Seeking Wildflowers in Mineral King

If you cannot see the photos through your email subscription, you can see them by going to the blog on the internet. cabinart.net/blog.

The trail to Franklin Lakes and Farewell Gap has terrific wildflower variety this summer.

Mariposa lilies are like polka-dots over the landscape, among the sage. Very prolific this year!
This is a juniper tree. It isn’t a wildflower. I just wanted to show you the bark.

This is the weird view of Farewell Gap with all the overlapping ravines.

Flax were plentiful along the trail, and the red ones are Indian paintbrush. The white ones? Meh. But I love seeing red, white, and blue together, so I took this shot looking down into the canyon.

There was a tremendous variety along the trail to the junction.

The pennyroyal were very thick and fragrant, as always.

I guess you had to be there to get a feel for all the variety along the trail. 

Sometimes Pride of the mountain grows on rocky ledges that don’t appear to have enough dirt for anything to grow.

Same for this penstemon, the variety which I have forgotten (did I ever know it?)

This trail junction was our destination, and it is usually solid with a zillion different flowers. This year it wasn’t special, but the trail getting to the junction was simply amazing with the variety.

This is looking back down at those overlapping ravines in the canyon.

Angelica was very impressive. It looks like cow parsnip, but its leaves are lacy rather than solid. Maybe that’s why it has a prettier name than cow parsnip.

Franklin falls is quite impressive in spite of the low water year. That is arrowleaf groundsel in the foreground.

Let’s end our tour with a rainbow.

I have about 4 copies of Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names remaining. Want one?

Are You Drawing With Your Paintbrush Again?

If you read this blog through an email subscription on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.

Yes, I am drawing with my paintbrush again. Paintbrushes, and the smallest I can find, treating them as if they are pencils. Wet flexible pencils are not as effective as graphite pencils, but I think this painting is getting better as a result of all this teensy work.

Remember this?

The first item of business was to complete the distant hills and grove.

Next, instead of painting around the children, I dove into the minutiae, “minutiae” in terms of size, not in terms of importance.

Boy first, because as a righthanded artist, working from left to right lessens the risk of smearing wet paint.

Since the photo of the children was taken in a parking lot, it will be tricky to manage the light in a believable manner, and tricky to make believable shadows. First, though, we need believable children.

These kids are just so cute, both in person and on canvas.

Much work remains, and it will be thoroughly enjoyable as I pursue art of Tulare County, combining my favorite subject of citrus and the mountains with the challenge of believable little people.

Mineral King Oil Paintings For Sale

If you subscribe to the blog and read the email on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not; it isn’t a problem I know how to solve.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.

“Mineral King Oil Paintings For Sale” sounds pushy. That isn’t my intention. The idea is to let you know these are completed and available. Their next stop is the Silver City Store, four miles below the Mineral King valley. However, if you’d like to intercept one before it heads up the hill, that can be arranged.

Sawtooth I, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125 (plus California sales tax)
Mineral King Aspens, 8×8″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125 (plus California sales tax)
Honeymoon Cabin III, 8×10″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125 (plus California sales tax)
Sawtooth Ridge, 6×18″, oil on wrapped canvas, $165 (plus California sales tax)
Mineral King Alpenglow, 6×12″, oil on wrapped canvas, $125 (plus California sales tax)

P.S. They all look better in person.

Wildflowers as Tiny Colored Dots

If you read this blog through an email subscription on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.

Wildflowers drive my hiking choices, and ever since publishing Mineral King Wildflowers (almost sold out), I look for opportunities to put them in my oil paintings. Because I paint small, they end up as tiny dots. 

Doesn’t matter, because those tiny colored dots are magical enhancements of scenes that would otherwise be primarily green, gray and brown.

Remember this oil painting? It sold very quickly due to those tiny colored dots.

So, of course I painted it again. Here is the sequence.

Once it is dry enough to scan, I will show you a non-shiny version with colors that are closer to the real painting.

Chop-chop and Doing What I Want

If you subscribe to the blog and read the email on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not; it isn’t a problem I know how to solve.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.

Here is another new Mineral King oil painting of an old subject, the Honeymoon Cabin, which is a museum for the Mineral King Preservation Society. It was in a state of rough first layer for a few weeks, and then suddenly July happened, which is when sales pick up at the Silver City Store.

Chop-chop, Central California artist!

8×10″, $125 (+sales tax), probably underpriced, quick, get it before I raise my prices.

I looked again at this painting of Sawtooth, which has been hanging for awhile as I mulled it over before putting it on the scanner. 

While flipping through my photos, I ran across one with my favorite yellow wildflower, Bigelow Sneezeweed (terrible name for a delightful bloom). I said to myself, “Self”, I said, “Why not?”

If this 6×18″ oil painting with its radical addition of yellow flowers doesn’t sell, I can always paint them out. I am 62 years old, self-employed, experienced in all subjects Mineral King, and I get to do what I want to my paintings.

Any questions?

What Does an Artist Do in Mineral King?

If you read this blog through an email subscription and cannot see the photos, click/tap here cabinart.net/blog, and you will be able to see them on internet. WARNING: this is a long post!!

A more complete question is probably this: What does this artist do in a place without internet, email, cell service or electricity?

An incomplete list:

  1. Split wood
  2. Knit
  3. Read the Declaration of Independence (Have you read it lately?)
  4. Swat biting flies
  5. Check on the wild iris WHICH IS IN BLOOM!
  6. Meander through the parking lot and find a bungee cord
  7. Proofread a book that has been in progress for almost five years
  8. Swat mosquitos
  9. Hang out with friends
  10. Sit on the bridge
  11. Hike – and take more photos, tell other hikers about better trails, look for tiger lilies, all while swatting mosquitos
  12. Swat more mosquitos

Incomplete pile of photos from the list (minus the mosquito swatting):

This is a section of trail that I’ve been trying to paint for a couple of years without any success.

Labrador Tea, reliably found near the first switchback above Eagle Meadow.Tiger lilies are Trail Guy’s favorite wildflower and this group was the destination of our hike.


Sometimes Eagle Meadow is thick with Jeffrey Shooting Stars and Knotweed. This year is not one of those times.We did see the shooting stars a little lower down along the creek. This is so hard to paint but I will not give up. (Here is how the painting looked last December)Who photographs the trail bed? Your Central California artist, that’s who.This is the first time I have really noticed Glacier Pass, a place I never expect to see in person.There was a wide variety of wildflowers as usual right around the beginning of July, but not in great quantities.Larkspur are hard for me to photograph, so when the light is right, I keep trying.This might be bitter cherry. It is a tree. I don’t know trees very well.

Hoopes sneezeweed always looks a little bit worn out, even when it is brand new.

That wild iris, only found in one place in Mineral King, blooms at the beginning of July each year.I drew this cabin once, in pencil with the flag in colored pencil, and called it “Dawn’s Early Light”. I love this view from the bridge, especially in the evening light.
Penstemon are a close second to my favorite flower of Explorer’s gentian.

Making Two Paintings Better

If you subscribe to the blog and read the email on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not; it isn’t a problem I know how to solve.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.The other day I just sat in front of these two Mineral King oil paintings with Tucker shedding, purring, and slobbering on my lap. While holding my favorite cat (sorry Pippin and Jackson, but I have known your uncle a year longer than I have known you), I studied the paintings carefully, wondering how I could make them better.

The answer usually lies in better contrast, and shaggier edges. Not that shaggy edges are always the answer, but in this case a few edges were a bit smoother than real life.

Never mind. Just look now and see if they look better to you (bearing in mind that they are now too wet to scan and that they always look better in person).

Each of these paintings is 8×8″, and I spent way more time on them than justified by the $100 (+tax) sales price each.

It is probably time to raise my prices. That is hard to do, because people are just trying to keep food on the table and gas in the car, and art is not a necessity. (It is for me, but I think you understand my point.)

Seeking Calm at the Easels

If you subscribe to the blog and read the email on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not; it isn’t a problem I know how to solve.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.

Sometimes life is hard. Oftentimes life is hard. Even if my own life is wonderful (and it is), life around is less than wonderful. Friends are suffering, the world seems to be on fire. I could list the worrisome items, but you probably have a similar list.

So, I will simply continue to seek calm at the easels.

I hope that seeing the progression of this Mineral King oil painting brings a bit of calm to your world.

Bouncing Project

If you subscribe to the blog and read the email on your phone, the photos might not show up. (Some people get them, some do not; it isn’t a problem I know how to solve.) You can see them by going to the blog on the internet. It is called cabinart.net/blog, and the latest post is always on top.

The South Fork Estates sign project was a biggie, one with some unresolved questions, but I did my part and then passed it back to the customer. Being a fine artist (an artist who makes art to put on the walls) doesn’t qualify me to understand the chemistry of paints, sealers, varnishes, stains, or how to treat wood. It is easier to just state that fact up front.

However, the customer for those signs decided they needed to have the background wood painted. Initially, in 1990, the entire signs were painted a burgundy, then overpainted with the colors. This was evident after the 32-year-old signs were sanded and scraped. The customer only asked me to refresh the colors, or I would have first (reluctantly) coated them with a burgundy or dark brown. I say “reluctantly”, because I thought it was bare wood, and it pains me to cover bare wood with paint.

Alas, the customer was concerned that my 2-3 coats of paint were insufficient, and requested that I paint the background, so he brought them back to me, for quite a bit of discussion. I told him that he was the boss.

This is a tricky situation: is it me guaranteeing my work, or is it a “change order”, as contractors refer to extra requests? I decided that the extra layer of color was on me, and the meter would be running for the background.

After adding another layer to the colors, I sent him this email:

“Before I begin painting the background dark brown, I am hesitating in order to give you a chance to reconsider whether this is really what is best for the signs. 
 
“I am reluctant to dive in because:
1. I don’t believe this is the best solution; the two sign painters I talked to each recommended wood stain or oiling, not paint, saying that wood needs to breathe.
2. Once the paint is on the signs, there is no going back to the natural wood.
3. Because of the rough surface, it is not possible for me to do the outlining of the letters or the narrow channel between the gray-blue border and the narrow yellow line, so the signs still won’t be completely dark brown on the non-colored parts.
 
“I can do this but want you to be absolutely certain it is the right next step, because there is no undoing it.”
 
It was a relief when he replied and asked that I stain them dark brown. I did a tiny section and sent him a photo for approval (with no idea what I would do if he didn’t like it).
He liked it!
This sign is stained:
This one is not:
Now I need to remember to detour past the subdivision in order to see the refreshed signs in place.