Wagon Wheels - Need A Spare?

Vintage antique wagon wheels come in many styles, sizes and shapes. From old western wagon wheels made of wood to vintage iron wagon/tractor wheels. All of these pictures were taken at the Techatticup Mining Camp located in Eldorado Canyon, Nevada. Click here to view my polyptych of wagon wheels ... They Just Keep Rolling Along.

Wheel Making: A person who builds or repairs wheels is called a wheelwright (or wainwright). The word is the combination of "wheel" and the archaic word "wright", which comes from the Old English word "wryhta", meaning a worker or maker. This occupational name eventually became wheelwright. Historically, these tradesmen made wheels for carts and wagons by first constructing the hub, the spokes and the rim/fellows segments, and assembling them all into a unit working from the center of the wheel outwards. Most wheels were made from wood, but other materials such as bone and horn have also been used. Around the middle of the 19th century, iron strakes were replaced by a solid iron tyre custom made by a blacksmith, who first measured each wheel to ensure proper fit. Strakes were lengths of iron that were nailed to the outside of wheels to hold wooden wheels together. Strakes were replaced around the mid-19th century by more dependable iron tires that were fastened to the wooden wheel by both the tight fit of the tire/band as well as tire-bolts. Tire-bolts were less likely than tyre-nails to break off because they were flush with the wheel's outer surface. Here is a great site for learning all about wagon wheels and their associated terminology ... http://www.customwagons.com/wagonwheels1.htm.

A Taste of Maine

Watercolor by Kenneth Clarke: This original watercolor was painted in the winter of ‘97 while I was living in Westbrook, Maine, was only my second painting. I got the inspiration from a scene I found in a magazine which I then embellished by adding the boats in the harbor and the storm in the distance. To buy a one-of-a-kind original gallery wrap of this picture, go to Ken's Eco-Art Gallery.  This website provides purchase information for various pictures and art pieces I've created over the past few years.

Autumn Leaves

Watercolor by Kenneth Clarke: This original watercolor was painted in the fall of ‘96 while I was living in Westbrook, Maine, and was my very first painting. It was my first year of retirement and with winter approaching, I decided that I needed something to do in my spare time. To buy a one-of-a-kind original gallery wrap of this picture, go to Ken's Eco-Art Gallery.  This website provides purchase information for various pictures and art pieces I've created over the past few years.

Turkey Day - 2011

For out 2011 Thanksgiving Day dinner we went to Mimi’s Café in Henderson, Nevada. Though I didn’t get pictures of everything, it was accompanied with homemade Roasted Tomato & Basil Bisque, French Onion soup, a warm bread basket that included Mimi’s famous carrot raisin nut bread and other assorted breads and biscuits, and two huge squares of Mimi’s Bread Pudding.

What Is It?

I am always looking for the unusual. While walking the property at the Techatticup Mining Camp, located in Eldorado Canyon, NV, I found the worn remains of and old steel drum that had at one time been painted white.  As you can see from the right-hand picture, it’s of a painted area on the end of a steel drum in which the paint has worn off over a long period of time. Its long exposure to the natural elements of the desert weather, combined possibly with spillage from whatever was contained within the drum many years ago, have caused the paint to flake off and leave what is one of the most interesting and unusual wear patterns I’ve ever seen. Without the picture on the right, it would be nearly impossible to identify what the above picture is. To me this is a prime example of "ECO-Art". An artist would be hard pressed to paint an abstract as interesting as this.