By Buffalo Kaplinski
View the 2019 Zion gallery of these paintings View the 2019 Grand Canyon gallery of these paintings
i left on NOVEMBER 1 , 2019 on a trip that i had high goals & knew ahead of time that it would be demanding physically & artistically as well . when i got back home i had logged 2,200 miles .got stopped for speeding on the way home ! the TROOPER said i was doing 89 when i passed him [ 75 mph zone ]. i was surprised & when i saw his flashing lights did'nt have time to pray , if you've been stopped you know the feeling - you broke THE LAW , after handing over DRIVERS LICENSE etc you sit there DAZED . i'm gonna get it now . he was on his computer for eternity it seemed - then he came back & said i should slow down - NO CITATION ! he was a BLACK MAN named NEWTON & at end of our meeting told him about JOHN NEWTON who wrote AMAZING GRACE . he also indicated that he knew THE LORD . did'nt get a citation - AMAZING GRACE !
the start of trip i visited a dear friend FRAN in assisted living in MONTROSE & went on to GRAND JUNCTION & stayed with other friends BILL & CHRISTY RICHARDSON who collect my work & have a very large painting " STRENGTH " [ 36 ' x 60" ] over their mantle .BILL is a PETRO - GEOLOGIST & knows his formations for sure [ graduate school of mines ] makes his living looking at ROCK FORMATIONS ! after our visit on to I-70 WEST . this is a very scenic route & goes into UTAH , some of the ROCK FORMATIONS along the way are STUPENDOUS including a most impressive cut through the SAN RAFAEL SWELL .i got into RICHFIELD , UTAH and over to I-15 , a horrible interstate with as much traffic as I- 25 at rush hour - people & trucks go between SALT LAKE & ST GEORGE use it to commute [ someone told me that ] i got to ZION on NOVEMBER 4 with a super nice CONDO to stay [ thanks MATT & TRISTA RAYNER] all the artists were at a get together DINNER that LYMAN HAFEN arranged [ a stranger name then BUFFALO KAPLINSKI ] LYMAN put together a dinner with residents of SPRINGDALE .we all had 10 minutes to tell our favorite places in ZION and who we were & with 45 people took way too long . that THURSDAY it was turn as every artist in CENTENNIAL EXHIBIT did a DEMO . my friends the YETSKO 's came to DEMO & JOHN YETSKO did photos of me . JOHN & PHYLISS recently moved from DENVER to ST GEORGE - JOHN had worked at DENVER POLICE DEPT [ evidence room ] & they suggested it would be better for his health to move to a warmer spot & spend more time with his family?
the day of my DEMO the SUN was out & the day before scoped out what i was going to paint& i decided to do a square in the diamond formation . at the DEMO musta had 200 people . 2 days later it sold for over the VALUE . my friends MARTHA & MICHAEL SULLIVAN wanted it & KRISTY RICE from PENNSYLVANIA out bid them by $ 20 ?
--Buffalo ![]() ![]() ![]()
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