"Any time and any place can exhibit this transience of color and light.  Perhaps the most dramatic is here in San Patricio itself where light effects at dusk have so often caused an exciting race with time:  the figures of my neighbors involved in a lost-and-found pattern created by the dust haze of evening, the orange-ochre light from a window in a house in our village instantly invoking for the beholder the warm security that dwells within earthen walls.  And I yearn for some magical pigment that could suggest the diamond splendor of Venus when in her role as evening star.  I have also wished in vain for some way in which to suggest the lowing of cattle or the tinkle of goat bells as the goatherds bring in their flocks at dusk, for some way in which to capture my reverie-and sometimes tears-for the changing earth, an earth weary of man:  man the pillager, man the super vandal."

    "What is it that motivates me in the first place and brings on these frenzied races against time and light?  If the effort is destined to have any success, it must be triggered by an inner elation, an excited reaction to some color or light effect which by its inevitable evanescence is always productive of delight and despair-despair that it is so quickly changing, so difficult to record."  ~Peter Hurd

 

Image Size:  7" x 10"

Framed Size:  15" x 18 1/4"

Signed:  Lower Left

Price:  $4,500

    Here in the Gallery, we are often asked if the Hurd family knew Georgia O'Keeffe.  The answer is yes, Peter & Henriette were younger contemporaries of Ms. O'Keeffe and had a mutual respect for one another.  That almost changed, however, when the Hurds arrived for a party at Ms. O'Keeffe's ranch...bringing along an infamous outlaw known as..."The San Patricio Kid" (a.k.a. Michael Hurd.)

    As the "windy" goes, young Michael was not the least bit impressed with his surroundings...lots of bones, old wagon wheels, and not another kid in sight.  The walls were covered with strange cartoonlike paintings of cumulous clouds, flowers, mountains and they certainly didn't look anything like the paintings he was used to.  To make matters worse, there was a big spread of food laid out for the adults, but nobody would touch the vittles until Ms. O'Keeffe arrived.  Well, The Kid was starving and apparently, losing his composure.  Henriette warned him to behave or he would be hauled out to the car.  Finally, he pushed too far...yep, The Kid's time was up.

    As he was hauled out of the house, he stopped to make his grand pronouncement to the party.  Blocking the door with his foot, The Kid exclaimed, "Okay!  I'm leaving.  But this party is boring and I don't like ANY of these paintings!" 

    The Kid has since retracted these statements.