If you made it through the last 2 days of technical instructions on subscribing to the blog or to my enewsletter, then you might be ready for some photos of Mineral King.
These photos were taken by Trail Guy last weekend. I stayed home in Three Rivers and mopped the kitchen, washed my car, hung out with my cats, helped my neighbor with yardening and WENT TO CHURCH! It was nice in Three Rivers, which means it was cold-ish in Mineral King. Besides, I am 60 so I can do whatever I want.
Fall down laughing. Never mind. Here are some photos for you.
Yesterday you learned (or skipped) instructions on subscribing to my blog.
Today we will discuss the e-newsletter. This means a newsletter that is sent electronically rather than on paper through the mail. E = Electronic.
How to subscribe to the enewsletter
There is a subscription dealie (what is this thing? a form? some boxes? a gizmo?) on the main page of my blog. You won’t see it if you are on a specific blog post, only if you are the main page. You won’t see it if you are on a phone or a tablet – only if you are using a desktop or a laptop. This is how it looks:
See the circled stuff? Fill it out. You might get a confirmation email. If you do, follow the instructions there.
Why don’t I know? Because I cannot subscribe to my own enewsletter. It won’t work that way.
What is my “enewsletter”?
Whenever I have extra information* for those who care about my art, I send a newsletter. There is no schedule. I work hard to stay on point and not bloviate at you. Just the facts. Sometimes a picture because too many words are boring. (I am an artist!)
It gets sent out by a website called MailChimp and lands in your email inbox (or maybe your Junk mail folder)
My last enewsletter had the subject line of “4 Quick Things” and was mailed on Friday, May 29. If you got that email, then you are subscribed.
If you need help subscribing, email me at cabinart at cabinart dot net and I will help you.
Use symbols in my eddress instead of words. For example, where I wrote “at”, substitute @. “Dot” means period. “Net” means . . . never mind. I think you can figure it out.
You made it to the end so you deserve a treat. This bud’s for you.
*Extra info – news about shows/bazaars/boutiques, announcements about upcoming murals or events you might want to know about, reminders that I accept commissions, reminders that I teach drawing lessons, requests for your opinions, feeble attempts to be clever, etc.
Does this topic make you want to hide under this quilt and nap?
Good morning, Blog Readers.
My blog has 2 different items that you may subscribe to. This confuses many people, so today I will tackle item #1.
How to subscribe to THE BLOG:
You may subscribe to my blog. This means that each time I post a new entry, you will get an email. The email will contain the whole post, or you can click (or tap) on it and go to the blog on my website.
It is not necessary to subscribe to be able to read it. Subscribing means you will get an email; not everyone wants 5 emails from me per week. No offense taken. Do what works for you.
If you are looking at the main blog page instead of the individual blog post, you should see the thing circled in the picture above. If you are reading the individual blog post, the subscribe dealie doesn’t show.
If you fill out the subscribe dealie, you will get a confirmation email. Follow the instructions there, and you will start receiving an email each time I post.
Yeppers, a little bit boring today. Tomorrow will also be a little bit boring. It will explain how to subscribe to the newsletter.
Thank you for reading.
Email me if you want help! Oh no, do I need to do a whole tutorial on that?? Say it ain’t so! My eddress (in words instead of regular email format so that the Bad Boys of the World Wide Web won’t bother me) is cabinart at cabinart dot net.
P.S. “Blog” comes from “web log”. Take away the “we” and the space, and you get “blog”. The “log” part is the word meaning “journal”. It is a journal on the world wide web.
Ever heard the saying, “He has another thing coming”? The correct version of this is actually, “. . .another THINK coming”. Really. I’m not making this up.
As I was working with my Friend/Customer on her coat of arms, we designed it together. I took the approach of “The Customer is Always Right”, and didn’t look at it critically through my own lens of opinion.
There’s nothing wrong with that in commission work.
Or is there?
My Friend/Customer wasn’t as happy with the results as we had hoped. I showed her every step of the process, both the designing and the painting. We discussed shapes and colors and placements and sizes, but something didn’t mesh for her after she received the painting.
This troubles me, not in the sense of being annoyed with her, but in wondering where I went astray in the process. My job is to help the customer know and get what she wants, and I failed.
My conclusion is that if a customer thinks she knows her mind, don’t leave her out there in Design Land alone. Be critical (as in helpful and discerning), make suggestions, and help her see the best possibilities instead of letting her drive the process alone.
We are now rethinking the design. Here are the original, the painted version, and a sloppy photoshop revision.
The shield is ever so slightly larger, some ribbons are narrower, and some ribbons are now gone.
She is a good friend, we communicate often, and together we will solve this!
“Alta Peak and Moro Rock”, oil painting on wrapped canvas, 10×30″, $500 plus tax
We are having a garlic shortage. Why? Was there a “blight” in Gilroy? Does our garlic come from China? Do people cooking at home use more garlic than restaurants? I’m glad that 4 bulbs I planted survived and are ready to harvest. This is tricky stuff to grow, because the gophers like it and nearby weeds keep it from getting very large.
When someone commissions me to make custom art, even if I show every single step of the process and the customer approves, sometimes there is disappointment. So, I learned to be more involved in the process, offer design opinions and not assume that the customer knows his mind. (Why has it taken me 33 years to learn this? Is it a lesson that I knew, but put on hold for some customers? What’s wrong with me? Can this artist be saved??)
I can live without the library. I don’t like it, but I can do it anyway.
Frederick Russell Burnham was a big deal explorer, adventurer, soldier, miner, and friends with Teddy Roosevelt. Born in 1861, died in 1947, and buried in Three Rivers! I am reading his biography, A Splendid Savage by Steve Kemper. SINCE THE LIBRARY IS CLOSED, I guess you’ll have to buy a copy if you want to read it. (Mine is borrowed from the friend who told me about the guy). Here. Use this link and I might earn a quarter from Amazon. (It opens in a new tab so you won’t lose your place here.)
I don’t exercise enough. Thought I was in decent shape until we hiked to Timber Gap, when I was sure that someone had both stretched and tilted the trail. Will I exercise more and harder now? I DON’T FEEEEL LIKE IT. (Oh yeah? Do you FEEEEL like hiking without pain?) I think the ongoing battle with the inner lazy fat girl will never cease.
It is vital to print out on paper any book that I am designing. I almost took a shortcut and skipped that step on my current project (a private book that will only be available to the person who hired me.) The better version of myself printed it anyway, and I was appalled by the formatting errors, and 5 typos. FIVE – appalled, I tell you! Big lesson learned – ALWAYS print it to proofread on paper; I will find things that I missed on the screen.
The painting above was included in the last email newsletter I sent out, and several people referred to it as a mural BECAUSE I DIDN’T IDENTIFY IT AS AN OIL PAINTING FOR SALE! This reluctance to appear “sellsy” is NOT helpful to my newsletter subscribers (and you can also become a newsletter subscriber by using the SUBSCRIBE TO ENEWSLETTER thing on the blog, but it doesn’t show up on a “smart” phone so you’ll need to be on a desktop or a laptop). A friend whose business it is to help people with their social media helped me learn this. #Hashtag Hostess Angele Black is BRILLIANT at her business!
Once again, I am of two minds as to whether to show and talk about Mineral King when it is not yet open to the public. So, I’ll just show some photos, and if you want to know anything further, ask me in the comments or email me.
WAIT! Did I hear someone ask me what those wildflowers are? How about a book to help you learn them?
100 page paperback, flowers in photos, common names only, lots of chatty commentary, $20 including tax. Available here Also available at the Three Rivers Historical Museum, Silver City Store, from me if I put them in my car, or Amazon.
Back when it was a simple mountain market called “The Silver City Store”. (photo 1985)
The store at the Silver City Resort below Mineral King has a projected opening date of June 5. (I still call the whole place the Silver City Store although it has become an almost swanky resort instead of a little mountain store.)
My oil paintings sell very well there each summer. I have high hopes for this year in spite of the Shut Down.
When the manager said they were ready for my paintings, I spread them all out, and then made decisions. Eventually I hope all will make it up the hill, but we only show about 10 at a time.
These went up the hill in round one.These stayed back until some of the earlier pieces have sold.
It is always a guess – how many of which subjects and which sizes?
Every year I think I have it figured out, and often end up cranking out paintings mid summer because something popular has sold out in a certain size. This year’s paintings are heavy in wildflowers.
This summer is full of more unknowns than usual. As always, more will be revealed in the fullness of time.
Thing One: the A-frame is now in place. I stopped driving by the pump like some weird stalker, and just waited. Eventually, a neighbor left a nice message on the phone saying how good the sign looked, and was it my work?
So, I walked that direction the next morning.
Hey! What’s that??
The dry season is to the front.
Spring is to the rear. I wonder, will it get rotated next year?The A-frame is in place.
Thing Two: I mailed the Coat of Arms on a Monday and was told the expected arrival was Thursday. It was received on Tuesday!
These are more recent paintings of The Lake, also known as Lake Kaweah, and Kaweah Lake. In addition to not remembering the correct way to state the name, I often wonder if it is in Lemon Cove or Three Rivers.
Life is full of unanswered questions.
This painting of Kaweah Lake was done in 2014, probably on a 6×6″ canvas.Painted in 2015Painted in an unknown year.Same painting, repainted in another unknown year as my skill grew.
The A-frame is in place.
