Discovery

This note written on the back of one of the Merced trailer park photos reveals a lot about my mother.

I wondered why some of the photographs showed the trailer all one color and others showed a darker center stripe. Mystery solved.

"We painted the trailer, light & dark blue to match the car. It looks a lot nicer."

My sister says the issue was smell rather than appearance.

Before

 

After

Meanwhile, Back in the Studio...

Working Titles: 

Mid-century Madonna

Madonna of the Trailer Park

The Artist as a Very Young Man

Period trailer advertising images often included short sections of white picket fence to create the impression of hominess. This trailer park in Merced, California had short sections of white picket fence.

Road Trip 5!

Midwest Vintage Trailer Rally, Montello, Wisconsin.

It was like stepping back in time.

Canned hams and streamliners living together in harmony.

Road Trip IV Drip!

Big Sky Twin, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin (NOT Montana).

Road Trip III!

The Route 34 Drive-in Theater, Earlville, Illinois rises majestically from the corn. Route 34 has been renamed the Walter Payton Memorial Highway. The Drive-in has not been renamed.

 Recto

Verso

Road Trip! (part 2)

Next Stop: Cleveland Museum of Art

We head to the museum to pick up a little inspiration. This is a surprisingly nice museum with some fine pieces, many of which I have been teaching with for years. Free admission. Expensive Parking.

A beautiful little Winslow Homer. These are Union soldiers from the American Civil War. Not the uniform you were expecting.

A detail of a Sargent portrait. Often criticized as being too facile and fashionable. An amazing painter.

This Sheeler has been in my Kodak Carousel since about 1979.

Turner burns the houses of Parliament. 

He's the master of grunge.

Van Gogh.

Grant Wood.

I see those same rabbit tracks on my driveway every snowy morning.

The Devil shows up for the Stag at Sharkey's.
(Not supposed to take this picture. Scolded by guard. It was worth it.)

Road Trip!

First Stop: RV/MF Hall of Fame (in which MF stands for manufactured housing), Elkhart, Indiana.

The empty lot on the left became a trailer dealership before our return trip.

 

 View from above makes these full-size Airstreams look like toys.

I don't fit through the doors like I used to and there's a little more bounce but we always bounced. We didn't get leveling jacks or fold down steps until quite late in the game. Interesting note: the interiors smell just like old trailers. 

Trailer Trash? You're in good company with Charles Lindbergh.

This is just the kind of place we NEVER would have stopped at. In fact, I've driven right past it at least four times myself.

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Drive-Thru

Winnebago