Broken Promise Land

Outstanding work!  This is my favorite shot...

What did you use for the broken tree?  Resin or real thing?  I liked that too. 

Thanks.

The tree is a resin casting from Armand Bayardi available from Military Miniatures Warehouse.

Al, always a pleasure to see your work, and a double pleasure for it to include a reference to one of my favorite Cooder tunes:

When you reach the broken promised land
And every dream slips through your hands
Then you’ll know that it’s too late to change your mind
’Cause you’ve paid the price to come so far
Just to wind up where you are
And you’re still just across the borderline

Al as always your work is to be admired. I love it. I am reminded of one of the lesser known stanza that Woody Guthrie wrote for "This Land is Our Land" that is a reference to hoboes. I am trying to remember it from memory. Mind the grammar as Woody wasn't big on it.

There's a sign that says No Trespassing

on the other side it don't say nothing,

That side is made for you and me.

Woody's favorite song was supposed to be "Hobo's Lullaby" by Goebel Reeves

Go to sleep you weary hobo
Let the towns drift slowly by
Can't you hear the steel rail humming
That's a hobo's lullaby

Do not think about tomorrow
Let tomorrow come and go
Tonight you're in a nice warm boxcar
Safe from all the wind and snow

I know the police cause you trouble
They cause trouble everywhere
But when you die and go to heaven
You won't find no policemen there

I know your clothes are torn and ragged
And your hair is turning grey
Lift your head and smile at trouble
You'll find happiness some day

So go to sleep you weary hobo
Let the towns drift slowly by
Don't you feel the steel rail humming
That's a hobo's lullaby

Mike T.

Very nice. Love the fence and the ivy. What does it say on the back of the Keep Out sign?

SteveM

Very nice. Love the fence and the ivy. What does it say on the back of the Keep Out sign?

Thanks.

Here's the back of the fence and the front of the sign:

Thanks, Bill and Mike.

I have liked that Ry Cooder song since I first heard it as the theme music for Borderline with Jack Nicholson way back when. I dug around Woody's lyrics but didn't want to use something too obscure.

A had played around with using a sign for a real fruit company in California but avoided that so as not to make too much of a political statement. That was another reason Woody's songs might not have worked with some viewers.

Al,

Ry Cooder is a great musician, I love the collaboration with Ali Farka Toure on "Talking Timbuktu".

Living in San Francisco (transplanted from New Jersey)and working with Agribusiness I know the sensitvities. I travel through Los Gatos often and remembered from my youth when Arlo tried to sing "Deportees" on the tv show "Midnight Special"

Actually some of the packing house labels are nice pieces of art work. The county offices I travel to often have some old ones hanging up from local growers which add to the ambiance of the office. Many are businesses not with us any more.

Mike T.

ajlafleche fabulous work

ajlafleche,

Excellent vignette. Definitely  will stir emotion in the viewers, earning second looks.

Some figures are naturals for expanding the concept of which they were sculpted, this lonely fellow could fit in several different situations.

Thanks for posting your work, I am sure it will do well at any contest.

Thanks, Supppression and BSYamato.

Mike, I'd thought about Woody's song Deportee (which I first heard interpreted by The Byrds) but the lyrics were a bit too specific to Mexican migrant workers.

Ry is one of the best guitarists ever, to get ripped off by the Stones.