Carl Judson - Guerrilla Painter Notebook

April 2007 Road Trip

I always look forward to a road trip even when it’s for business. I like to see new places and look for interesting things to paint. It’s a challenge to schedule enough time to take some byways and still have time to paint when something happens to catch my eye – I’m prone to being attracted to oddities as subject matter on these road trips.

These paintings were done on a business trip from Colorado to the east coast and back.

Green Bridge – Osceola, NE
Carl Judson © 2007
Acrylic on Canvas Panel 7½“ x 10”

It was late afternoon as I was driving through southeastern Nebraska with an overcast sky, when this green bridge just lit up the landscape.

“Ideal” Ready Mix Trucks – Chariton, IA
Carl Judson © 2007
Acrylic on Canvas Panel 7½“ x 10”

Farther down the road in southern Iowa on a Sunday afternoon I found these cement trucks on an embankment above the highway like some kind of surreal bumble bee pageant – an Alice in Wonderland sort of image.

New Subdivision Coming Soon – Johnstown, OH
Carl Judson © 2007
Acrylic on Canvas Panel 7½“ x 10”

And in central Ohio was this orange neon band with the electric green spring grass. From my vantage point the neon band was a mystery. After I finished the painting and drove down the road, I saw that it was a construction boundary fence for a new subdivision going up on the other side of the hill.

Oxford – Bellevue Ferry – Oxford, MD
Carl Judson © 2007
Acrylic on Canvas Panel 7½“ x 10”

This is a ferry slip on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay. It was a chilly, gusty day following a “slush” storm and lots of bad driving conditions. The eastern shore, free of snow, was a nice respite.

Wood Splitter – Boone, NC
Carl Judson © 2007
Acrylic on Canvas Panel 7½“ x 10”

This home-made log splitter sporting the flag was too good to pass up. I spotted it off a winding road back in the hills.

Almost right on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee, this derelict road house struck a somber note. The sign for “Flat Springs” Road echoes the feeling of the setting.

One of the most beautiful stretches I have ever driven is US 160 in southeastern Missouri. It was so captivating that I didn’t really want to stop despite a glut of painting opportunities. I finally forced myself to stop and paint this hedgerow before the light faded.

The Kansas Flint Hills are legendary in early west cattle lore. I stopped to paint this scrub thicket with some redbuds just starting to bloom. I’d had my eye on the rebuds for quite a while and I knew I was running out of time – this is about as far west as they thrive.