When faced with the loss of a beautiful landscape, it feels as if there is so little that we, as artists, can do. The powerful financial forces with unlimited money have bulldozers and other mega-tools that dwarf our tools of brushes and canvas. That doesn’t mean we will stop our fight against the potential loss of a 2,000 acre cattle ranch nearby to a proposed data center and 1.2 gigawatt power plant. We have a fierce group of intelligent, well-informed warriors with whom we will not cease to fight our cause.
But, in order to survive the fight ourselves and protect our keen sensibilities as artists, we focus on honoring the beauty of the land—the beauty that will be lost forever. This will doubtlessly not sway the dispassionate insensitivity of the unchecked developer, but it is our homage to the gift of beauty that has been given to us and perhaps it matters in some spiritual way. At the very least, it gives us a tiny bit of peace in the midst of a battle that is invading every cell of our beings.
We encourage our artist sister and brotherhood to find a bit of solace in honoring lands that are endangered by pulling out the tools of palette and brush. Here are a few paintings from the Tailgate Ranch, which is threatened to be lost forever to concrete and AI supercomputers.
