14x20 pastel on homemade pumice rag board. This piece is special to me. It was the first study I made on a painting trip to Wyoming.
Trip to Wyoming:
An artist friend from Wyoming suggested a painting trip there in the early summer of ’99. We set out to spend a week in the Big Horn Mountains at a place called Ten Sleep Creek. I was told the name came from the native Americans. Several tribes met here. It was ten sleeps from each tribe. We were to spend a week in Yellowstone and a week in Jackson at the Grand Tetons. I brought my oils and pastels.
It was late afternoon when we moved into the cabin in Ten Sleep.  I was anxious so I took off with my pastels. The woods were dark and a bit spooky. I saw exactly what I wanted but I explored a bit. It would be too dark soon. I rushed back to the pretty scene I first saw. The piece went quickly, about 45 minutes.
I kept seeing something to the right in my peripheral vision but when I looked each time there was nothing there. When I finished and was packing up the phantom kept recurring. I knew something was there. It was the first day of our painting trip and I did not know what to expect. I felt like I might have encroached in a sacred place. Something clearly did not want to be found but was keeping me in its sights.
Finally, I thought that I should leave quickly. I took off running down the stream toward the lake it fed. Then I thought no, I will confront the phantom. I stopped and leaped around shouting to come and get me. It was then that a small piece of cedar on a cobweb clinging to the side of my cap swung into view. Mystery solved. I learned a bit about myself. I had been feeling vulnerable.
Later I found a possible reason for my actions. I was telling the others in the party that I was concerned about a dream I had the night before. I was ashamed of the dream. One of my friends was well read and encouraged me to tell the dream if it was bothering me.
The dream: I was creeping up the outside stairway to the apartment of an old woman I knew. I entered and killed her. In the dream I did not know why. In the dream I knew no reason why I did it.
My friend Cliff said, “Congratulations Bob.”
I said, “What do you mean?”
He said, “Each character in your dream is you. You were able to eliminate something in you. We have a lot of things that are hidden from us that hold us back and you got rid of one. That is good news.”
I felt better but I did not tell the others I was spooked in the woods. They really liked the study.