You might remember that I painted a sketch of Fort Rock as part of a folding journal after the Endangered Places of 2015 was announced?  It was based  on the photograph by Craig Powell, #1 in the line-up, below, along with images from Bruce Swenson and Al Krause.

“The Fort Rock Valley Historical Society’s
Homestead Museum opened in 1988 with a goal of preserving some of the
few historic buildings remaining in Central Oregon’s remote Fort Rock Basin.
During the early 1900s, hundreds of families flocked to Oregon’s Great Basin to
“prove up” 320-acre parcels of land which was promoted by the Federal government as suitable for dry farming. Many communities sprang up in the Fort Rock Valley, an ancient lake basin, as a period of unusually heavy rain made long-term agricultural productivity seem likely. But the rain did not last, and neither did the people.  They left, and the government repossessed much of the land for leased grazing use.  The Homestead is a collection of original homestead era (early 1900s) buildings
including a church, school, houses, homestead cabins, and several other buildings
moved from nearby locations and assembled in a village setting.

The area’s extreme weather and the museum’s limited resources make ongoing maintenance a challenge, and several structures are in immediate need of repair.”

BTW, I found the phrase “prove up” intriguing and
visited the NPS site about the Homestead Act.  Very interesting!

I created these sketches in response to two emotional impulses.
Old buildings are often shades of brown, and can seem drab, uninteresting.
The textures and the details are interesting when one has the eyes to see them.
The desert also can seem wide, dry, and uninviting. However, for those that have the eyes, and for those that live in these regions, the colors are often brilliant but in small doses.

The first is an interpretation of Al Krause’s image, and I love the colors of Indian Yellow and deep Prussian Blue and Diopside and Sap greens all together against the brown inks.

In the second I loved the reflection on Dr Thom’s office, and almost left it as shown in the first sketch.  However, in he end I loved the Tobacco ink brushed loosely over the office.

These images donated will raise money for restoration efforts!

Previous Building Images Completed:  Upper Sandy Guard Station;
Wong Laundry Building; Uppertown Net Loft; Rivoli Theater:

Strathmore 0r Fluid Cold Press papers, with a Pentalic 2B woodless pencil,
Platinum Carbon pen and Pilot Parallel pen with De Atramentis Document Brown ink ;
De Atramentis Tobacco ink and Sennelier, Holbein and Daniel Smith watercolors.

 ©D. Katie Powell.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back  to dkatiepowellart.