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Bob Boze Bell's Blog – May 2010 Archive (45)

Billy Just Out of Reach

May 28, 2010

A wonderful full moon last night. My neighbor, Tom Augherton, drove into my driveway and pounded on my door: "Come out! You gotta see this!" The red tinted full moon was a dilly. Unfortunately, I fried my camera crossing a stream in Utah last week and I thought it would dry out, but it's gone for good, so I can't share it with you.

Got up early today and bailed into a batch of moon glow studies. Did 14. Got some good… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 28, 2010 at 1:50pm — 2 Comments

Johnny Ringo Buys Lunch

May 27, 2010

Had a doctor's appointment this morning down in Scottsdale ($50 co-pay. Is it my imagination or is the co-pay creeping up towards total pay?). Got a clean bill of health, as far as a clean bill of health for a man of my health goes.

Utilizing the photo reference of Agathla Peak in the dust storm I worked up another dust storm study last night that is more faithful to the photograph:…

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Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 27, 2010 at 3:51pm — 1 Comment

Warren "Master" Beatty

May 26. 2010

Let's check out the ol' mailbag:

"Hi Bob,

"Saw that you're reading the Beatty book. Did you see the Woody Allen piece in the New Yorker about Warren?

Woody's Warren Parody

"Never really 'got' Warren's appeal, guess Woody would be more my style."

—Nancy Ehlers, Tempe, AZ

Yes,… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 26, 2010 at 2:45pm — 2 Comments

Utah Dust Storm: Beyond The Middle of Nowhere

May 26, 2010

On the way back from Robbers Roost last Saturday, as we rattled along the red dirt roads of the San Rafael Swell, I pointed to the distant Henry Mountains and asked Gary Ernest Smith how he would paint the effects we were seeing. He told me he would mix a bit of Cadmium Red Light, a touch of Alizarin Crimson and Ultramarine Blue and mix it all, cheating toward the dust hues, and then tinting it with Titanium White. I wrote that down in… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 26, 2010 at 11:30am — No Comments

Actual Agatha

May 25, 2010

Took two babes to lunch today: Carole Glenn and Kathy Radina. Both have birthdays coming up and wanted to treat them royally. Went to Saba's up in Carefree ($65 biz account).

Yesterday I posted a painting study of my memory of the dust storm at Agatha Peak between Monument Valley and Kayenta on the Navajo Res. As we drove through I snapped off a couple shots and here is how the actual peak looked:…

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Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 25, 2010 at 2:30pm — 6 Comments

Big John Wayne Statue to be Unveiled

May 25, 2010

Just got this from Brian Downes at the John Wayne Birthplace Museum in Winterset, Iowa:

"On Friday, May 28th, Aissa Wayne will be on hand to help us dedicate this heroic-sized bronze of the Great Man here at the John Wayne Birthplace. The statue is a gift from the Wayne family and now anchors the future site of the John Wayne Birthplace Museum."

—Brian Downes…

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Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 25, 2010 at 12:46pm — 1 Comment

Ed Mell Eyes New (Nude) Model

May 25, 2010

As I mentioned Ed Mell and I got caught in a nasty sandstorm on the way back from Utah on Sunday. Here we are on the way up, stopping near Page for gas:

The ride is a Toyota Venza, and it got sand blasted near Tuba City on the way home. Ironically, he was on the Coppersate 500, a car tour, several months ago in his…

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Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 25, 2010 at 10:16am — 2 Comments

Plein Air Painters In The Rough

May 24, 2010

Got to Larry Clarkson's cabin near Torrey, Utah at about 5:30 last Thursday evening. Got up at six, on Friday morning, packed up and went out to a dramatic canyon southwest of town called Fish Creek Canyon. Impressive petrogliphs on the walls of a nearby rock face. Set up looking the other way.

Of course, Ed Mell, Gary Ernest Smith and Larry Clarkson are all master plein air painters (plein air is French for "get your arse… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 24, 2010 at 5:00pm — No Comments

Hanksville, Hite and Lone Hogan at Agatha Peak

May 24. 2010

Long trip back from Capital Reef, Utah, but saw some spectacular country and got some great inspiration. Left Larry Clarkson's cabin at about 7:30 yesterday morning and came back via Hanksville down to Mexican Hat, dropping into Gouldings at Monument Valley. Very windy and dusty. I drove Ed Mell's new Toyota Venza while he snapped reference photos. We both marveled all the way down as the canyons just got more and more amazing, with the… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 24, 2010 at 11:30am — 1 Comment

Marshall Trimble Will Be the Voice of Queens of Country

May 24. 2010

Here's an update, from Marshall Trimble, on the new movie shooting in Cave Creek:

About three weeks ago I was asked to read and record the script of

"Queens of Country," now filming in Cave Creek. The dialogue coach wanted

someone with a "small town" accent to read the male lead so the actor could

listen to it and get the inflections into his role.

My first thought was, "I don't have a small town accent, I'm… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 24, 2010 at 11:13am — No Comments

Robber's Roost Marathon

May 22, 2010
Just got back from Robber's Roost in southeastern Utah. We are in Torrey, Utah. Great scenery, good gunfight information and photos. Back on Tuesday.

BBB

Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 22, 2010 at 6:09pm — 1 Comment

Bisbee Stage Robbery Back On Market

May 19, 2010

Every once in a while, I paint a picture that I could sell 100 times over. Several years ago when I was completing Classic Gunfights, Volume II: The 25 Gunfights Behind the O.K. Corral I did a painting of the Bisbee Stage being robbed near Hereford, Arizona.

At my art show for the book at the Legacy Gallery in Carefree I had people practically fighting over this gouache and it sold… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 19, 2010 at 4:34pm — 2 Comments

Robber's Roost Here We Come

May 19, 2010

Our July issue is going out the door to our printer in Kansas City even as you read this. We had a half page fall out at the last minute, so we scrambled and put together a short stand alone feature "What Would Billy Say?" and used Fred Nolan's witty interview of the dug up Kid (which ran here on a post last week). We used my Billy skeleton interview image to illustrate it (seen here before finished):…

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Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 19, 2010 at 4:19pm — 2 Comments

My Point Of View On POVs

May 19, 2010

Gave a True West talk last night down at Brookdale in Paradise Valley. It's an assisted living, retirement complex, very nice. Had dinner in the dining room with my host Phyllis Allen and five of her friends. Very good food, had the halibut. At 6:30 I spoke to about 30 people in the main living room. To some extent I felt like I am looking at my future (a few older guys drooling, nodding off and talking to themselves and I already do two… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 19, 2010 at 11:12am — 1 Comment

Capturing Gail Cooper

May 18, 2010

So how do you draw someone who doesn't want her photograph taken? Well, for one thing you talk to people who have met her. One person I talked to is a professor of history at the University of New Mexico and he described her as a "faded blond bombshell." You mean like Farrah Fawcett, or like Madonna?

No reply. Not much help either.

The next person I talked to met her in court (it should be easy to surmise who that is)… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 18, 2010 at 9:30am — 5 Comments

Arizona Boys Helm "Queens of Country"

May 17, 2010

Walked down to the Buffalo Chip Saloon this morning to talk to the young directors of the movie being filmed in Cave Creek, Queens of Country. The popular dance hall is about two hundred yards east of the True West World Headquarters.

The first thing I noticed, besides the rows of big trucks in the parking lot was the black out on all the doors and windows. Hollywood shooters hate… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 17, 2010 at 3:30pm — 3 Comments

Making My Friends Look Bad

May 17, 2010

Just got back from visiting the set of Queens of Country. Had a nice talk with the two directors, Ryan Page and Christopher Pomerenki. Also met the Line Producer Connie Hoy. Photos and anecdotes to follow.

Spent the weekend working on the big Digging Up Billy painting. Still trying to nail a likeness of the diggers and the anti-diggers:

As I worked on these I noticed a strange phenom: the more I like someone the… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 17, 2010 at 9:34am — No Comments

E.J. Radina Wins State National History Day Competition

May 14, 2010

Overcoming long odds, my nephew, E. J. Radina has won both the regional and state National History Day competitions. This year's theme is "Innovation: Impact and Change," and E. J. chose the Tesla Coil as his innovation. He presented this in the individual performance category. Here he is winning the state:

E. J. is…

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Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 14, 2010 at 3:30pm — No Comments

Wyatt Earp Battles Pajama Man

May 14, 2010

For the past twenty some years I have been noodling a Wyatt Earp time travel story where Earp comes forward to the present chasing outlaw Curly Bill (an errant Fort Huachuca chemical experiment goes awry in the Whetstone Mountains sending both Earp and Brocius into the present).

This morning I did a couple sketches playing with what Earp would run into as he chases Curly Bill north through Tucson, Phoenix and ultimately… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 14, 2010 at 3:07pm — 7 Comments

Road Trip In The Rain!

May 14, 2010

Just got a phone call from my daughter Deena who is driving from Amarillo to Phoenix. She was in west Texas, actually in Cactus, north of Dumas, giving 401K presentations in English and Spanish to the 3,200 employees at a slaughter house (not making this up). Her flight home connections from Amarillo to Dallas were canceled this afternoon because of major rain, so she has rented a Toyota and is headed west on I-40. I got the call for… Continue

Added by Bob Boze Bell on May 14, 2010 at 2:40pm — 2 Comments