Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Watertower, Pyramid Lake



Bid for this painting on Ebay!

You know when you see something so striking, you just shriek (either in your head, or out loud) "STOP THE CAR!!!" well, that was this watertower for me. Anna Lou had kindly taken time out from fishing, and driven me to the closest shop to buy batteries for my camera - which of course had run out at the worst possible time. We drove past this now defunct watertower, silhouetted beautifully against the slightly hazy lake and snow capped mountain range, and then drove back again for me to do a quick sketch and stand in the middle of the road taking pictures. Pyramid Lake is on an Indian Reservation in Nevada, and this watertower was presumably part of the railroad which used to run through near the lake. It's broken and ramshackle, with old cars strewn at its base, along with the ubiquitous high desert sage brush and yellow dust. Beautiful, and a little melancholy.