ON TO TOMBSTONE

After the workshop at Tanque Verde Ranch, we picked up a hire car in Tucson and headed over to Tombstone. The old town is still pretty well intact, but relies heavily on tourism, so has a bit of a theme park air about it. Lots of cowboys, bar girls and guns, but the old historic locations are all well preserved and very interesting.

From Tombstone we drove out to a few old ghost towns and abandoned mining towns in the region. We discovered some great old buildings in various stages of decay.

© John Lovett 2018
Rain across the prairies between Tucson and Tombstone

© John Lovett 2018
Main street Tombstone

© John Lovett 2018

Cowboys on the boardwalk

© John Lovett 2018
Stage coach into town

© John Lovett 2018
Stage coach out of town.

© John Lovett 2018
Some local beer and wine in the Crystal Palace, followed by a mighty meal and a band that didn’t play cowboy songs – well not many anyway!

© John Lovett 2018
Beautiful old Hotel on mainstreet.

© John Lovett 2018
Well preserved backstreet cottage.

© John Lovett 2018
Not so well preserved facade from more recent times.

© John Lovett 2018
Slowly crumbling cottage in the old mining town of Gleeson.

© John Lovett 2018One of the last surviving cottages in Gleeson.

© John Lovett 2018
Once a thriving business – now part of Gleeson’s collection of decaying buildings.

© John Lovett 2018
Remains of the old Gleeson Jail – no wardens, no prisoners but plenty of patriotic flags.

© John Lovett 2018Well preserved store in the old town of Pearce

© John Lovett 2018

More – of I don’t know what?

TANQUE VERDE RANCH

Just outside Tucson, Arizona, is the Sonoran Desert. Tanque Verde Ranch is situated in the desert and joins the Sonoran Desert National Monument. The ranch was our venue for an enjoyable 5 day painting workshop organised by MISA.

Tanque Verde Ranch was a large cattle property in the early days, but now runs around 200 horses for visitors to explore the many desert riding trails.


Old, now abandoned, homestead.


Original Homestead


One of the ranches horse wranglers


Desert riders – heading for the blueberry pancake breakfast overlooking the mountains


Desert Bunny


Wagon from the wild wild west


Cowboy singer at a dinner under the cottonwoods – only sang cowboy songs.

Javelinas.


Wrangler with his horse


Outside the wranglers Quarters.


Horse yards


I love these American cowboy saddles.


Used horseshoes


Black and White, Red and Brown

Big old French Percheron


Wranglers Ropes


Tired and dusty


Desert Bathtub


Across the desert to the mountains

Saguaro Cactus

© John Lovett 2018
Sticks from the dead Saguaro cactus used for building.

© John Lovett 2018
Cactus Flower

© John Lovett 2018
Humming Bird

© John Lovett 2018Desert House Finch

© John Lovett 2018
Gambel’s Quail

© John Lovett 2018
Happy Horses

© John Lovett 2018
Tanque Verde Ranch accomodation

FIGURES IN PERSPECTIVE

NEW ARTICLE
Discover a simple way to correctly place and scale figures in your paintings and drawings.
Figures in Perspective

PAINTING FIGURES

NEW ARTICLE

Placing figures in a painting often adds life and interest that can make the difference between an average painting and an engaging one. Here are some simple tips

https://www.johnlovett.com/painting-figures

Painting Watercolor Figures

TRAVELING WITH WATERCOLOR

NEW ARTICLE

One of the great pleasures of traveling is documenting the things we encounter. Not only do we accumulate a collection of paintings and sketches that become lasting memories of where we have been and what we have seen, but we also tend to observe much more by stopping and painting.

Check out the Article – 10 Tips I have found useful when traveling and painting.

If you have any helpful travel tips for painting, add them below in the comments.

https://www.johnlovett.com/traveling-with-watercolor

Traveling Watercolor equipment

ABSTRACT WATERCOLOR

Corella Remnants © John Lovett 2018

NEW ARTICLE

https://www.johnlovett.com/abstract-watercolor

Varying degrees of abstraction can add greatly to the impact of a painting by encouraging the viewer to observe and interpret suggested details. When our paintings are based on a specific subject there is often a tendency to rely too heavily on what we see. Sometimes it is good to step back and ask ourselves just how much reliance on what we are seeing is really needed to express what we are feeling.

 

WATERCOLOR TEXTURE

New Article
https://www.johnlovett.com/watercolor-texture

Watercolor is not a medium generally associated with texture, but there are a number of things we can do to create physical texture and many ways to create visual texture. Here are some ideas.