Hello again painting fans.
This week I will be continuing with the painting of the eastern shore Virginia farmhouse. The photo that I’m using is seen directly below. I’ll be using my usual acrylic paints on a 5×7 inch canvas.
When last seen the painting appeared as it does in the photo seen directly below.
Since that time I have continued to work on the painting.
I have moved on to the siding which now appears in blue. Below the porch roof I have started to paint the shadowed are. Finally, the shed roof (far left rear) and lawn have been repainted.
The current state of the painting is seen in the photo directly below.
I’ll have more progress to show you next week. See you then.
Earlier paintings in this series can be seen here.
Open it is.
The Kenton Mercantile (or “The Merc” as it was more popularly known) in the summer of 2015.
A photo of The Merc in better times can be found here. At the time of that photo, you’ll notice you could still purchase gasoline if you needed to (though you’d pay a bit of a price given the remote location), and of course there were some vending machines outside. Inside, you could get a burger and any of a number of snacks before hitting the road.
Kenton is close to being a ghost town. You can literally sit down in the middle of the main roadway through there – which will take you to Clayton, NM if you head west/southwest or Boise City, OK if you head east. Wasn’t always that way. Don’t get me wrong. The area is not exactly high traffic. But about a couple decades ago, there was considerably more vehicles on the road than when I snapped this photo.
Looks like a nice atmospheric place to stop for a bit. Another victim of the interstate?
I am sure the Interstate didn’t help matters over the last few decades. Kenton’s long-term seat was probably sealed when Boise City became the county seat in Cimarron County not long after Oklahoma obtained statehood. Kenton was the temporary county seat for about a year. At one point it was a thriving rural town. Losing access to any major railway, the Dustbowl era, etc. hurt a lot. Apparently a real estate developer right around the the time of our most recent “Great Recession” scammed enough of the remaining residents to completely seal its fate. And of course some social services in Boise City, such as a retirement home, got closed up a while back. Boise City isn’t doing that well either. Noticed a number of abandoned buildings last time I drove through there that had once still thrived a couple decades back. I hate seeing Kenton continue to dwindle. Much of what I know of its history is thanks to a late friend who was a walking encyclopedia when it came to all matters related to that area.
The place was always going to be somewhat remote, given how things are out in the High Plains region. I don’t get out that way very often any more. But I do drive out that way. I think there may still be a bed and breakfast open on some former ranch land nearby. It’s a beautiful region if you like mesa country. If you are a star gazer, it’s ideal for that. Except for those freak afternoon thunderstorms that roll off the mountains in the summer, you get some of the clearest skies you’ll find east of the Great Divide.
Glad to see this one back on the rec list, if only briefly. These types of diaries may not be overtly political, but they do serve a purpose of community building. Think of what the old Froggy Bottom Cafe was like before it was allowed to go to seed. It was a centralized location where folks could interact if they wanted some respite from the fray.