Doing Nothing in Mineral King

WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD.That title is not exactly true. We sat around, took a short walk to Crystal Creek, visited with neighbors, rearranged garbage in the dumpster and examined the difficult lock, met the temporary law-enforcement ranger, napped, watched the curtains flap in a windstorm, enjoyed a bit of rain. I also painted, read and knit. But we did not hike, because it was too hot.

The overcast provided relief from the heat, as did the precipitation one afternoon.

We pried ourselves off the porch and ambled up to Crystal Creek. (This photo is darker than reality in spite of messing with it on the computer.)

It is a banner year for baby’s breath close to Crystal Creek.

Crystal Creek was very low but adequate to water some very nice wildflowers in their prime. (To learn the names, perhaps you might like to buy a copy of Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names.)

Walking back, we admired the corn lilies, which are having a rare year of bloom. Can you recognize the Honeymoom Cabin from this side?

Federal Highways has big plans to redo the Park’s section of the Mineral King Road, and part of the plan is to expand and pave the parking lot at the end of the road. There is a juniper of historical significance in the parking lot, now in jeopardy. You can see the dead tree to the left; the juniper to the right is just fine. It is somewhat camouflaged in this photo.

The blue paint lines mean the tree is going to be removed. I don’t want it to be removed! Does anyone know a certified arborist who can verify the health of the tree? Maybe the Park would listen to someone with Important Papers and Capital Letters. (My Most Important Papers about being Exeter Woman of the Year in 1998 don’t count, nor do the capital letters DBO).

Here is a more familiar angle of the Honeymoon Cabin, which serves as a mini-museum for the Mineral King Preservation Society.Meanwhile, back near the cabin, I found more corn lilies in bloom, a new mint, and a blooming swamp onion.

Completed Commissions

Here are the promised scans of the two most recent custom art jobs, now both completed.

Here is Sawtooth.

Here is Yosemite Falls, as interpreted by the Central California artist, working from multiple reference photos in the “comfort” of her swamp-cooled painting workshop.

More On Drawing Lessons

These drawings are all by my drawing students, in progress, quickly photographed by my inadequate phone.

Different levels of experience, different levels of completion, but all work at their own speeds on subjects they choose.

Some of the things I tell them: “You can try this if you really want to, but it might even be too hard for me”; “You draw better than I do so I’m not sure why you are here but I will try to help you”; “That looks really fun!”; “Oh wow, that is going to take a long long time”; “I drew something like that once and ended up hating the subject”; “That is a great photo and will make a great drawing”; “Good thing you know your subject matter because it is really difficult to tell what is happening in that little area”.

I also help with step by step instructions. Lessons last 1 hour with 4 students per class. $55/month plus supplies, no lessons in July, August, or December. If you would like to know more, email me (cabinart at cabinart dot net, spelled out because it is supposed to discourage robots from contacting me) or use the contact button here on the website.

Drawing Lessons

Drawing is not a talent; it is a skill, and if you can listen and be patient with the process, you can learn.

Look what is in progress right now with my drawing students of all levels (I took the photos quickly with my phone so OF COURSE they look better in person):

Some are almost finished, some have weeks or even months to go. Each student works at her own pace on the subject of her choosing. Some work from their own photos; others find photos from other sources. Some are doing the drawings as gifts; some turn them into cards; some have reproduction prints made from their originals to share with people; some are drawing commissioned work.

Everyone has fun (including me). 

More later.

Another Oil Commission

In case you might have forgotten, I use pencils, oil paint, and murals, to make art that you can understand of places and things you love, for prices that won’t scare you.

Sales pitch over – let’s get on with it.

A friend sent me this photo of Sawtooth because her mother said she’d like a painting of the signature peak of Mineral King. The photo is a little plain, so we decided that some wispy clouds in the sky and brighter aspens will jazz it up.

Here is the rough beginning of the painting.

I added some green blobs, then moved it into the drying area with Yosemite Falls. I could have kept going, but it was time to head up the hill. And sometimes I just quit in the middle of the day because I am the boss of my business and can do anything I want. (Fall down laughing . . . sometimes the business is the boss of me.)

OH NO! Yosemite Falls is sideways! 

This is because the Yosemite friend first sent me a horizontal photo, so I wired the canvas that direction. After she changed her mind, I decided to wait until the painting is entirely dry to change the orientation of the wire. Being the boss of my business, I can do things in any order I want. Sometimes I just get rebellious and live on the edge like that.

P.S. I have good friends who like my art and prove it by hiring me, and I consider it a great honor, although sometimes I wish I could just give it all away. But then how would I pay for this overpriced laptop and all the hidden internet costs? And gas? Oh, food too. . . what about taxes? and YARN???

Above Timber Gap

Over the Fourth of July weekend, our cabin neighborhood was full of friends who happen to have cabins near each other. That’s the best way I can describe our little enclave of rustic shacks in Mineral King. Some of the neighbors spent a day on the trail to Hockett Meadow for a 23 mile hike. Some of us did something a bit more manageable.

It was a beautifully clear day when we set out around 9 a.m. No matter how many photos I take of this scene from the bridge, each time I am sure it is the best it has ever looked.

Sometimes I take this photo downstream too. This time I took it because soon the 2 trees by that cabin will be gone.

We went to Timber Gap and then up to the left (it felt really really up-ish), back down into the gap, and crashed around until we stumbled on the old wagon road built in the mining era.

This is the view over Timber Gap to the Middle Fork of the Kaweah drainage. If I study the view and squint hard, I can pick out Alta Peak, the mountain that is visible from our house.

This is the view of Mineral King from the slope above Timber Gap on the west. (It is where I took my reference photos for the giant Mineral King mural in Exeter.)

We headed back into Timber Gap and decided we were all game to find the old wagon road.

Trail Guy said it is hard to find from Timber Gap, and I agreed, except that I always manage to crash around and stumble across it in spite of the vagueness of that method. Once again, it worked.

There were five of us, but we took no selfies or group shots. After this photo, I put my camera away because: 1. I have taken many photos of this before and 2. it was prudent to watch my steps carefully.

On the Fourth of July, we had a little spontaneous flag-raising.

It almost took a village, but mostly it took Trail Guy and a Yacht Master.

God bless the USA and God bless our neighbor-friends!

 

 

New Oil Commission

“Commission” is fancy talk for custom art.

A friend requested an 8×10″ oil painting from a photo she took in Yosemite.

I haven’t been to Yosemite very often and don’t really know it but somehow I knew to ask if this was Yosemite Falls, and doesn’t it have 2 parts? The oak tree in the foreground was obstructing the shapes of the cliffs, and I also needed to know if the barely visible cabin in the lower right mattered.

After a bit of back-and-forth, I went to the World Wide Web, found many photos that showed the dual nature of these famous falls, and proceeded to make up my own version. 

Since when have I become such a rogue painter??

Here are the steps (without showing you the photo from the WWW because I do not have permission.) I began the painting in the studio (the reasons are boring), where oil painting does not belong, but I was very very careful.  I worked from my friend’s photo on the laptop. You can see that I chose to keep and enhance the little structure, because I am into cabins (hence “Cabin Art”).

The next painting session was in the painting workshop, where it is not a tragedy to drop and spill things. The natural light is better there than in the artificial light of the studio, so it was a much better place to finish the painting.

The last photo was taken with the phone instead of the camera. Neither one is adequate, but will have to suffice until the painting is dry and can be scanned.

 

A Horse Named Taco. . .

. . . not a horse with no name. (Might have felt good to be out of the rain, but Taco was in the fog.)

A drawing student showed me a photo that she would like to draw. I cropped it, converted it to black and white, and enhanced a few details for her to have the best version available. After all that work, I realized that I would LOVE to draw it, and not only did she give me permission, she provided a piece of paper.

I have plenty of my own paper, but she had 3 different types, wondering which one to use; I was curious about one of them. I mainly use Strathmore 400 series Bristol smooth finish, and this one was Strathmore 500 series Bristol plate finish, which is a little too slick for my needs. However, it has been decades since I used it, the higher quality (500 series is the best) seemed to have a little more texture than I remembered, and I was curious.

On a not-too-terribly-hot day, I did what a friend described as “sauna drawing” in the studio while my air conditioner was getting replaced. (Tony didn’t need any supervision, but I hung around in case he needed anything.) The drawing went quickly because the photo was so clear, but I did change a bland water tank in the photo to old boards. The paper was indeed too smooth for me – stroke marks showed up more, and it smeared too easily for my normal style; however, the smearing was very effective when it came time to put “fog” over the building in the background.

A Horse Named Taco, graphite pencil on acid free paper, 11×14″, unframed,  price unknown (make an offer?)

More Completed Mineral King Paintings

These Mineral King oil paintings are now ready to be displayed and sold.

Mineral King Aspens, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $65 INCLUDING TAX! (If you live out of state, that extra $5 can go toward mailing).
Mineral King Trail, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $65 INCLUDING TAX! (What I already said).

Paintings always look better in person (and I almost always tell you that). I was studying the paintings on the studio wall, and decided that this one, painted en plein air (fancy talk for on location), just wasn’t good enough.I brightened and lightened it; now it is for sale at the Mural Gallery in Exeter.

Always learning, striving to. . .

. . . make art you understand, about places and things you love, for prices that won’t scare you.

 

 

Four Places to Buy My Art

Apparently, in spite of not having pop-up ads, here is my own ad on my blog. Self-promotion and marketing are the most difficult parts of being a self-employed artist. However, if you are a reader of my blog, I am assuming you like my art. Therefore, telling you where to find it is simply providing you with a service, yes? (I refuse to end my sentences with “right?” as so many people do these days, a nervous vocal tick that sticks up my nose).

  1. Kaweah Arts in Three Rivers has been selling very steadily for me. This is an art consignment shop located along the main road through town, on the river side of the highway, AKA Sierra Drive. Great variety of local original art, open Thursday – Tuesday. No website, but on Instagram and probably Fakebook. They have my paintings (mostly Sequoia and Three Rivers subjects) and notecards.
  2. Farmer Bob’s World is a new adventure in agri-tourism in Ivanhoe, which is a citrus growing area north of Visalia. They offer tours and have a venue for events. It is new, and I am honored to be part of this, since citrus growing is my heritage. They have paintings (mostly citrus) and notecards. Their website is Farmer Bob’s World.
  3. The Mural Gallery, a store for Exeter, A Festival of Arts on E Street in Exeter just reopened. They have a good variety of mural related merchandise and the muralists are invited to show and sell their work. They carry my Exeter coloring books and paintings (citrus, Sequoia, foothill scenery). No website, but here is a youtube video discussing the murals. Exeter, A Festival of Arts. (The first 2 murals shown in the video are mine!)
  4. Silver City Resort, 4 miles below Mineral King (or 21 miles up the MK Road) has been selling my paintings for over 10 years. Now they also carry Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names. Their website is Silver City Mountain Resort. (P.S. This is an old photo – the store is fancier these days.)
  5. A bonus place to buy my art is from me directly, either off the website (yikes, hope the piece didn’t already sell somewhere else before I learned about it!) or from me in person.

And remember, I make custom art.

Using pencils, oil paint and murals, I make art you can understand about places and things you love for prices that won’t scare you.

We now resume our normal broadcast schedule.