In the spring of 2013 George Rodrigue and I drove our truck cross-country from New Orleans, Louisiana to Carmel, California, as we had twice annually for twenty years, finding adventure on alternate routes and detours along the way.
We didn’t know that this would be our last road trip; however, we did travel with a secret. We learned while passing through Houston that George’s cancer had returned. But we told no one, opting to shelve this unwelcome news, as well as the impending treatments, until after the drive.
We made the most of every moment —not because we didn’t think he would beat it (we did!), but because that’s how we rolled on these road trips, as we focused on our conversations, on the scenery, and on the world spread before us. -photograph by George Rodrigue, southern Utah, 2013-
In Mojave, sixty miles east of Bakersfield, California, on Hwy 58, we stopped at a roadside stand and perused ceramic statuary.
Ignoring the 100-degree heat, George became captivated by the life-size, colorful tortoises on display. He purchased two adults and a baby, emptying and rearranging the loaded truck to fit them.
That evening, after we arrived home in California following three weeks on the road, he placed the tortoises beneath the lace oaks surrounding his studio. During the following months, he photographed them and played with designs in his computer. He placed one of the images in a TO DO file on his desktop, where I later discovered it.
(Pictured: Don’t Slow Me Down, designed 2013 by George Rodrigue, printed 2017 by his estate, 26×38 inches, edition 90, learn more-)
Simultaneously, George explored the tortoises in paint. This related unfinished painting is one of three he was working on in the last months of his life. The original canvas and the baby ceramic tortoise are on view at Rodrigue Studio New Orleans until March 2018 during the special exhibition Rodrigue’s Heartland: Under the Oaks and Out of the Swamp.
Another uncompleted painting is a dog-in-a-landscape, which sits on George’s easel at the Bayou Teche Museum in New Iberia, Louisiana, where his California studio was moved and reassembled last year as a permanent installation in his hometown.
Finally, the third unfinished painting is a return to the traditional Rodrigue landscape, with tombs beneath the oaks and a river extending towards a small, bright horizon. That canvas, as well as three completed artworks, accompanies me on a statewide Louisiana school tour this fall. Learn more.
Are you afraid? I asked George one evening in December 2013, as I lay my head on his chest, matching my breath to his.
“No!” he replied. “It’s an adventure!”
Among his last artworks, Don’t Slow Me Down is a poignant reference to Aesop’s fable, The Tortoise and the Hare. This happy image, created as George’s health severely declined, speaks of life’s journey, combined with the value of patience, perseverance, and humility —- all while traveling the road to a brighter future.
But we take all our adventures together, I replied.
“But you can’t come on this one, Wendy….”
“…Not yet.”
Wendy
“Once in his life, a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth, I believe. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon it. He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it. He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind. He ought to recollect the glare of noon and all the colors of the dawn and dusk.” -N. Scott Momaday
–Rodrigue’s Heartland: Under the Oaks and Out of the Swamp honors George Rodrigue’s lifelong exploration in paint and sculpture of the Louisiana Landscape, both real and imagined. On view through March 17, 2018 in New Orleans. Learn more.
–Rodrigue’s Heartland: Under the Oaks and Out of the Swamp honors George Rodrigue’s lifelong exploration in paint and sculpture of the Louisiana Landscape, both real and imagined. On view through March 17, 2018 in New Orleans. Learn more.
Oh Wendy, what a touching & honest blog. George unveiled Marion’s unique headstone at the beginning of that March journey. I remember George commenting that you & I’s colorful attire looked more like we were ready for a cruise rather than a graveside Memorial. In our own way, we were. Not only did we represent life’s colorful vibrancy to our men; but I strongly suspect we were preparing ourselves for the solo cruise our lives were embarking upon.
I am so very happy you journied into Douglas.
Looking forwarding to touring the Heartland exhibition with you two. Love, Penny
Wendy,
Has the Rodrigue estate ever considered superimposing Tiffany onto one of your photographs? I took a picture recently of some swans in a lagoon near an oak in English Turn and the photo reminded me of George’s signature oak. All it needed was a Blue Dog! I can imagine the gorgeous photos you took on your many journeys with George with the addition of Tiffany to embody the spirit that he imparted into all of his paintings and other artwork.
May you have many journeys ahead of you,
Sandra