Drought prolongs life of artwork

WIMBERLEY (KXAN) - Scott Wade got the chance to travel all over the country and to two foreign nations on the back of his talent. His talent, in turn, rides on the back of his car.

“I would always go out and doodle around on the dirty window of the car,” said Wade. “It’s always dirty; I don't wash my car, you know, lived on the aquifer, didn't want to waste water and that's my excuse for being lazy. But basically, I just, you know, would go out there and draw characters. My dad was a great amateur cartoonist and so I kind of picked that up from him. And then I thought, ‘Gosh, I could do something more than just a dark line with my finger. Maybe I could use the pads of my finger, you know, to get some, get some shading. Or maybe I could get a brush.' And I tried a brush and I was like, ‘Oh, wow, this is cool!’ And then I used this rubber paint shaper tool to get lines and all of a sudden, I've got this whole new technique.”

So how does Wade come up with a dirty window in the first place? The usual way: He drives around on dirt roads.

“I lived for twenty years on a long, dirt road, but we finally said, ‘Enough of this, we're moving to paved roads.’” he said.

Still, Wade knows where the dirt roads are and when he feels a dirt painting coming on, he seeks them out. Of course, Central Texas’ current drought helps. Without rain to wash away the caked on dirt, it accumulates quickly. But in a pinch, Wade has another method: A thin coat of nut oil overlaid with dirt blown on with a hair dryer.

However he comes by it, the dirt is tricky to work with. Sometimes he wants to remove just a part of it with his brushes; sometimes he wants to wipe it away completely. The job requires a light touch and heavy concentration.

The results paste smiles on the faces of onlookers.

“You know, people just, they're tickled by it,” said Wade. “I mean, it’s unexpected; people love it. You know, it’s just like sand castles at the beach. It's unexpected; you see a dirty car all the time. It might say, 'Wash me.' Maybe it's got a smiley face or some rude something on there, but things that we normally consider ugly, might just be one step away from something that's beautiful.”

Drought or no drought, however, as beautiful as Wade’s work is, just one good rain propels it to oblivion.

“It’s a spiritual lesson, as well, because it tells us that life is moving us; we’re moving by very quickly. We’re not going to be here forever and, you know, beauty is here, but then it’s gone and you might as well enjoy it while it’s here.”