makes a lousy subject matter for painting.”
—Vincent Van Google