By wr jones
I took a train from Boston to Harper’s Ferry. It was an all day trip from 5:45 AM to 5:15 PM. I figured I’d treat myself to an Amtrak upgrade. Paid something like $40 extra to go business class. When I boarded the train I looked at the side of the cars and got on one that said business class.
I’m riding along when a female sits beside me and we chat for awhile before the business class subject comes up. She tells me I’m in the wrong car this is coach class. NUTS! I’m too important to be talking with this woman. I get off at the next stop and move myself and bags to the official Business Class car.
As I chose a seat I reflect on the fact that there is absolutely NO difference in this car than in the coach car I just moved from. Identical seating. The conductor stops by to check my ticket and I asked what the business class upgrade entitles me to. He says if I present my stub to the attendant in the snack car I’m entitled to a free soft drink. Say what? Thinking he has it wrong I went to the car and asked the attendant what I got for the upgrade. He verified the soft drink (which turned out to be one of those half sized cans) and suggested I should consider upgrading to first class. Wow that news made me feel better. It meant there is someone even dumber than me. There are no first class cars and the only food to upgrade would be a microwave cheese sandwich.
Lesson learned here is that I’m don’t belong in business class, I’m not smart enough with my money to be a real business man.
On Painting 
Hi Bill, What a wonderful painting, it just gives me a peaceful feeling.
rofl! I love your stories, Bill. I love this painting too. Wonderful lighting. I really feel as if I’m on the sidewalk in the afternoon. Beautiful!
What wonderful summertime light with long shadows and a path to lead me home. Awesome painting! I’d skip business class, too.
Barbara – thanks. Elevate your feet and relax a bit.
Rebecca – Thanks. I’d like my own stories better if the damn things weren’t so true.
Leslie – thank you. Business is apparently not one of my strong points.
HEY! Look who’s back! You’re alive! You were on the East Cost! And you didn’t even say hello.
This painting was worth waiting for. I just love the perspective, shadows and subject matter.
One of my faves.
As far as business class…well, sometimes a free soft drink is just what you need. Or not.
I like this painting… and the story too. Funny how much a lil’ softdrink costs nowadays.
I hope you do some more of these interesting pieces with the play of light and shadow. Keep up the good work!
Smart enough to write great little funny sketches, though! Hi, Bill!
You dit a great job painting the asphalt (? is it the right word? the concrete? the tarmac?) and the shadows on it! I never was capable of getting the right color!
Amazing what we do to think we’ll get something just a bit nicer… Amazing what the companies will do to use that knowledge to take our money!!!
Bill that painting is wonderful!! An every day subject but the perspective… both kinds… is so perfect and I love the play of shadows on the sidewalk and grass. Fabulous!
well you are definitely back to your best in art: balanced colours, great composition which would probably look terrible as a photo… ah the painter’s eye!
And the rant made me smile, the pleasure some of us get in hearing about your suffering in your quest of trying to do everything to serve your own interests above others:)
Bill, The light and shadows in this painting are beautifully done. Bravo! Holly
Carol – thanks. I was in W Virgina without a car or I would have shown up for dinner.
Diana – thanks. I wish I could say that soda was the only money I ever pissed away.
Ivandu – thank you. The concrete/tar/etc is a mixture of burnt umber, ultramarine blue and white. Although there are multiple paths to grays this is the easiest for me to get the the basic gray which I then modify to make it warmer or cooler. I sometimes create a gray with viridian and aliziron but it is harder for me to get with these two colors and I end up using a lot of paint.
Marian – thank you. I know I throw away tons (ok pounds) of money to feel important. I once spent something like $1200 for a mattress even after the store owner tried to talk me out of it. The mattress sucked.
Rahina – thanks. I can’t imagine what would make you think I’m self serving.
Holly – good to hear from you. I feel work/family is keeping you way to far away from painting and chatting.
Hi Bill – I love this painting – what a wonderful street scene with the shade cast by the trees. And you did a beautiful job with the brick steps – too much realism and it looks uptight, too little and you can’t tell what it is. But this is perfect!
A really, really wonderful painting. I am a sucker for dappled light, and you did a marvelous job of it. There have been times when I had wanted a Diet Coke so bad that I might have considered paying $40.
lol. that company doesn’t seem to know how to take care of it’s customers
You applied paint to canvas (?) quite nicely here! Nice perspective, nice dappled shadows, nice color, nice values, and nice focal point on those nicely rendered steps. I’m speechless, Bill…nice!
Nice painting and funny story. I”m so glad you are posting again!
dawn
Connie C – thanks. I need to paint stuff that stands still, can’t handle those fast moving dancers like you.
Connie S – Thank you. I would have shared my Coke with you for $20.
Artswebshow – They are expensive, unreliable, and slow but I still like riding the trains sometimes.
David – thank you. Take a deep breath, words will come back to you I’m sure.
Dawn – thanks. So, let me get this straight – you are laughing at my pain? Ok, enjoy.
I could tell you an Amtrak story, but I’ll spare you the horrors. (Oh, the humanity.) Anyway, hope you took the soda and found contentment because I’m telling you that it could have been oh-so-much worse!
Did you do any painting up there in the foggy lovely hills of Harpers Ferry?
I’ve finally started “Melanie”……Just wanted to let you know. Sad, oh so very sad…..
Pegi
P.S. Now to read your blog….:)
HA HA HA!!!! A $40 drink that did not even include ALCOHOL???????? HA HA HA!!!!
Aletha – this painting was done while I was in West Virgina. I had planned on painting outside but it was hot, muggy, buggy so I painted from a photo I took in Texas. I painted setting in the breeze of a fan imagining myself as a hardened plein air painter (I have a lot more imagination than will power). I will do a West Virginia painting sometime when I’m in Pennsylvania.
PegiSue – damn you are enjoying my shafting way too much.
Plein air painting is not for anyone who enjoys mild weather, lack of sunburn or frostbite, a full tummy or an empty bladder (unless you can paint out only for a short time and be back to civilization in a jiffy).
That is a nice painting. Funny story too.
You just totally cracked me up.
This is great painting, by the way.
Make sure if you ever go to India though, to definitely get first class seating, or you will be very sorry.
Jala – I think I will skip India. I might venture to Indiana, want to go?