Surrounding me are nine enormous canvas panels that, when finished, will represent Austin and the surrounding region for hundreds of thousands of travelers for years to come. I get the feeling that the painting then becomes about the model and that takes away from the whole piece. He says these things with a calm nonchalance that is neither prideful nor boastful, as though that's the way everyone paints. The setting of the series is a rural cottage where a family reunion is taking place. Children are playing dominoes and volleyball.
Someone waters the garden.
An old man tells stories with a friend who plays the accordion. Where Duran has sketched in the slender, elongated figures over the background landscape, some look as though they are disappearing on the horizon, like distant memories. He tells me that another friend likes them this way, too. He says they remind him of the way people and memories fade into and out of life. But the way Duran paints is the reason for this ephemeral imagery.