Compositions Called "Zoomies" — & How They Came to Be

The artist in the White Mountains, NH circa 1988 with their 1982 BMW R80 named “Schwarz” all loaded with camping equipment

My husband and I did a lot of motorcycling around the country before raising kids. We’d pile the 1978 BMW R80 with camping equipment and rode 2-up. The passing roads, vistas were so mesmerizing to me. I would lean the wrong way (husband driver did NOT approve) and take pictures of the road and curves ahead. Back in the studio (before iPhones & Photoshop) I would cut up the printed photos and make collages with them and paint from these “sketches”. 2 to 4 different scenes & perspectives in a single image. They quickly got nicknamed “Zoomies”.

Art advisors sold a lot to financial planners and attorneys, people with drive and passion! A large canvas is in the collection of Fidelity Investments.

I was most interested in how a viewer “enters” the painting and what they see next, then next. I’ve seen programs where they recorded where someone’s eyes looks when taking in a painting. I tried to take the viewer on a “journey” of views, swooping curves, fast passing of trees, swift motions.

The Featured Image above depicts the views from Mount Washington in Northern New Hampshire. It was inspired by a friend telling me she had just scattered her father’s ashes on the Mount.

We had full BMW Leathers for riding, but I was so tall the standard sizes wouldn’t fit. They sent my measurements off to Germany and the custom leathers came back with labels reading “Size: Johnson”. We still have them!