A year ago, or so, I visited some friends in Williamson Valley, north of Prescott, and while driving up there I was struck by a cloud bank off to the east and stopped to study it. Did a quick study of it and snapped off a couple iPhone pics, then forgot about it. I was cleaning yesterday, saw the unfinished study and added some more paint:
Daily Whipout, "Williamson Valley Cloudbank"
My good friend Jeb Rosebrook wants a cover painting to go with a new series of books he's doing under the banner of "Purgatory Road." Jeb told me it's about a gaggle of old Arizonans (cowboys, female softball players, Korean vets) in a small town and that a rattlesnake named Charlamayne looms over everything. Did a half dozen sketches then whipped this out a couple days ago:
Daily Whipout, "Purgatory Road #1"
A little too sci-fi, so I did a more 1940s approach, since Jeb told me he digs those old book covers with the forties sensibilities:
Daily Whipout, "Purgatory Road #2"
Jeb's wife Dorothy isn't too excited about a big, ol' rattlesnake looming on the cover, so I toned it back and half-hid it in the clouds so that it's a secondary consciousness deal. Will it sell?
"The easiest story to sell is the story we want to buy."
—Scott Van Pelt