This wall is at the Santa Teresita Youth Center at St. Anthony’s Retreat in Three Rivers. Instead of showing you what I plan to paint, I will simply show you each day’s progress.
My plan is to paint 3 afternoons a week – afternoons because I have to wait for shade to reach the wall, and 3 because I have standing appointments on 2 of the 5 week days. I could work on Saturdays too, but there might be gatherings at “STYC” (that’s how I’ll abbreviate it in future posts) and I try to not work on weekends unless the customer has a deadline (or I am fighting weather deadlines).
For a couple of years I have been posting lists of things I learn at the end of each month. This year it feels particularly important to encourage you, Blog Readers, that 2020 isn’t entirely filled with difficulties and mayhem.
Who are these children and why are they in this post?
Kayaking! It was so fun, and easier than stand-up paddle boarding (well, duh).
White pelicans are huge and don’t dive like brown pelicans do.
Harbor seals and elephant seals are different. Did you know that? Elephant seals are playful and curious, sometimes trying to climb onto kayaks. Harbor seals are much more shy.
A friend sent a Youtube link to a song called Rayburn Crane by someone named Tom Russell – it is about a guy in Mineral King!
“8 million people have left California” – I heard this on a podcast, but the speaker didn’t say in what time frame. I think he must have been speaking of the past 10 years (since the last census). I looked it up, and the main states attracting California refugees are Texas, Arizona and Washington. I know people who have moved to Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado.
A little mosquito has been a real nuisance this summer (I didn’t save the newspaper article with the name of the bug.) The mosquito is smaller, it is out in the daytime, you can’t feel it bite, and it itches and sometimes swells up way more than regular mosquitoes. To add insult to injury, it carries West Nile virus. Good grief, what next??
Retail therapy late at night can be expensive. I ordered some clothes from a site, knowing it was probably a mistake. The sizing was wonky, the fabric was cheap, the clothing differed from the photos. In order to return things, the customer has to email and get an authorization code. The company didn’t reply in a timely manner, the 15 day return window started narrowing, and finally the company said they would offer a 15% refund so “you can buy cloth to repair clothing”. Or, if you prefer, they will give you the address in China where the order can be returned. WHAT?? Our local thrift shop just scored some brand new items. Sigh.
Vanilla water – I invented this because my giant bottle of vanilla extract ran out but had some residue in the bottom that I didn’t want to waste. I filled it with water, put it in the fridge, and it was SO GOOD!
Rock stacking – There are cairns or “ducks” along routes where trails aren’t visible, and this differs from rock stacking or balancing. This article goes into depth on the topic. Like almost everything, a little is interesting, copycats turn it into a problem, and then finger-waggers come along and turn it all sour.
This isn’t new, but it has been several years since I showed you – this is the link to the website of an artist whose work amazes me in its brilliance, precision and subtle humor. Her name is Sandra Busby.
This is new information to my blog readers: one of my drawing students had a Cooks Illustrated magazine with beautiful art on the cover. We looked up the artist, Robert Papp, and just swooned over his fruits and vegetables. Later that day, I reached for my favorite stamps to put one on an envelope, and was gobsmacked to see that they were Robert Papp’s work!
I can draw from my computer screen instead of ordering prints. This is a new experience for me. Using both print and on-screen provides the best information, but sometimes there isn’t enough time to wait for professionally made prints; my tired Epson printer is a poor option because it uses too much ink, has incorrect colors, and prints with stripes in the photos.
These girls are here because someone was cleaning out her photos and mailed them to me, and it just was too good to not share. Speak up if you know them!
The summary lists continue as I keep working on some private commissions, a fancy Art Speak word for custom artwork.
A friend allows us to glean in his walnut orchard each year at the end of October, which means more food to share with friends. (This drawing won a prize and sold, but I can redraw it for you because I love to draw.)
Personally, not professionally, this happened in the last weird year:
Tried and thoroughly enjoyed kayaking
Tried and thoroughly enjoyed stand-up paddle boarding (even thought it made my feet hurt – a weird result)
Missed church on Easter Sunday for the first time in my life
Realized that I like not having social obligations
The lock-down reinforced how much I like being at home.
We managed to keep 3 cats alive by locking them inside the garage each night (although sometimes they still go rogue)
Learned what possessions matter when facing evacuation from both our main home and our cabin
Realized how much I depend on the library
Learned how thin the veneer of civilization is in our country and how easily people are controlled by fear
Learned how people share food with one another as a gesture of love especially in hard times – we got more food brought to us and shared more food with friends than I ever remember in the past.
What’s on your list? (Does anyone besides me do this sort of evaluating and list making?)
During the last year of belonging to BNI – Business Networking International – I learned and experienced many new things. This is not necessarily because of BNI, but some of them may be a result.
Still working on commissioned pieces that I cannot post so there will be about one more of these chit-chatty summary posts before I am able to show you any new work.
I am working on some pieces that the customer has requested that I keep private, so I will spend the next few blog posts just chit-chatting at you.
A year ago I attended my first meeting of BNI – Business Networking International – at the urging of my cousin who said it helped his business tremendously. I parked far away in case people would judge me by my car, and expected to find stuffy people in fancy business clothing. Instead, I found a room full of authentically friendly go-getter business people, most of whom were measurably younger than me (and all drove better cars, but whatever, Fernando has been paid for for many years).
During that year I did the following because of BNI
Gave about 45 1-minute presentations
Gave 3 “Feature Presentations” using powerpoint
Gave 9 “Referrals”, only 1 of which turned into a “Thank You For Closed Business”
Received a bit of business, called “Referrals” in BNI Speak, from 2 of the members, not anywhere near enough to pay for my membership but appreciated all the same
Had 22 “One-To-Ones”, no where near BNI standards, but impressive for this introvert who fiercely guards her work time and solitude
Met over 30 interesting, varied, focused determined business people from different professions, many of whom I now consider friends
Invited about a dozen people, 5 who actually attended, but none who wanted to join because using Zoom isn’t personal or real enough
Learned to use Zoom
Refined my one sentence business description (“elevator pitch”) several times until it became this:
I make art that people can understand of places and things they love for prices that don’t scare them.
I view this whole venture as a marketing effort, and marketing has very slow returns. This particular way of marketing was time consuming and expensive, but the results are far superior to FaceBook or those other virtual methods because I made real friends.
“Recreate” in this blog post doesn’t mean to create something for a second time – it means to engage in recreation, or having fun in leisure time.
We drove up the hill to Mineral King to close the cabin and shut off the water for the season. Trail Guy held the gate for a convoy of 6 fire vehicles from Kings County.
Some crews “brushed” (this means “pruned” in normal people language) around the cabins. Because we lease our land from the National Park Service, we are not allowed to do this important maintenance chore. Apparently another agency pulled rank on the NPS. They are not landscapers – just energetic strong people who are doing a job to make a community more fire safe.
They limbed trees to prevent “laddering” by fire – we’ll need to trim these stubs next year.They left a lot of little stumps.I sawed off one that was a real tripper.They didn’t drag the brush away.
I am just reporting – not criticizing. I am curious how the Park will view these actions, and hope they just say “Thank you!”
Then there may have been a wee bit of recreating. We needed to do something to stay out of the way while the main men finished closing.
Then it was time to head down the road. The amount of brushing and shredding on the county part of the road (from the Oak Grove Bridge down) was astonishing – 4 or 5 crews, rumored to be from Mexico. Look at the “broom” they are using in the bottom photo.
This has been sorely needed for many years.
Thank you, energetic fire crews! We appreciate you and your consistent hard work. Thank you for saving Three Rivers and Mineral King from disaster in this bizarrely disastrous year.
When I lived near the beach (many moons ago), I missed the mountains. Now that I live near the mountains, I miss the beach. One of my life principles is that I do not turn down opportunities to go to the beach. This particular opportunity was a special occasion for a dear friend and I. We delivered a car to our friend who is waiting for lungs (Have you signed up to donate your organs yet? Souls go to heaven; organs don’t.) This isn’t the car we delivered, in case you were wondering.
The next day we went out for coffee, and there was a cat that I made friends with. I might have a bit of a cat disorder, but I’ll have you know that I can quit any time.
Then we went kayaking on the bay in the estuary, which means a place where there is both fresh water and salt water coming in and going out with the tide. Morro Bay is a very special estuary, but I can’t remember exactly why.
This our guide Mandy. She looked as if she was doing nothing while paddling, but no one could keep up with her. She knew a ton about the wildlife, and was so helpful in teaching us how to paddle. She’s never had a student tip a kayak, although I may have threatened to ruin that record at one precarious point.One of our viewsThose are white pelicans, big birds, not often spotted. It is the brown pelicans that we are accustomed to seeing.This is an oyster farm. They are in bags under the water, and take about a year to be ready. Yuck.We hoofed it up the dunes on the sand spit, which is the narrow arm of land that forms the bay. Maybe we hot-footed it – I kept my shoes on because Mandy warned us that the sand was very hot.Then I ran down to the water. I love the beach.It isn’t often that I see Morro Rock from the south side.Unexpected vegetation out there on the dunes due to some fresh water springs. The gray shrub closer up front is actually a variety of lupine. Who knew?Weird man-made rock towers are all over the back side of Morro Rock.Really weird – why have people done this??I love sitting on the big rocks on the back side of the rock and watching the big waves make spray. Easily amused. Been doing this for years, and I never get tired of it.
The way I decide whether to paint or to draw is: (1) Is someone waiting for this? (2) Is there enough light to paint? (3) Is it too hot or too cold in the painting studio?
Someone has commissioned me to draw 5 different cabins belonging to 5 different friends, all of whom lost their places to the wildfires all over the Central California mountains. This is an uncommonly generous man, and each one of these drawings will be a surprise, so I am not going to show you any of them. It is a little tricky for him to get photos from these friends and then to get answers to questions about the photos without giving away his surprise.
While I waited for the next batch of helpful answers and maybe some better photos, I returned to the easels. The smoke was abating some, and the weird dark orange-ish light was changing to a bit more normal color so I could paint (to the unsettling sound of helicopters overhead.)
Where to begin?
This one? (The greenery is lemon geranium, supposed to help keep the mosquitoes from chewing me to pieces while I paint.)
No, I need green. (The orange on the table got a green streak on it, so I touched it up first.)
Sky firstDistant hills nextNot sure what is next, so I just bounce around the canvasWhen in doubt, add detail. Lower left, lower right, mud banks, and main tree.
This bouncing and detailing too soon approach is not the usual artistic method – it is just the way I cope with indecision at the easel. The helicopters and continuing fire were unsettling, it was getting too hot to paint, and I lost focus.
There is no rush on any of these paintings, but I have 4 large ones in progress and a fifth one in mind. I figured that any progress was better than just quitting.
Will it ever rain again? No fires? No smoke? No helicopters? Will we see some green?
See? Unsettled. I shut myself in the studio with the roar of the A/C to drown out the helicopters, write this blog post, and maybe just hold my pencils for awhile.
With orange light, smoky air, hot temperatures, dirty skies, and ash everywhere, I am CRAVING GREEN. This desire made the decision for me on the Yokohl Creek oil painting.
Fall used to be my favorite season. Now I dread fall, because it is fire season, and I want spring to last forever.
BLOVIATION WARNING: The next paragraph is something I learned about fires, based on an interview I heard with a former employee of the National Forest Service, followed with my usual stack of questions.
There weren’t giant forest fires when I was a kid. That is when forests were managed and before logging was outlawed. The National Forest Service used to keep the trees to about 30 per acre; now that logging has been shut down, there are about 400 trees per acre. The man described this as “too much vegetation for the landscape”. He also talked about the high percentage of fires that are human caused (84%), and that most of them (90%) occur along roadways, which are no longer being cleared adequately. He was only speaking of Forest Service land, but I’m guessing the info is consistent throughout our state. Until the 1980s, there were 151 sawmills in California; now there are 30, with only one in Tulare County.
Where are we getting our lumber? Why are we importing it if there is so much just going up in flames right here in our own area? Doesn’t anyone care that smoke is ruining our lungs and our air? Doesn’t smoke hurt the environment? Isn’t it causing some unwanted warming of our tiny piece of the globe?
