Tom Lovell: Storyteller With a Brush Page: 60
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F.
search of clues. He then mailed Lovell a fairly detailed
description of what he had learned about Pope's drilling
equipment. "In discussing the various things to be included
in the final painting, we have the following categories: 1)
drilling equipment and derrick; 2) people; 3) supporting
facilities: blacksmith shop, tents, wagons, mules and horses;
4) weather conditions." He elaborated on each category in
this eight-page letter, even down to the specific sizes of pipe
on the drill site, and included numerous photos he had
received from his queries.
From fragments of surviving records about Pope's
attempted well and from Mr. Abell's lifelong knowledge of
drilling, he and Lovell re-created the steam drilling rig as a
cardboard model, which Lovell then used as the focal point
of his painting. Subsequently, preliminary charcoal drawings
and small color sketches helped Lovell organize ideas, and
his full-sized drawings provided perspective and character
placement. Additional scale models and cardboard figures
were used to aid in composition and lighting. At one point
he wrote to Mr. Abell asking, "Would you be agreeable to
picturing the tripod
derrick with some of
the upper part
cropped out of the
picture in the interest
/o of increased scale in
the figures and
machinery at the
base?"
Lovell sent varioussketches to Mr. Abell who reviewed them with a "fine-tooth
comb." His eye for diminutive detail prompted many letters
with comments such as, "The man with the wrench, who
should be looking downward at the joint, does not have his
wrench backed up against the outside of the rig block. In
order for the wrench to be in a solid position, he must have
the handle extending around the outside corner," and "I
believe the driller's left hand is at the correct position, how-
ever, I would change the direction of the cathead's move-
ment to clockwise."
When the painting was finished, Lovell received a letter
dated May 1971 from Mr. Abell who wrote, "We still have
as a guest in our family room our good friend and defender,
Capt. John Pope and company. They are never tiresome or
boring, but always entertaining and genial. We are quite
fond of them. Gladys would like to steal Capt. Pope's horse,
if she had a place to keep the beautiful animal."60
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Kelton, Elmer. Tom Lovell: Storyteller With a Brush, book, 2005; Midland, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1127711/m1/66/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, Library and Hall of Fame.