When one is an artist, EVERYTHING is business! Everywhere I go there are things to see, photo and draw or paint. Each person I meet is a potential customer. Each town I visit is a possible venue for making and selling art.
Looks as if this man is on vacation. Indeed, he is! His wife, however, is working as usual. If my camera is in my pocket, I am working!
Once we arrived at our destination, we did not use the car again until it was time to go home. Lots of beach walking (although my feet are still blisterical from the 1/2 marathon. . . sigh) and lots of biking. 
We saw many of these seals, although most of them were dead. Something icky is happening because in the 6 mile stretch from Morro Rock to Cayucos Pier there were about 12 of these poor guys.
Wouldn’t this make a nice painting? I have lots of plans for paintings and I also have a place in Cayucos to sell them! There isn’t enough time to paint as fast and as much as I want to paint right now, but I’ll make lists, figure out the order of “urgency” and keep on making art.
This is the last sunset of my 40s. I’m ready for my 50s now. Good thing – I am in them!
Look what’s next!
This is a concrete water tank at the Tulare County fire station #14 in Three Rivers. Starting Monday, October 19, it will get painted with a mural! Don’t those guys have good taste? It isn’t costing taxpayers a thing – the volunteer fire fighters raise money for extras like this! Aren’t those guys great? Nope, I’m not showing the design yet. More will be revealed in the fullness of time!
Orange Season
Here: look at some paintings of oranges and other produce while I crawl off somewhere to turn 50 in private. Some are finished (except for the signature, varnish and official photography) and some are only just begun. Bet you can tell the difference!
(Note to Deanne: there are some new items on the shelves but I cropped most of that off the photo. Hope you don’t hurt yourself with all that suspense!)
Snow and other reasons to photograph your home
This was a little tricky. The photos arrived electronically with news that some older photos were coming via snail mail. The older photos showed the house in its pre-remodeled state, and my instructions were to draw it at the angle in the new photo with the details from the earlier style.
Most people don’t take clear photos of their homes just to have the visual documentation. Instead, they photo their home if something unusual is happening. For example, once I was asked to draw the 4 homes a lady had lived in during her lifetime. 2 were in Los Angeles, and 2 were in Exeter, California. 3 of the 4 snapshots showed the houses in snow! Snow in California in the flatlands is definitely unusual, so that is the only reason the homes were photographed. Fortunately the old photos of this house weren’t in snow. Unfortunately, they never showed the entire house, and one had a pile of shingle rubble in the front yard! See? unusual events cause photography!
An Anniversary
Twenty three years ago today, Michael and I got married in Mineral King. Today we went there because a. it is our anniversary and b. we had to make sure the cabin and water system will not freeze in the coming cold front and possible storm.
What a difference 2 weeks make! The colored leaves are gone from the willows, and it is cold. The low was 21 degrees this a.m. and it was in the 30s this afternoon. 
Snow was accumulating in the creek that I waded through just 2 weeks ago.
Brrr. We ate lunch with our neighbor in his cabin because a. we like him and b. his wood stove was doing a great job! Thanks, Keith!
Autumn is arriving soon!
Do you draw anymore?
Now that I am an oil painter, I get asked this question. The answer is YES!! I LOVE to draw! These days I draw commissions only and am building my “body of work” (Artspeak for “inventory”) in oil. See? Isn’t this a beautiful cabin? It’s a bit reminiscent of the homes around Tahoe near Camp Richardson (in my last blog posting about walking). Love that shingle siding and multiple gables!
