Since most of my art requires some kind of travel, it's always nice when I can combine trips together. The Memorial Day Weekend holiday offered the opportunity to complete several smaller projects so I loaded up the car and hit the road.
My first stop was Gerlach and my much loved Black Rock Desert. I'd participated in the Gerlach Mural Project and was looking forward to attending the artist reception. It was a great time, with several of the artists in attendance to talk about their work. We also went on a walking tour of all the murals and were invited on a tour to Fly Geyser the next day along with the crew from Travel Nevada.
My Mural on Joe's Bar, Gerlach, Nevada
Fly Geyser is always spectacular and it was nice to see it again. Since I had some time to spare, my friend and I decided to camp out for the weekend. I revisited some of my favorite spots from my Artist Residency including Black Rock Hot Spring and Trego Hot Spring.
Travertine Pool at Fly Geyser
I also had the opportunity to do a little exploring in some new places. I hiked up over the next ridge near Black Rock Point and got to see one of the many micro playas that rim the main Black Rock Playa. It was hard not to keep following the road to see where it lead. The Black Rock NCA is so expansive it's going to take a lifetime to see even half of it.
But this was only part of the weekends events. We packed up Sunday morning to head back to Sparks for phase two.
Micro Playa
Arriving back in Sparks, I headed down to prime the signal box I'd been commissioned to paint. The design for this piece was inspired by the Nevada state animal and the state's mining history. It seemed like a good fit since we'd just spent the weekend hiking and rock hounding and exploring with the Travel Nevada crew.
Monday morning I got to painting. The box came together fairly quick, thanks to good weather and help from my friends who came down to assist.
Working on the Signal Box
We finished up about noon and walked across the street to grab some of the food we'd been smelling all morning. One hamburger later, I was back in the car and on my way home to Elko.