This watercolor was a quick-study of a scene I have returned to for nearly three decades. I blocked in the sky as a demonstration for a student several weeks ago. Finding this discarded study recently, I decided to put a landscape under the sky, and had been musing over an 8 x 10″ photo I took of this Ozark Court hotel on historic route 66.
This abandoned hotel site has been a sad scene for me during the years I have traveled back and forth between Fort Worth and St. Louis. I have watched its decay throughout the decades, and now I am sad to report that the sign has even been removed. I never recall seeing this business open during my travels, but the sign was always a reference point for me, and of course the nostalgic memories of highway motels always stirred my imagination. This setting was always a welcoming sight for me, particularly when I felt weary and lonely from travel.
I was always touched by the lines from William Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey.” The shell of that Medieval church stirred him in ways similar to how I feel when I travel and look upon ruins such as this–a reminder of yesterdays that will not be returning. I miss many of these business establishments and their collective histories.
In a couple of weeks, I will be journeying past this lonely spot along Interstate 44 yet again, and no doubt will feel a tug when I drive past this pair of buildings marking what used to be a warm, welcoming spot.
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