Butch's Ice House

One day, while I was on my Wyoming retreat, we had a "paint the town" day, and believe it or not, this mine-like thing is right downtown where I was staying. It looked like a mine to me but as I painted, townsfolk stopped to chat and there were many explanations for this oddity. However, all agreed: it's not a mine.

Some said that it was Butch Cassidy's hide out, Butch having lived and worked in and around the town from the 1890's. Other's said it was created to house bootlegged liquor, and still others said it's only job was to keep ice cold. All agreed that in its recent history, it served as a pretty cool bar, so to speak.

It was very strenuous, fast painting for me because the shadows were perfect when I was setting up and I could tell that they wouldn't last long. I blocked in the shadows and the more prominent light-catchers before I did anything else and was very glad I did. In just a half an hour, the light had changed on it completely. We painted from 3 to 5 and if it had been open for business, I may have gone in for a cool one to celebrate my quick-draw victory! Annie Oakley would have been proud.