From Ruston to Houston

Roadside Memorial

Yesterday's drive was a zig-zag of tiny roads going from Ruston, LA to Houston, TX.  I took a couple of wrong turns which took me on a route that I had not planned but it turned out to be very good.  

I went through Clay, Quitman, New Friendship, Saline (where I spent some time), Ashland, Liberty, Coushatta, Pleasant Hill, Belmont, Many and across the Toledo Bend Resevoir into the Sabine National Forest.  

Here are some photos.  I took six portrait photos.  I talked to several people in Sabine and Coushatta.  I had a wonderful lunch in Coushatta at a brand new restaurant.  Homemade chicken noodle soup and fried catfish.  Amazing.  Want to try their B-B-Q next time.

Building in Sabine, LA featured in the film Blaze

Church close to Pleasant Hill and Belmont

Pine Farm after harvesting

Louisiana Landscapes

A little over a year ago I created some studies for large landscape paintings from a single photo.  This was before I began traveling around Louisiana and collecting images. At the time I was not sure what sort of images I would end up with or if these possible images would work with the ideas that would emerge the following year after having gathered materials and developed ideas more in depth. 

Yesterday, I happened upon images of the five studies that I did over a year ago and am surprised to find that they are very much in line with what I am working on now.  I had almost forgotten about them.  4 of the 5 are sold and the remaining one is at French and Michigan Gallery.  I had not had the opportunity to come across them in my studio.  

I have been thinking of creating b/w or slightly tinted large landscapes with trees and shapes that are partical silouhettes. Today I went to a wetland area to take photos of something like this and to record the sounds of the birds there. Seeing the small paintings with encaustic in this blog make me think of these places whether they are wetlands or woodlands, at dawn, at dusk or in the middle of a still afternoon.  The sounds of insects, birds and sometimes larger animals in the dried grasses and leaves.  

My memories of childhood and the lush landscapes of Baton Rouge correspond beautifully with the places that I am visiting now as an adult 45 years later.  I must be moving in the right direction. 

Kelby Ouchley

I have not yet met Mr. Ouchley but have heard of him from several people here in Monroe, LA.  Below is the introduction on his website and included on the website are the subjects of his stories on KEDM which are very interesting to read or to listen to.  

My name is Kelby Ouchley.  I am a naturalist and worked as a biologist, federal game warden, and manager of National Wildlife Refuges for 30 years, mostly in Louisiana.  Since retiring I have continued my efforts to promote conservation ethics and education through my writings and speaking venues.  I have written and narrated a weekly natural history radio program for the public radio station that serves the Ark-La-Miss area (KEDM 90.3 FM) since 1995.  You can listen to some of my audio stories here: http://www.kedm.org/audio/bayou-diversity.  A while back I received the Governor’s Conservationist of the Year award from the Louisiana Wildlife Federation.  I live with my wife Amy in north Louisiana on the edge of the D’Arbonne Swamp in a cypress house surrounded by white oaks and black hickories.

You can find his website here.

Wham Brake in Black/White

Experimenting with the black and white filters on my phone.  Wham Brake is the perfect area to photograph with medium formate b/w film.  I will definitely go back. Maybe hybrid photos? Film negative, digital processing.

Oak Grove to Bastrop

Old Barn and field between Oak Grove and Mer Rouge

Today's drive seemed to be four trips.  Wham. Oak Ridge and the New Bethany Missionary Baptist Church. Poverty Point.  A late afternoon drive from Pioneer to Oak Grove, Mer Rouge, Bastrop, Sterlington and back to Monroe.  I have already written about Wham and will save Oak Ridge, Poverty Point and Pioneer for their own posts.  Going from Oak Grove to Monroe was a quick trip because the light was fading and today started early a little after sunrise at 32 degrees and with a car frozen shut.  

I did not take any photos in Oak Grove but did drive around a bit.  It is a charming little town with a functioning movie theatre in the old downtown that featured two current hits.  There was a frozen custard, Country Custard, stand that looked very good and had a small crowd gathered around it.  A crowd of people were behind a church talking and laughing.  

From Oak Grove I drove to Mer Rouge which is a beautiful town with quite a history. Old churches and stately old homes line Main Street.  I would have liked to stay longer here. In front of the post office there is a plaque where I read about Ben Lilly.   You can read about him in a wonderful post on http://richlandroots.blogspot.com/2012/04/ben-lilly-louisana-folk-legend.html.  After reading this article I will have to go see the mural by Robert Dafford and team in Vicksburg. 

From Mer Rouge I drove to Bastrop which is the seat of the Parish.  The courthouse is beautiful and the exterior of the rotunda was lit in Mardi Gras colors, purple, gold and green. I drove around the courthouse square looking at the shops and cafes.  P.J.'s Eat a Bite was crowded so I decided to have dessert and coffee there.  The coffee is just okay but the coconut pie was fantastic. A perfect crust, a layer of vanilla custard and on top a layer of whipped cream and coconut.  Not too sweet.  Perfect.  I would drive from Monroe to eat there.  P.J.'s was full and people were enjoying  the fried chicken, smothered steak and liver and oinions on their family Saturday night out.

On the way back to West Monroe from Bastrop I passed the new Century Link Campus.  A beautiful glass building behind a screen of crepe myrtle trees.  

I hate to think of not being a short drive away from these wonderful places at this year's end.  

Between Pioneer and Oak Grove

Main Street in Mer Rouge

Sunset near Bastrop

Wham Brake

I drove by Wham Brake on the way to Poverty Point from Monroe.  Wham Brake is between Wham and Oak Ridge.  It was 33 degrees.  Ice on the road and in the mud around the wetland area.  It is difficult to describe this area because it is unlike any other place I have 
seen.  Wham Brake has an arresting beauty and a Dr. Suess like combination of trees, botanical shapes and grasses.

Several trucks with boat trailers were parked on the side of the road.  A ranger happened to be there in his truck.  The ranger told me the name of the wetland area and that it had been created from the run off of the International Paper mill in Bastrop.  The mill is closed now. After doing research I discovered that International Paper has donated about 4000 acres in this area to the state. This particular wetland area is good habitat for waterfowl.  

My photos pale in comparison to looking over the water and seeing the trees and mounds of vines submerged in the water reflecting mirrored in the early morning sun.  The best way to photograph this area would be from a boat.  

You can find multiple articles about Wham Brake on the internet.  An informative article here. 

Northeast Louisiana Drive

Getting ready for a road trip tomorrow to the northeast corner of the state.  

Destinations: Oak Ridge, Poverty Point, Lake Providence, Transylvania, Mer Rouge and Bastrop. I plan to visit three parishes.  This should be an interesting trip. I will send out more postcards along the way.

Portraits in Progress

I am working on portraits both painted and drawn.  The portrait of Nick above from Houma is the first of a series of painted portraits that will be 36 x 24".  This is the first step of the portrait, contour lines and watercolor washes with some colored pencil detail.  I will then add some acrylic glazes and possibly oil in the last layers.  The image above is the very beginning of the first layer.  

The smaller portraits will be graphite on 18 x 14" claybord.  I have a few of those started and some will become dyptichs if I photograph someone over time such as Isoko from Baton Rouge, whom I photographed pregnant and will photograph again with her baby.

I will still be gathering images and recordings for the project through 2015 and possibly longer.  I am now also in the stages of making the work for the exhibits.  

More images of the stages of this painting to come.

WPA Murals and Pie

Today I will be going with a friend to Winnsboro, LA to see the WPA mural at the old Post Office that is now a museum.  "Logging in the Swamps"  above was painted by Datus E. Myers in 1939.  You can find information about the Old Post Office exhibits at their website here

http://www.oldpostofficemuseum.com/upcoming-exhibits/

http://www.wpamurals.com will give you list of murals by state.  After visiting the museum we will drive to Gilbert to taste the pie at Ezell's Lunchbox.  

I think a good side project would be to visit all  of the WPA murals in Louisiana and find the best place for pie near that post office.

Good Eats in the Twin Cities

Since I spend a lot of time in the Monroe/West Monroe area I am trying some of the area eateries.  

Kayla's Kitchen and Debbie's Snowballs are high on my list.  This week I had delicious Shrimp and Grits, English Peas and Irish Cabbage at Kayla's Kitchen, the best shrimp and grits I have ever eaten.  Creamy grits with a touch of cheese and a splash of cream on top. Perfectly cooked and the right sized shrimp with spicy but not too hot Cajun seasoning.

Today after a long walk at Black Bayou Lake with a friend ice cream seemed like a good idea. Jenny took me to Debbie's Snowballs where I had the amazing Dr. Pepper float with homemade chocolate custard pictured above.  

More local food to come.

Architecture in Louisiana

                                                            Stockyard at DeQuincy


I think a lot about architecture as I drive around Louisiana. The fields and trees are abundant.  Nature is definitely the overlord in this state.  The towns and even small cities pale in comparison to the rivers and forests.  Sometimes I think of the buildings as being accessories to the land because here unlike other places I do not feel that people try to dominate the land but live in harmoniously with it.  

There are monumental buildings, not just the brick courthouses or the plantation houses but beautiful old barns and stockyards and especially the beautiful modernist looking structures built for storing and drying rice and other crops.  They unite man and nature in a way that the churches do not.  

In the south of Louisisna the incredible industrial design of the refineries and oil containers 
does sometimes appear to dominate the land. The industrial complex near Lake Charles is one that feels at odds with the surrounding environment.  Even so, at night and in certain light these huge structures covering acres of land are beautiful and look like an odd metal plant that snakes around in very interesting way.  They unite man and nature in a different way.  I have a friend who specializes in drilling holes for natural gas wells. The way that he talks about drilling the righ sized opening, at the right angles and dealing with all of the inconsistencies that mother nature might put in his way is spiritual.  Man and earth. Man trying to glean what nature has in abundance.  

I cannot forget the boats and barges.  They are architecture on the water.  In Louisiana and in America the Mississippi and the Ouachita and other rivers have been of great importance.  In Baton Rouge and further down the river going out into the gulf the stately tankers and solemn barges interspersed with tugboats, that sometimes remind me of puppies, glide through the water or sit and wait for their loads.  

The bridges.  The incredible suspension bridges and others crossing the Mississippi.  I appreciate them as much as gothic cathedrals, sometimes more.  They serve their purpose while being elegant and spiritual at the same time.  Every time I go across one and see the water below and the sky above I amazed at their magic.  I cannot leave the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge out of this category.  These two amazing structures running side by side across the basin are 18.2 miles in length.  The second longest bridges in the US.  I marvel that they could be built through that area and that the 20,000+ cars that drive across them everyday drive through the tree tops and floating over the expanses of water.

Water brings me back to the houses that are in these low areas, in the woods, in the fields, by the rivers and lakes.  Wonderful houses of brick and wood.  Mostly simple and functional but not without beauty.  Country churches and little stores that have served generations of people are in every town and along the highways.  Some of these are now of metal construction.  The ubiquitous dollar stores are in every little tiny town and stop in the road. These I do not like. It seems like these are the first sign that Louisiana might someday be more like most of America, strip malls and shopping centers.  I have seen signs of that already in Houma and to some extent Lafayette, Shreveport and Alexandria.  Other cities have been able to keep a balance of old and new.  Brick buildings and display windows from the late 1800's and early 1900's are as abundant or more so than the new strip centers in most places.  I hope that it stays this way.

                                                      Under Atchafalaya Basin Bridge

Sulfur to Alexandria

A trip from Sulfur through DeQuincy to Alexandria was very interesting. Arrived at Oakdale and Glenmora too late to speak to anyone. People were closing early and going home. I will schedule a trip back to those places.

The train museum at DeQuincy was very interesting.  Lots of thing to see. A must see place for train efficionados do like Sheldon Cooper.

Below are photos that I just posted to Instagram.  I don't usually use the app. filters but did on the stockyard photos.

                                               Pine Grove Baptist Church, Perkins, LA

Miller Livestock, DeQuincy, LA

Miller Livestock , Stockyard

Model train and town, DeQuincy Railroad Museum

Kinder Rice Drier, Kinder, LA

Faith Tabernacle in Kinder, LA

Festivals in Louisiana

A new year and a whole new season of festivals including the Cajun Mardi Gras or Courir de Mardi Gras in Louisiana. This is not a complete list but some that I have gleaned from the internet that look interesting.  Above and below, images from Courir de Mardi Gras in South Louisiana in the late 1980's.  Fat Tuesday is coming up soon, February 17, 2015.

Winter/Spring 2015

http://www.louisianatravel.com/articles/cajun-mardi-gras

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courir_de_Mardi_Gras

http://www.bayoutechebearfest.org/

http://www.lafurandwildlifefestival.com/

http://www.louisianatravel.com/articles/cajun-mardi-gras  February in Cajun towns

http://www.lastrawberryfestival.com/

http://www.jambalayafestival.org/default.aspx

FRENCH MARKET CREOLE TOMATO FESTIVAL: JUNE 7-8, 2014

A celebration of the Creole tomato, which is locally grown, this festival features cooking demonstrations by the city's premier chefs, food booths selling dishes made with Creole tomatoes, and samplings, music and vendors selling the famous tomatoes. frenchmarket.org

http://www.louisianapeachfestival.org/


Summer/Fall 2015

http://www.festivalsacadiens.com/

http://www.christmasfestival.com/

http://www.natchitoches.net/events-and-festivals/natchitoches-meat-pie-festival/

DeQuincy and the Railroad Museum

Tomorrow one of the first places that I visit will be the DeQuincy Railroad Museum in DeQuincy, LA.  DeQuincy was created as a railroad settlement and is in Calcasieu Parish.  

I am looking forward to seeing the original station building there.  I was recently in Hattiesburg, MS at the beautifully renovated train station there.

Photos from DeQuincy Railroad Museum Archive.

People and Parishes

The following photographs are of participants in my project.  The photographs that I take of people throughout Louisiana are not meant to be finished artworks. These photos will be used as reference for paintings and drawings. The drawings and paints from these photographs will be emerging soon.

Below are five photos, small sampling of participants from Lincoln Parish, Caldwell Parish, Terrebonne Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish.  The response to participate in the Louisiana Portrait Project has been wonderful.

I am looking forward to meeting more residents of Louisiana on my next trip this month.  I have visited about 19 Parishes so far. There are 64 Parishes in Louisiana.  The first 19 were created in 1807.  European settlements in the area called Louisiana began in the 16th century. La Louisiane (named for Louis XIV of France) became a colony of the Kingdom of France in 1682 and passed to Spain in 1763. Parishes are so named because of the French and Spanish influence in the area - French: paroisse; Spanish: parroquia. 

Kevin, Lincoln Parish

Porche, Caldwell Parish

Kevin, Terrebonne Parish

Fran, East Baton Rouge Parish

Charles, Terrebonne Parish

Louisiana Sausage

When I started asking people what their favorite sausage for gumbo is I received numerous recommendations. If people do not make their own sausage they tend to have a favorite fresh sausage place to go which might be quite a drive from where they live.  The supermarket sausages are the last resort but people have strong opinions about those too.

I had already tried the green onion sausage from Lil' Cochon's in Lacassine.  It was wonderful in gumbo instead of andouille.  I discovered that quite few people feel the same way, green onion over andouille in gumbo.

Below are just a few places to sample sausage in South Louisiana, most of them recommended to me. Everyone whom I talked to told me that their favorite sausage place is the best. 

Lacassine, LA   

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lil-Cochons-Cajun-Kitchen/190516104299553

Scott, LA http://www.donsspecialtymeats.com/and 
              http://www.beststopinscott.com/#Fresh-Sausage

Arnaudville, LA http://www.russellsfoodcenter.com/deli_bakery.html

LaPlace, LA http://www.cajunsausage.com/

Broussard, LA  

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chops-Specialty-Meats/136450513755

Maurice, LA  http://hebertsmaurice.com/Products.aspx

Jennings, LA  http://www.yellowpages.com/jennings-la/mip/cormiers-specialty-meats-468989476?lid=1000004865084

Lafayette, La

http://www.comeaux.com/comeaux-s-fresh-chicken-jalapeno-sausage-1914.html

Read this Wall Street Journal article for a little sausage info and who is feuding and what is it all about.  I think a taste test tour is necessary to see how these places compare.

Photo above: Peter Greenberg

Nostalgia?

  Part of the LSU Rural Life Museum 

A few people have associated the word nostalgia with my current work. The beginning of the new year seems like a good time to explore this word and its relationship to my work.

Certainly the positive memories that I have of growing up in Baton Rouge in the 1960's were a force at the inception of the Louisiana Portrait Project. My childhood memories and the many trips that I have made to Louisiana in the decades since then exploring both urban and rural areas of Louisiana as an adult are the background for this body of work.  If I were an artist who had never been to Louisiana and had decided to make it my subject matter the resulting work would be quite different.  I believe that the body of artwork that develop out of my current explorations will be influenced by my interest in Louisiana, an interest and impressions gleaned from over 5 decades of experiences in the state.

As a child my impressions were not only of Baton Rouge and our neighborhood but weekend trips made with my mother and grandmother to parts of south and southeast Louisiana.  The land, the people, the cemetaries, the museums, the parks, restaurants and plantation houses.  These people and places were my introduction to Louisiana.  Added to that the stories that my grandfather told me about the history of Louisiana and his stories of the Esso and Exxon plants where he worked which included trips to Plaquemine and sometimes Morgan City.  One of the first words that my grandfather taught me to spell was MISSISSIPPI.  

My early understanding of Louisiana was not only of the Europe and and African history of the area but of the Native American history as well and the blending of all of these cultures into a unique society. We lived near a Native American Indian Mound, which is just off of Essen Lane in Baton Rouge, and there are mounds on the LSU campus where my mother was attending college. My mother had a profound fascination with these places and we drove around Louisiana and Mississippi to visit different mound sites.  

We lived in a ideal area of Baton Rouge, near the city limits at the time, on the edge of a large wood and bayou and huge fields that had been part of a plantation.  You could still see the plantation house before Interstate 10 East was built directly on top of those fields, that house and part of our neighborhood in the mid 1970's.  Across Essen Lane from our small neighborhood was the LSU Rural Life Museum and Agricultural Center and The Franciscan Missionaries Convent, both of which are still there.  To the south of our neighborhood were small country homes and miles and miles of land, fields and pastures.  To the west of us LSU and downtown Baton Rouge and to the north and east of Essen Heights were other small neighborhoods and commerce.  Rural and urban were very close together.  We had the best of both worlds.

I did not understand how unique the character of Louisiana was until I left and lived in other parts of the US.  I have returned to Louisiana on a regular basis for the last 35 years since our Essen Heights house was sold.

The photographs that I take do have a connection with my memories of Louisiana from the 1960's and 70's but the subject matter is contemporary and has a complex connection with the past. Much of what I see has been in existence for decades, if not a century or more.  I connect this work more with continuity and history rather than nostalgia.  I am looking at these places in a fresh way not having lived here for 35 years and with the experience of an adult having lived in other parts of the US and in Europe.

I believe that the body of work that I am creating is much less about nostalgia and more a documentation of the continuity of this unique area and culture from a contemporary artist's viewpoint.  From my recent travels I can say that this combination of rural farmland and state and federal sanctuaries juxtaposed with a contemporary urban/surburban communities can still be found all over Louisiana.  A wonderful balance of new and old, developed and natural.

Along River Road and Into the Night to Houma

In December I set out one night on a drive to Houma going south on LA 1 and going through Donaldsonville, Plaquemine, Thibodaux.  Night is a peaceful time to drive in Louisiana but not necessarily quiet.  The night shift people are driving to and from the plants and the steam and smoke from the plants was luminous on this cold and crisp night.  

The photo above was taken near Plaquemine.  I could see the huge clouds of steam from a distance and suddenly I was under them.  They covered the road and the businesses across the street from the plant.  I drove as far as I could onto the private road and sat listening to the sounds, watching the trucks and the cranes work, letting the billowing white pillows envelope my car.  I have always thought that these industrial sites had an incredible beauty especially at night.

Near Napoleanville

In Thibodaux there was a lot of activity in old downtown along the numbered streets.  Lots of little bars and restaurants full of activity around 1 am.  

After Schriever I went south on 24.  The plantation houses sleeping quietly to the west on 311 will have to wait for another trip.

Canal Street Bridge in Thibodaux