Slacking

I’m around, but not working much, sort of taking time off to spend with some friends and other responsibilities. However, I know how annoying and puzzling it is when a blog you read daily just seems to vanish, so I’ll post a quick something each day. Far be it from me to annoy my tens of blog readers!

This painting sold a week or two ago. It has been around for awhile, so I figured that I must have saturated the market with the Kaweah Post Office. This is painting #23. The title is Kaweah Post Office XXII, but I miscounted when I was titling them.

I painted this one en plein air, and then didn’t like it so retouched it, still didn’t like it, so retouched it again. Then when it took awhile to sell, I almost pulled it from the store multiple times, but Nancy Who Knows Better kept urging me to leave it. So, we did little happy squeals and laughs when she told me last week that it sold.

Now I will only paint it again if someone commissions me.

The Kaweah Post Office is no longer operational. Used to be the smallest operating post office in the country. Now it is just a vandalism target. Sigh. It is in Three Rivers, although the folks nearby insist that they live in Kaweah, with their own zip code. Doesn’t mean anything because the mail lands in the Three Rivers Post Office.

So there.

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DWIGHT!

A Day in Sequoia National Park

We live in the foothills at the entrance to Sequoia National Park, which we simply call “The Park”. It’s right here in Tulare County! Because we can go anytime, sometimes we don’t go for several years. Yesterday I had the opportunity to go, so I went. Let’s have some photos.

Moro Rock has steps up the other side. I didn’t go there yesterday.
Eleven Range Overlook has never photographed with my little camera. For some reason it can’t see the blues in the distance. Apparently my inferior phone camera is superior in that aspect.
Why have I never noticed this at the base of the General Sherman Tree?
Sequoia Gigantea, redwood, Big Tree
The bases of these trees resemble elephant feet.
This is all the snow there is in Crescent Meadow in JANUARY!!

The Squatter’s Cabin has this old sign explaining that it “was built in the eighties”. That’s the 1880s!

This is a baby redwood, something I’ve rarely seen. Maybe it is because of the fires in 2020, 2021, 2024. (They all run together in my memory.)
That is one weird burl.

On the way home I took this quick photo of Castle Rocks to show Intern because I spent so much time painting it carefully on the library mural.

Yeah, yeah, I’ll start working again. Eventually. Just taking a little time off.

Library Mural, Day Eleven

Day Eleven was a day of doubt, feeling like a fraud, an imposter, a Jane Bag-of-Donuts masquerading as an artist. This is probably a result of attempting to paint something with an inadequate photo, on a very rough wall, in a space where I couldn’t back up quickly to observe from a distance and then go close to inspect, biting off more than I could chew, overestimating my abilities. . .

It was also a result of being into the finish work stage; Trail Guy reminded me how quickly a building gets framed, and then how long it takes to do all the finish carpentry when building something.

I started to put in Guy On A Ladder. The ladder looked wonky, and then I realized it looks wonky in the photo. The worst moment was when I realized that the oranges surrounding him were as big as his head would be, if his head was visible.

It took a minute to figure out that my photo is quite inadequate; it was fine for drawing the model for the proposal—colored pencils under a magnifying glass. Maybe I need to shrink the oranges around him.

Never mind. I painted him out and concentrated on orange blossoms, of which there are zillions. ZILLIONS. I painted for about 2 hours on these and felt as if I had moved about 6” along the wall and still had empty places.

Never mind. I decided that painting smudge pots would give a greater sense of forward motion, restore a little confidence. (The color is weirdly bright here. . . it’s a photo accident)

Never mind. I need to keep putting those endless blossoms in. (Whose idea was that??)

I wondered if it mattered when someone was standing back at a good distance. Hard to say in the bright light and shadow.

Never mind. It was time to work on something fun and satisfying.

The quality of the light sure changed quickly during that little situation.

This is how it looked at the end of the day. (It probably looks the same to you as it did at the end of Day Ten.)

A muralist friend sent me this picture, which was posted somewhere by the Exeter mural folks, yesterday, the very same day I was doubting my abilities. If I was able to do this 16 years ago, with relatively little experience, certainly I should be able to complete this little mural on the Ivanhoe library!

Thoughts on Internship

My Intern

Today I am painting, progressing on the mural on the Ivanhoe library. I am writing this post before I have painted today, thinking ahead.

Each day I work on the mural, there are multiple decisions to make. In the past, when I’d get a little stuck, I’d pick a somewhat mindless task, such as taping off an area or applying a base coat. Since having Intern to help, I save those tasks for him.

Sometimes I invite him to step back with me to look at the whole picture. I ask him what he sees, we discuss the next steps, and often I ask him which task he thinks ought to come next. I ask him for 2 reasons: (1) to help him understand the thought necessary in the process of creating such a massive painting and (2) sometimes I have “decision fatigue”, which might be a euphemism for mental laziness.

In anticipation of today’s work, I made a list of the next easy tasks, and in the process, I realized that his role as an active intern on this mural might reach an end today. What remains are tight detailing: the man on the ladder, some smudgepots, the rooster, tighter lettering, the auditorium, a wind machine, and perhaps a couple of surprises.

I wonder if he will still want to hang around while I work on these things. He might, he might not. More will be revealed in the fullness of time.

Someone Else’s Thoughts on Internships or Apprenticeships

The next two paragraphs are taken from Eric Rhoads, the prolific painter, writer, workshop and convention coordinator and leader—the man who led the weeklong plein air retreat in Monterey that I attended in October 2024.

“. . .that’s exactly how the masters worked. Apprentices would paint backgrounds, grind pigments, even paint entire sections of ‘the master’s’ work. Collaboration wasn’t a buzzword; it was how things got done. Raphael had an entire workshop of apprentices painting from his designs. Was it still “his” work? The Renaissance said yes. Our modern obsession with individual authorship would have confused them.

When I let those kids paint on my canvas, I wasn’t risking ruining it. I was enacting a centuries-old tradition. And more importantly, I was doing what those Renaissance masters did: passing it on. Because here’s the secret they knew and we’ve forgotten — art isn’t about the final product. It’s about the transformation that happens in the making. —From Eric Rhoads

In case you were curious, I kept track of Intern’s hours and paid him last week. I will pay him for his remaining hours of working, but not if he chooses to simply observe. He was shocked by the check, slightly insulted when I asked him if he knew what to do with a check, and felt unworthy, as if he owed me something in return.

I reminded him that he gave me some hours of his life, I gave him the equivalent of green pieces of paper with dead presidents’ faces on it in exchange, and we were even.

I Wonder

How many more Fridays will it take to complete this? Should Intern’s name go on the mural? Will I be able to do all those details without his excellent eye and honest input? Will I be able to help him find a steady job? Will he go on to paint a mural of his own? (He is into videography more than 2-dimensional art.)

Look how far we’ve come in ten days of painting!

The end of Day One:

The end of Day Ten:

Enough bloviating for today. Come back Monday to see how close we are to the end of this most satisfying project.

Goofing Off in Three Rivers

Yeah, yeah, I could be painting sequoia trees. Instead, I’m just lollygagging around. No deadlines, no pressure, just enjoying the season masquerading as winter in Three Rivers. Here are some photos from a recent walk. Yes, I am so boring that a walk passes for fun and goofing off in my life.

The elephant is quite visible: full body, facing right.

The day had high clouds, so the poppies aren’t open. But they are poppies, in JANUARY!!

The bush lupine* are out too, if you know where to look (and I’m not telling, because this is the world wide web, we were trespassing, and if too many people trespass, then even more gates will appear.

A house we passed has bricks painted as books!!

*Is “lupine” the plural of “lupine”, as “deer” is the plural of “deer”? It is in my vocabulary, but should you trust someone who says “tryna” instead of “trying to”, “remorial” for “memorial”, and “prolly” for “probably”?

Building Sequoias on Canvas

Do you have any understanding of the difficulty of coming up with interesting titles to the same subjects, over and over and over? Just asking, not really expecting any answers.

These paintings, 6×18”, of Sequoia Gigantea, AKA Redwoods, AKA Big Trees, sell very steadily at $195 each. I get a little tired of painting the same thing over, until I think about the alternative occupations of waitress or secretary. Thus, I began another set-up of three of these popular paintings, with layer #1 completed last week.

Layer #2 is sky, because I work from back to front, meaning that I paint the most distant thing first.

Next, the wood. Redwood.

Then, green on the big trees.

Green on the more distant trees is supposed to be less vivid, more bluish green, a bit lighter.

Hold on—Jackson is hungry, poor deprived underfed malnourished beast, begging for a morsel. He begins with slamming into the back of my legs as I stand at the easel, gripes at me if I don’t respond, and eventually, he stretches upward and bites me. So, I must feed him if I expect to finish any work.

The last layer is the ground with its shadows. For variety, I put the sun at two different angles.

Notice the lack of reference photos. They are taped to another easel, and I only glance at them from time to time. Yeppers, I am making up these trees rather than trying to copy any one tree exactly. Visitors to the Park don’t know the details; the main request is to have a painting show the entire tree, from top to botrom.

These paintings will dry, and then I will begin layer #3, which is the most enjoyable part to this pencil artist: details!

P.S. If you don’t hear from me for the rest of the week, fret not. I’ll post about the mural progress next Monday.

Quick Glimpse into Sunny Three Rivers

First, in case you were wondering, there are actually 5 rivers here, all part of the Kaweah drainage. Marble Fork, East Fork, Middle Fork, North Fork, South Fork, all part of the Kaweah river. “Kuh-WEE-uh”, in case you were wondering further.

Second, we don’t have a river view; we opted for mountain views, since they are less expensive.

Third, why am I not working and showing you progress? Because it is really pretty out right now, and I thought you might enjoy it.

Moro Rock and Alta Peak, with its signature elephant.

I’ll stop bragging about our sunshine now. Here’s Jackson, the least friendly and most fat of our three felines.

Jackson and Pippin, put away for the night, watching me leave the studio. Tucker is safely inside too, just not staring at me.

Tomorrow I’ll return to work.

Library Mural, Day Ten

I left sunny Three Rivers and headed down into the fog. I remember worse fog when I lived outside of Ivanhoe with my parents, so this wasn’t too awful.

Downtown Ivanhoe
Can you see the mural through the fog?

The mural looked like this. I seem to forget where I left off from week to week. I’m pleased with the repaired mountains. Intern and my Number One Fan (Josie brings me treats, encouragement, and posts to some FaceBook group) both noticed the improvement.

I began with orange blossoms.

Intern began working on another layer of white over the words on the label. Since there was only one color used, instead of using a palette, I told him he could dip straight out of the jar. Might have been a mistake, but one we can recover from. When the paint dries, we will simply peel up the plastic, because mural paint is acrylic, and acrylic is plastic.

Slight spillage in the mud. I scooped up as much as possible and put it back in the jar. I wonder if this will dry in the ensuing week.

Next, he worked on the lower border of the auditorium inset.

The two orange groves in the Twin Buttes inset weren’t good enough. So, I made them better. Here are the steps:

Next, orange blossoms on the close branches on the right side.

After Intern left, I was bored* with orange blossoms so I decided to tackle the most difficult piece: the auditorium. Although I prefer drawing architecture to almost any other subject, painting from a poor photo on a rough wall while sitting in the mud presents some challenges.

Most of what remains is tight detailing. This might mean that I’ve almost run out of ways for Intern to assist. However, he will be quite helpful on the distant orange blossoms.

*Probably not actually bored, just wanting to do something with more impact so it felt as if I was making measurable progress.

A Light* Workday in Three Rivers

*“Light” meaning the sun was shining and also meaning I didn’t do much work.

Let’s get the work part over with, and then we can enjoy some photos that might shock anyone who lives where there is real winter.

Three new sequoia gigantea 6×18” paintings are now on the easel.

Next, I battled with Adobe InDesign for awhile. I bought a couple of book design templates, and they aren’t working correctly. Rather than keep tinkering, I emailed the company where I bought them to ask if they still sell such items. They are probably all lying on the floor laughing at the idjit who thinks that something 10 years old SHOULD STILL BE WORKING!

Then I got the bright idea of going to Lulu, a book printing company that Louise Jackson and I used for her novel, Only the Living, last fall. We are about to publish her second novel, and I don’t want to waste any more time fighting with the wonky book templates.

In order to mitigate the irritation and frustration of all the tech hassles, Trail Guy and I took a walk. While it is pea-soup fog down the hill, we have had brilliant sunshine.

Today I expect to be painting in Ivanhoe on the west-facing wall of the library. If my website is functional, I’ll post about it for you to read on Monday.

Thank you for sticking with me through this techno-chaos.

Around Here

On a sunny morning in Three Rivers, Trail Guy and I took a drive up the Mineral King Road to see how far we could get, and to see what the construction project looks like.

We only made it to the lower gate. Although word went out that the construction crew was on hiatus until the following week, that word was wrong. We had a nice visit with the gatekeeper, who said that she couldn’t keep us from going ahead, but that we would encounter large trucks at Lookout Point. Her job is to tell people that the road is closed, but she isn’t a sheriff. So, not wanting to get in the way, we turned back. We were disappointed that the construction crew was back. However, being mature adults, we soldiered back home.

I only took one photo. Even though it is very green out, this photo captures all the brown and gray of mid winter.

So, we came home, and I gave myself a dirt manicure. These pots contained sprouting daffodil bulbs, and I hope our gophers around here haven’t begun to appreciate them. Deer and gophers are capricious in their tastes.

Reader Marjie requested more cat photos, so Pippin posed for her.

This pose is called The Meatloaf.
He chased Tucker off the rock.

Then I went into the studio to tackle the dreaded year-end bookkeeping. Tiresome stuff.

Tomorrow I plan to paint in Ivanhoe.

Due to the unstable and variable nature of my website (working/notworking/working/not working. . .), I may not be able to post anything on Friday. More will be revealed in the fullness of time.

Due to my limited capacity to tolerate both bookkeeping and tech phone calls, I will just hope the site works over the weekend so that I can show you Friday’s mural progress.