{"id":12293,"date":"2017-10-13T11:05:07","date_gmt":"2017-10-13T18:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=12293"},"modified":"2017-10-13T12:18:33","modified_gmt":"2017-10-13T19:18:33","slug":"motorcycles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2017\/10\/13\/motorcycles\/","title":{"rendered":"Motorcycles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Excelsior, 1920,<\/em>\u00a0oil on canvas, 24×36, one of a number of vintage bikes I painted a couple of years ago.<\/h6>\n

I have a thing for motorcycles. Ask my wife. I can hardly go by one that’s parked without going over to it and pointing out something I know about that particular make, model, or era. To her they’re rather all the same, or so they would be without my continually sensitizing her to the nuances.<\/p>\n

I first learned to ride when I was 14. It was at a family reunion for the Moore clan out in Rawlins, Wyoming. All Dad’s brothers and sisters were there: Comer, Sterling, Muriel, Burwin, Melva and Orelle, all great names. Then, of course, there was Dad, Hyatt junior.<\/p>\n

Sterling had a motorcycle, a German made Zundap, and Dad taught me to ride it. There was little risk there, out in the wilds of sage brush and jack rabbits and maybe a dirt path. Maybe! But I got bit by the thrill and after that did nothing but pine for a driver’s license and with that, a motorcycle.<\/p>\n

Actually, I didn’t wait and got my first traffic ticket speeding down Pacific Coast Highway on a motor scooter. Happily that one never showed on my record. The reason: there was no record to put it on . . . I was only 15 and still didn’t have a driver’s license. But that’s another story.<\/p>\n

In high school I drew Triumphs on my notebooks. When I didn’t own a bike, I borrowed one, and over the years got familiar with all kinds.<\/p>\n

There was I time I loved dirt riding more than road crusing . . . the risks, the jumps, the speed . . . sometimes the camaraderie of doing it with others . . . or just the joy of being out in the wind and the roar, the surge of power, the freedom. And fun!<\/p>\n

These days I can still get tempted to own one again. They can be very beautifully designed; maybe I’d buy one just to look at. And why not? It’s what we do with paintings!<\/p>\n

But I know I’d ride. And I’d ride too fast.<\/p>\n

Life’s horizon is approaching fast enough. Why rush it?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

________<\/p>\n

PS\u00a0 Speaking of paintings, I’ve been posting some pretty interesting new works on Facebook of late. Check them out here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been a life long fascination, one I’ve lived through. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12293"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12293"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12500,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12293\/revisions\/12500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}