cmsa; about a month ago, i happened to be in Lone Pine , ca. visiting friends. It's right on the edge of death valley , between the desert and these amazing snowy mountains(in perfect contrast!). I stayed at the "motel Dow villa " this cool old school travel lodge type motel in lone pine. One of my friends i rendezvoused with there introduced me to permanent guest, Mary Winchester. She lives in a spare 400sq ft room in the back of the motel (toilet down the hall). She has pared her possessions down to almost nothing , as everything has to fit within her room. High point of her day is sneaking a joint in the alley and watching the people check in and out of the Dow Villa. She told me she was 78. The way she made up her face, especially these strangely emphatic drawn in eyebrows , (her natural ones being for some reason missing). reminded of Bette Davis in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" and i'll admit my first attraction was based on a kind of Diane Arbus fascination with her bizarre look. I asked her if she would pose for a photo i would then make a painting of, and she agreed. What happened then, put my morbid fascination to shame. As often happens i had something to learn myself from meeting her and painting her. I'll finish the painting and post it tomorrow. Here's a detail of a wip, "Portrait of Mary Winchester, Our Lady of Lone Pine.
